A meta report is a report about reports. Just like meta data is data about data.
Some of the major topics and vibes reported by others are both good and bad.
From the Positives:
Android phones. These seemed to be the new and in fashion phone this time around, attendees were more interested in talking about and playing with their Android phones then their iPhones. Google has definitely found a nerve in the market of consumers and are hitting it constantly with the Android and its impressive features. But the one question I have for the Android and its newly found popularity is, is it just the new shiny toy in the window? Is Android the first real challenger to the iPhone users’ commitment to that iconic device?
The Korean electronics company, Samsung now the #2 largest cell phone manufacturer after Nokia (beating Motorola), has made a bid to earn smartphone market share with an enterprise email, instant messaging, security, mobile device management, unified communications, customer relationship management, sales force automation and business intelligence application environment. They also have developed a direct-to-user app store (who hasn’t?), and are, in an interesting side note, pushing the app store concept as a new model for their Internet-enabled TV product line too.
Tethering, the process of making your mobile phone use the wireless WAN to connect one or more of your laptops, turns the mobile phone into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot. This is growing in importance for business users since these two devices are so often in the same briefcase.
From the Disappointments:
Where is Motorola? Where is Palm?
It seems these iconic firms are past their primes. Palm’s recent disappointing results and Motorola’s plan to split are not attracting the positive spins or investor confidence. Also Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 7 phone was unveiled showing Xbox integration, which, although a readily accessible market are not particularly associated with business and business users. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft can emulate the tighter coupling of Google Android and devices than Microsoft and its hardware vendors have been able to achieve.
