Presentation on Mobile / Tablet Application Development as done to the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey on September 19, and to the New Jersey Technology Council on September 20.

1. Mobile Computing
Is it worth the hype?
NJTC Mobile Application
Development Conference
What Are My Options?
September 20, 2012
DATA Inc. USA
72 Summit Avenue Find us on…
Montvale, NJ 07645
(201) 802-9800
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2. Just the latest buzzword?
• Mainframes/dumb terminals (~1950, military, weather)
• PCs (~1980, business applications)
• LANs (1983, file-sharing)
• Client-Server/fat clients (late 1980’s, back to the future)
• Internet/Web 1.0 (early 1990’s, email, WWW)
• Web 2.0 (2002, blogging, collaboration, social media)
• Cloud Computing (late 2000’s, CPU and storage as utility)
• Mobile Computing (2007, iPhone announced)
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3. Were they all worth it?
• (Too) many paradigm shifts
• Expensive to keep shifting
– Capital expenses
– Training
– Loss of focus and momentum
• What had we gained?
• Where are we now?
– These are the best of times (and the worst of times?)
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4. Mobile impact on Top Line
• Increase business
• Drive sales
• Strengthen brand awareness
• Improve customer relationships
• New revenue opportunities
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5. Mobile impact on Bottom Line
• Increase worker productivity
• Improve employee communications
• Decrease production costs
• Increase responsiveness
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6. What are my dev. options?
• Native
– iOS
• iPhone
• iPad
– Android
– Windows Phone
– Others...
• Pure HTML 5
• Hybrid
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7. Case Study
Financial Services Industry Client
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8. The Problem
• Financial Advisors did not have a convenient way to share information
with their clients at on-site meetings
• All research, trades, portfolio management, etc. is performed in-office
on very powerful, multi-monitor workstations
• When making a client visit, the FA would:
– Print and carry reams of paper reports
– Remote-control their office workstation from a laptop
– Slow, inefficient, clunky
• NOT A GOOD WAY TO STRENGTHEN YOUR BRAND IMAGE IN FRONT
OF A HIGH NET-WORTH CLIENT
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9. Solution (?)
• Reproduce the workstation experience on a mobile
device
• For this application, such a device requires:
– LARGE, high-quality display
– Lightweight
– Instant-on
– Long battery life
– Network connectivity (Internet, VPN)
– Security
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10. Tablet Computer
• The perfect fit
– iPad
– Android-based tablet
• Why not just use a laptop?
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11. “Houston, we have a problem”
• Not with the hardware, but with the software
• A tablet is not a desktop PC
– Limited storage
– Different/limited input methods
– Smaller (yet higher-res) display
– Limited network bandwidth and intermittent connectivity
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12. (Re-)Design/Rethink Software
• What are the unique features of the tablet?
– Camera (still and motion capture)
– Audio (microphone, speakers with 3D Dolby processing)
– Sensors: GPS, Compass, Accelerometer, Bluetooth, NFC
– Touch, multi-touch
• What other challenges are present in the tablet
operating system software?
– Apple iOS is very locked-down
– Cannot share data (easily) between apps
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13. Consider the Use Case
• Inside the office the FA has access to 1500+
applications
– Advanced forecasting, trading, esoteric functionality
• Outside the office (during client visit) his needs are
highly focused
– Display portfolio positions
– Display investment return
– Perform what-if scenarios
– Hand the tablet over to the client!
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14. The Correct Approach
• Find developers experienced in mobile computing
– Not so easy, better to rely on a trusted partner
• Build “apps”, not monolithic applications
• Release early and often
• Focus on features that users need the most
– Apple recommends 3-4 features per release
• Be constantly aware of unique features and
limitations of tablet platform
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15. The Outcome
• First set of three apps was released to group of 40
pilot users
• After 2 months of use a survey was compiled
– 97% pilot users reported being very- to extremely-satisfied
with the app features, usability, reliability, utility
– The apps were the singular talk of the town at the annual
FA conference
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16. The Outcome
Successful execution was deemed to be a critical
driver in retention of FA’s during a very challenging
business cycle
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17. Dedicated to your success
Questions?
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