Emerging Technologies: Mobilizing Your Information
XML and Java may eliminate the need to format content multiple times for various types of mobile device displays, but whether these standards will survive in the long term is also uncertain. "XML will probably make some of today’s tools obsolete. And it will probably be obsolete itself because it’s not really made for video streaming and those types of applications," says Cahner’s Diercks. "Its use is somewhat limited."
The caveats, however, certainly haven’t stopped mobilization in its tracks. According to analyst company Gartner, there are 60 million mobile workers in the United States today. Mobile Computing magazine estimates that 40 percent of all white-collar workers in the United States have a mobility-related component to their jobs. Those numbers mean mobile solutions are primed for growth. And with growth should come standards?and a simpler process for getting data mobilized.
That fact raises a question?is now the time to go mobile, or is it better to wait until the market stabilizes?
"You first need to ask why you want to go to a mobile solution. What would your workers and customers gain from it?" asks Yankee Group’s Zawel. "And second, is this something I need to be a first mover on? Is this something that can wait?"
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Everything BlackBerry with tips, news and reviews from our mobility expert Al Sacco.
