Mobile-related technologies for the past week, in 3 (or almost) words: Contact-less Transport, Enterprise Solutions, Copycat

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THE WEEK IN 3 WORDS

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WEEK #31

3. CONTACT-LESS TRANSPORT
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4. 4
Mobile devices are a promise of easing our daily life, especially
when it comes to payment. But, as of now, initiatives that really
made the mobile a payment device have been rare or limited to
prototype (except in Japan).
London underground is taking a big step
toward the future: it will be possible to pay the
transport fare using a mobile device as a
contactless payment device. The mobile phone
will have to be equipped with a NFC chipset
(sorry, iPhone commuters… but around 150
other compatible phones in the UK) and a
specific application.
This really seems a bold move, because it really simplifies a
daily service and therefore has a great potential of massive

5. ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS
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Early this month, Apple and IBM announced a strategic
partnership, which aims at providing enterprise-grade mobile
services. The IBM MobileFirst for iOS consists in mobile apps
designed to answer specific needs for enterprises.
This partnership definitely chased BlackBerry on its
own fields and was seen as a huge threat for the
already collapsing giant. This threat now becomes
real: Ford has said it plans to switch all its employees
(around 6 000) from BlackBerry to iPhone devices in the next 2
years.
Apple and IBM will have to be very cautious about this first huge
enterprise initiative, but, if all goes fine, it is very likely to be the
first blip of a big seism in enterprise solutions.

7. COPYCAT
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Xiaomi is the very fast growing Chinese company: started only in 2011,
it is now second in the Chinese market (21% of the market share;
Samsung is first with 23%).
At first sight, this rapid growth is quite obvious: Xiaomi is making an
iPhone twice cheaper than a real iPhone. Hardware and software
designs, communication mimics (“one more thing…”), series of
products (cloud, mini tablet, TV streaming box, etc.): Xiaomi looks more
than just inspired by Apple’s products.
But, on the other hand, Xiaomi could be a refreshing actor in the mobile
makers market. Sure they seem to obviously copying Apple, but they
do so by innovatively tweaking the Android OS: their version of Android
OS is available for many devices. Moreover, they still are young and
their early successes could lead them to become a powerful, leading
innovative company in the future (as Apple is now, starting years ago
by copying the Xerox GUI design…)