**As published in RCR Wireless News**

LOS ANGELES – After spending the last three days up close and personal with the cable industry at its big annual affair, I’m disappointed to report that mobile was hard to find. The wireless innovations and news I’d hoped to see were simply not there.

I’m not sure lobbying will do the trick, but the entire mobile industry should do everything it can to bring wireless out from the distant horizon it sits in now and into clear view for most business in this space who don’t yet see the light. Continue Reading

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

LOS ANGELES – Media moguls from cable operators, networks and studios met on stage Wednesday morning with a former Federal Communications Commission chairman and a venture capitalist to hold court on the rapidly changing business models facing the industry and how alternative screens are playing a role in that.

“Every single piece of technology that’s come into being has been a friend to content,” said Les Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corp. It’s hard to imagine him saying that even just a few short years ago, but he shows every indication of being on board now. Continue Reading

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

LOS ANGELES – The mobile quotient during the first day of the National Cable & Telecommunications conference was disappointingly light. Particularly light, considering telecommunications is right there in the name.

Mobility plays an important and mostly dominant role in telecom but if this industry gathering is any sign, it still has a long way to go before it comes into the spotlight for cable. Continue Reading

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

LOS ANGELES – To hear Comcast Corp.’s chairman and CEO Brian Roberts tell it, the cable industry is on a collision course with destiny. The seemingly neatly divided world of entertainment that Roberts first jumped into as the son of Comcast’s founder Ralph Roberts is no more.

If all goes his way, the family-run business will pass all regulatory hurdles and close its $30-billion dollar deal to snatch up the controlling interest in General Electric’s NBC Universal by the end of the year. Surely few, if any in the audience here for Roberts’ keynote could have dreamed two decades ago of a cable operator becoming so powerful and flush enough with cash that it could take control of a content juggernaut like NBC. Continue Reading

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

SANTA MONICA, CALIF. – Few, if any, technologies have taken off as quickly as smartphones have in the United States and it’s changing the American lifestyle in the process. At the end of 2008, the U.S. market had a smartphone penetration rate of 15%; it’s currently at 24% and The Nielsen Co. is predicting we’ll see a 49% adoption rate by the end of 2011.

Lucy Hood, a former Fox Mobile executive and now executive director at University of Southern California’s Institute for Communications, Technology and Management, said that while the devices and connection speeds have changed, usage patterns have not been disrupted. As a whole, smartphones are primarily used to communicate first, seek information second and entertain as a tertiary function, she said.

In the latest study conducted by the USC think tank, it found that mobile video consumption is still woefully underused. Even more discouraging than the level of use, according to Hood, is the reason why mobile TV and video has failed to live up to the hype: it’s still a poor experience for most users. Continue Reading

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

SAN DIEGO – What equipment a company decides to outfit its workforce with will be one of its most important and lasting decisions. It can also be particularly challenging if the company is aiming to put a virtual office in the pocket of its employees.

On the closing day of Gartner’s Wireless, Networking and Communications Summit, the analyst firm’s research VP, Leslie Fiering, delivered a presentation that delved into the factors that impact the potential effectiveness of an office-in-your-pocket solution, how it can be matched with user requirements and how office-in-your-pocket solutions will evolve over the next five years.

In short, there isn’t much Fiering expects to not see change in the next couple years. Taking Moore’s Law into account and keeping in mind which notebooks and cellphones were the most popular five years ago should be all the convincing one needs: office-in-your-pocket solutions evolve in an equally dramatic and rapid fashion. Continue Reading

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

SAN DIEGO – In the closing keynote at Gartner’s Wireless, Networking and Communications Summit, the research firm’s VP and distinguished analyst, Nick Jones, offered his take on where mobility should fit into the general roadmap of enterprise. Looking out, five years down the horizon, Jones told the audience via video Web cast that while many industries are transitioning to a more nimble communications environment, many technologies are intersecting to create more opportunities for business.

“This is a critical time,” he said. “No one can afford to skip up. If you don’t establish your presence in the next year or two you may never establish a presence.” Those businesses that wait much longer will find that others, including their competitors, will be much further ahead in implementing an enterprise mobility strategy and may find it difficult to narrow the gap.

“Think about where you are as compared to your peers,” Jones said. Businesses that are misaligned with their peers’ approach to a mobile strategy – either too far ahead or behind – should review their plans. Continue Reading

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

SAN DIEGO – When a trend or shift requires a new phrase or way of thinking, you can bet it carries tremendous impact – the implication being that it goes beyond words. If there’s one factor that’s impacting the mobile enterprise more than anything else it would have to be the “consumerization” of technology in the workplace.

“Things happen in consumer markets first and then they impact businesses,” explained David Mitchell Smith, VP and Gartner fellow here at Gartner’s Wireless, Networking and Communications Summit. Smith delivered a nearly hour-long presentation on the impact of consumerization on the mobile enterprise while throwing in advice and the occasional words of encouragement for businesses already feeling the effect.

“Consumerization is not a strategy … it’s not something you can adopt,” he said. Though this shift has led to what Gartner refers to as “the IT Civil War,” Smith said “it can’t be stopped; it can be dealt with” Continue Reading

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

SAN DIEGO – You don’t even need access to mass media to know that app stores are all the rage in mobile these days. But how app storefronts and their ecosystems play in the enterprise sandbox is an entirely different animal.

Michael King, a research director at Gartner, began his presentation at Gartner’s Wireless, Networking and Communications Summit by detailing the level of competition, interest and investment in the app space.

“It seems like everybody and their mother has an app store these days,” King said and it doesn’t really make sense for everyone to have one. Continue Reading

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

To say America’s labor force is going through hard times would be an understatement. With unemployment rates in many states near or below levels unseen since World War II, it’s almost impossible to find anyone who hasn’t been affected by America’s latest economic malaise.

You know things are especially bad when state and federal agencies are trumpeting the latest batch of unemployment statistics simply because fewer jobs were lost in that month-long period than was expected.

Never mind adding to the total number of jobs — the only positive to cling to these days is the size of that negative tally each month. For now, smaller numbers are a good thing. Only after the bleeding stops can we begin to turn momentum in the other direction. Continue Reading