Mobility and Wireless

Microsoft is looking at alternatives to ultra-low-cost laptops in the drive to arm people in developing nations with a way to communicate and access the Internet, and the company is turning its sights on cheaper devices that can give people a start in computing, such as smartphones and shared computing.

Enterprises are starting to use the BlackBerry in a new way: as a means of taking their desk phones mobile.

The One Laptop Per Child Project and Microsoft plan to make both Windows and Linux available on a version of the project's XO laptop, the companies said Thursday.

IBM and Research in Motion (RIM) announced this week at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium in Orlando that a good portion of Big Blue's software can now be served up on a corporate BlackBerry.

A year after revealing a major upgrade of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server was underway, Research in Motion this week finally fleshed out what the new version will do, and put a delivery date on it.

A long-term battle is brewing between two emerging high-speed wireless technologies, WiMax and Long Term Evolution (LTE). Each would more than quadruple existing wireless wide-area access speeds for users.

One of the challenges in mobile computing is battery life. It's hard to be productive with a dead battery, so IT personnel and users alike need to think about maximising run time between charges.

For the past year, WiMAX has been a technology under siege.

Everywhere you go these days, people are using BlackBerries to check e-mail and set up appointments. But the march toward everyday use of more complex business applications on smartphones is going slowly at best.

Small and midsize businesses face many obstacles when trying to compete with larger enterprises. One classic handicap of the smaller business is the second-class phone system, the shortcomings of which are both glaringly apparent to callers outside the organization and keenly felt by the employees inside, who know that sounding professional when clients and prospects call is a crucial part of building relationships and sales.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse shared the company's WiMAX plans last week at CTIA Wireless. The plan to build a fourth-generation wireless network is a risky one, but Hesse explained to Denise Dubie why it's a smart strategy for Sprint.

WeFi is hoping to do for Wi-Fi connectivity what Facebook has done for social networking.

Shortly after the iPhone launched earlier this year, the head of microprocessor maker ARM said the new handset will stimulate growth in the smartphone market because the hype around the product would pique people's interest. Since then, the iPhone, and the smartphone market overall, have taken off.

After Google released an initial set of details about its plans to alter how mobile applications are created and distributed, industry watchers are compiling a long list of follow-up questions about the Android platform and the Open Handset AlliancE.

Chip giants, Intel and AMD, are at the forefront of the mobile computing trend. AMD's technical manager, Michael Apthorpe, and Intel's channel sales manager, Andrew McLean, shared their thoughts on market direction.

Back in the day, wireless data was a neatly self-contained niche technology used by folks such as field force workers and logistics companies, but virtually ignored by everyone else.

Travel has become the bane of many companies' existence, thanks to escalating fuel and travel costs, unpredictable and increasingly frequent air travel delays and metropolitan gridlock. A face-to-face meeting can cost thousands of dollars and several hassle-filled days, yet small businesses often have customers at great distances.

Local IT industry rags and tabloid media have been abuzz this past week with 'news' that Apple will launch the iPhone in Australia in June.

Recently, I read an interesting report regarding iPhone use. Market research firm iSuppli found that many people use iPhones in ways that differ markedly from other phones, especially in categories that until recently weren't that important to most users.

Warren Buffet once said that when a manager with a great turnaround reputation encounters a company with a reputation for dysfunction, it is the company that will keep its reputation.

The e2 has embedded HSDPA mobile broadband capability and is designed to meet demand for Internet access and networked PC applications anytime and anywhere.

The D-Link 3G Mobile Router DIR-451 enables users to create a secure wire-less 802.11g (108G) network and provide access to the Internet using a cellular signal.

The HTC Touch Cruise is a Windows Mobile 6 Professional device with MS Direct Push email and 3.5G-HSDPA wireless connectivity.

Another of Plantronics' latest Bluetooth hands-free kits, the Discovery 655 is a great device for those who are regularly on the road. It's similar to the 665 but offers increased battery life. The fact that it can be charged by using its extremely handy AAA battery adapter makes it the ultimate solution for the mobile professional.

ARN looks at the latest wireless products for the week commencing August 8, 2007.