Q3 2015 Rugged Mobile Hardware Market Overview

by Cameron Roche | 12/22/2015

In Q3, the total rugged mobile hardware market, sized as all rugged notebooks, tablets, vehicle mounted devices, and handhelds, grossed just over $1 billion in revenue shipments and has produced year-to-date (YtD) revenue shipments of $3.2 billion. Also looking YtD, the market has shipped over 3.1 million units across the globe. By the end of Q4, we will likely see YtD revenue shipments surpass $4.2 billion and YtD unit shipments near 4.3 million units. While the rugged market has actually seen a year-over-year (YoY) revenue contraction of 1.7% compared with its position in Q3 2014, it has also produced 5.1% growth from Q1 2015 to Q3 2015. Read more

Warfare in the Age of Information and Mobility

by Matthew Hopkins and David Krebs | 12/18/2015

In an upcoming military and defense report, VDC will examine the unique security, application, and hardware requirements for mobile devices employed among military users.

The phrase “fog of war” describes the general state of uncertainty surrounding military operations, and has been referenced frequently in military literature for over a century. Equipped with less than perfect information, military leaders use their best judgment and the little information they have to make decisions in the theatre of war. Generally, these gaps in knowledge, or situational awareness, occur on both sides of the battlefield, essentially offsetting one another. However, if one side does possess superior information, even in the slightest, then it could tip the scales of war. This logic largely supports the network-centric warfare doctrine, which argues that communication, computer, and IoT systems provide an operational and strategic advantage in war. More generally, a military receives a competitive advantage when they have the ability to collect, analyze, communicate, and act on information in a synchronized manner. Read more

Behind the Research: 10 Tips for Survey Design

by Cameron Roche | 11/18/2015

Polls and surveys have the ability to provide significant insights into many areas of research and can often reveal hidden trends.  Whether used in politics or market research, surveys provide analysts with vital data for forecasts, predictions, and cross-cutting analysis of their desired topic area.  Many of VDC’s reports, whitepapers, and blog posts contain data provided from our custom designed surveys. 

The nature of VDC surveys allow respondents to provide information from an anonymous, protected vantage point, giving them the ability to respond freely with information regarding markets, business structures, and other strategic details. Read more

The Postal-Courier Industry’s Looming Technological Challenge

by Matthew Hopkins | 11/17/2015

The postal-courier industry, in the midst of market changes, will need to grapple with a significant technological challenge looming on the horizon. The delivery of goods is an expensive proposition that requires significant capital investments and a large supply of labor. Technology, in the form of handheld devices and delivery software, works to create an efficient process that enables companies to minimize costs and maximize revenues. The handhelds used by delivery personnel include a number of important capabilities—bar code scanning, messaging, GPS—that help facilitate workflows. From enabling track and trace to obtaining proof of delivery, the current use-cases for these devices are plentiful. As the expectations of consumers grow and their desire for greater personalization increases; postal-courier organizations will need to heavily rely on these devices to transfer real-time data between all parties involved in a transaction. Read more

Acquiring Direct Store Delivery (DSD) Optimization

by Cameron Roche | 10/30/2015

Within the past week, the NASDAQ and NYSE witnessed the announcement of two major acquisitions:  Walgreens intends to buy Rite Aid for $17.2 billion and Snyder’s-Lance plans to buy Diamond Foods for $1.9 billion.  Even though Walgreens and Snyder’s-Lance reside in different industry sectors, they both heavily rely on direct store delivery; Walgreens to keep their pharmacies well stocked, and Snyder’s-Lance to stock their retail partners. Read more

AT&T Analyst Event Recap

by Eric Klein | 10/09/2015

We just returned from Dallas after attending AT&T’s annual analyst summit. This year was the first time that the company combined its consumer and enterprise events. While we understand the reasoning behind that decision, in our opinion, it did not add much value to our experience of the event from an enterprise mobility perspective. The overall event was very well organized and provided us with good access to AT&T decision makers and also several high profilecustomers and partners. AT&T issued several notable news releases to coincide with the event—the announcements all show that AT&T is moving in a coordinated way towards becoming the largest integrated carrier for the enterprise. Read more

Event Recap – AirWatch Connect

by Eric Klein | 09/25/2015

In an effort to foster widespread adoption of their respective architectures and IP, leading embedded processor technology providers have been steadily building IoT-focused development platforms for their engineering ecosystems. ARM, Intel, and Imagination Technologies market comprehensive platforms focused on facilitating interoperability, software development, and security. Each organization is expanding on their development support and embedded hardware and software offerings in an effort to promote the reach of their respective core architectures. Despite some overlap, these leading embedded processor core architecture providers have actually embarked on fairly different paths for the IoT. Read more

Hip to be Enterprise: New Enterprise Focused Tablets Stealing the Show

by Matthew Hopkins | 09/23/2015

With the broader tablet market in the midst of an identity crisis one segment receiving increased attention are enterprise end users. VDC’s recently published 2015 Enterprise and Government Tablet analysis confirms this opportunity, forecasting annual growth of enterprise tablets – which represent approximately 15% of the overall tablet market – at 12.1% annually through 2019. A flurry of new products targeting the enterprise user from mega-brands Apple and Microsoft and specialty rugged mobile vendors Zebra and Xplore are directing the spotlight on this segment. Read more

It’s a Topsy Turvy World: Rugged Mobile Market’s Wild Ride Continues

by David Krebs | 09/20/2015

VDC Research’s recently published Q2 2015 Rugged Mobile Market Analysis provides further evidence that the rugged mobile market is anything but predictable. Performance varied considerably by both mobile form factors and regional market with continued turbulence expected through the end of 2015. Read more

BlackBerry Acquires Good Technology: Keeping Your Enemies Closer

by Eric Klein | 09/12/2015

Last week, BlackBerry made headlines with the announcement of its intent to acquire Good Technology for $425M in cash. The move follows a string of mobile-first EMM acquisitions that began with Citrix acquiring Zenprise in late 2012, followed by IBM’s acquisition of Fiberlink in November 2013, and VMware acquiring AirWatch a mere two months later. BlackBerry’s move will undoubtedly help the beleaguered company continue its transition from hardware tosoftware, help them reach their stated SW revenue targets and address some of BlackBerry’s more glaring EMM portfolio gaps. Read more

The Rise of the Rugged Enterprise Smartphone

by Kathryn Nassberg | 09/04/2015

Smaller form factor devices—namely rugged handheld computers and smartphones—remain among the most common device types that support line-of-business (LOB) workers across nearly all industry verticals. VDC estimates that manufacturers will deploy a total of 3.4 million rugged handheld computers and 32 million smartphones in 2015. While there is some overlap between use cases for rugged handheld devices and for smartphones, the latter are morealigned with highly business- and mission-critical applications, which place a premium on reliability and have unique data capture requirements. However, the rugged smartphone has emerged as a new form factor in recent years.  Read more

How Apple and IBM are Changing the Face of Enterprise IT

by Matthew Hopkins | 08/20/2015

Over the course of the past decade, Apple has come to epitomize the consumer side of technology, from the iconic iPhone to the Mac, which has made significant progress against the once-ubiquitous PC. In the enterprise, however, Microsoft’s legacy as the de facto OS for business remains a significant barrier that Apple continues to chip away at by virtue of its massive consumer appeal. Under CEO Tim Cook’s stewardship, there has been a notable shift to prioritizing the OS enterprise – take, for example, the partnership with onetime rival IBM in July of last year. Read more

Samsung Unpacks Potential with Samsung Pay and Note 5

by Kathryn Nassberg | 08/14/2015

Yesterday, the heads of Samsung took to the stage at Lincoln Center in New York to announce its latest devices – the S6 edge+ and the Note 5, as well as the release of its new payment system, Samsung Pay.  With the advent of the iPhone 6 Plus, Samsung has had to work harder to differentiate its product beyond being the default Android counterpart to Apple. The Note 5 manages to accomplish this handily with the newest iteration of the S-Pen, which provides substantive enterprise functionality. Read more

Zebra Ups OS Migration Ante with ITR Mobility/iFactr Acquisition

by David Krebs | 08/11/2015

Zebra announced its Q2 2015 results today. Although the top line results mostly were in line or slightly beat expectations, the same cannot be said of EPS which significantly missed expectations. The gross margin hit was explained by various non-recurring events such as the cost of re-branding. However, looking a little closer, the numbers are also suggestive of a change to business mix with a larger share of revenues being derived from Tier 1 deals which inherently carry lower margins when compared to the run-rate or channel business. Put another way, the run rate business is showing signs of weakness. A lot of time during the Q&A on the earnings call today was dedicated towards the state of Zebra’s mobility opportunity and their customer’s migration from legacy Windows platforms (Windows Mobile/Windows CE) to Android, iOS and potentially/eventually Windows 10. Read more

Split-Billing Heating Up

by Matthew Hopkins | 07/31/2015

Split-billing, the process by which mobile phone charges are divided based on certain criteria and paid separately by the employee and employer, is a capability that is increasingly attractive due to consumerization trends. Companies providing mobile solutions to employees face a growing challenge in identifying and separating corporate and personal use; this is especially difficult in a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) or corporate-owned, privately enabled (COPE) environment. The issue remains divisive, with some employers expecting employees to pay for all mobile use—both corporate and personal—while others have implemented stipends, corporate phone plans, or reimbursements for corporate use. Read more

No Margin for Error for Windows 10

by Matthew Hopkins | 07/28/2015

All eyes are on Microsoft with tomorrow’s much-anticipated and written-about release of Windows 10. This next generation of Windows could prove a key turning point for the rugged market – and the rugged handheld market in particular, which has seen fluctuating demand in recent years due in large part to OS uncertainty following the lack of success with Windows 8.1. The launch of Windows Embedded 8.1 Handheld as a successor to the popular but aging Windows CE and 6.x began inauspiciously with delays and lack of device support from market leaders, with the result that the only devices available supporting the OS were from vendors limited market share. Read more

Recap: Qatalyst Global’s Managing BYOX & End User Mobility conference

by Matthew Hopkins | 07/16/2015

At Qatalyst Global’s Managing BYOX & End User Mobility conference, organizations such as PG&E, Fairfield University, and Aetna shared their experiences integrating mobile initiatives, while vendors including Apperian, Bluebox Security, Dilligent, IBM, and WorkSpot, explained how their mobile services could increase company productivity and efficiency. We had the opportunity to speak with several of the end users in attendance about their BYOx approaches — not surprisingly, most were still challenged by the complexities of implementing BYOx policies and proving the ROI of these initiatives.  Read more

Samsung’s Search for Success in Enterprise Mobility

by David Krebs | 07/08/2015

In 2014, Samsung watched its mobile sales drop 21 percent as increased competition further ate away at the company’s market share in the smartphone space. Apple’s consumer-friendly iOS garnered greater control of the high-end smartphone market with the company’s release of a “large-display” iPhone 6 and 6 plus. At the other end of the spectrum, low-end manufacturers such as Xiaomi captured Samsung’s market share—particularly in emerging markets—by producing similar devices with lower prices. Read more

How Microsoft can Gain Relevance in Enterprise Mobility

by Matthew Hopkins | 06/25/2015

Microsoft has long been aware that mobile enablement has taken root within its customer base. While Microsoft has had the opportunity to leverage its cloud and software development capabilities and position them for the future, the company has struggled, and has seen little traction for its enterprise mobility related solutions. Since establishing its Enterprise Client & Mobility (ECM) team, Microsoft has been able to incorporate a broad portfolio of assets and products, namely: Windows Server, System Center, Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Microsoft Azure RemoteApp, Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Remote Desktop Services, and security. Read more

VMware ups Security Ante and Shows its Ready for the Post-PC Era

by Eric Klein | 06/16/2015

VMware did a masterful job in drawing attention to its business mobility event earlier this week in San Francisco. While we thought that a key partnership similar to the Apple/IBM tie up last summer might be announced, the company did make several important announcements. The primary news was the launch of an entirely new identity management solution (simply named: VMware Identity Manager) which offers integrated single sign-on (SSO) functionality with AirWatch's EMM platform. The fact that 15 new ISV partners have joined the App Configuration for Enterprise (ACE) program was also notable; VMware has correctly identified an opportunity to differentiate going forward via app curation. Read more

WWDC: Enterprise Recap

by Matthew Hopkins | 06/11/2015

Apple’s highly anticipated annual Worldwide Developers Conference occurred on Monday at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. As expected, many of the developments revolved around consumer products, namely the Apple Watch and a new music streaming service, Apple Music. However, enterprise enhancements were also present, as Apple looks to increase its presence in corporate environments.

In keeping with recent tradition, Apple announced its new operating systems: iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan, which allow for greater integration among devices. The new OS X does not include many new features, but iOS 9 provides some new improvements that enhance the competitiveness of the iPhone and iPad in both consumer and enterprise markets. Read more

VMware Teases Special "Seminal Announcement" on June 16th

by Kathryn Nassberg | 06/01/2015

Public companies don't often promise "seminal announcements" — unless they have something truly important to share. In this vein, this should make for an interesting reveal. There have not been any notable acquisitions in the mobility space for some time now (arguably, since VMware acquired AirWatch back in early 2014). While announcing an acquisition is by no means certain/imminent, it seems likely. Another possibility would be an exclusive partnership with a high profile partner (similar to the summer '14 Apple/IBM announcement). Read more

Event Recap – Citrix Synergy

by Eric Klein | 05/19/2015

I had the pleasure of attending Citrix's Synergy customer event this past week in Orlando Florida. The event was well attended (about 7.5K on-prem, and roughly 5K remote attendees) and featured a nice mix of vendors on the show floor that ranged from small startups to heavies such as Cisco, IBM, Intel and Microsoft. After narrowly missing its Q1 numbers a few weeks ago, Citrix needed to demonstrate that its recent restructuring and organizational changes were positives; and that they were helping to transition the business to its next phase of growth.  Read more

Event Recap ― SAP SAPPHIRE (Mobile Perspective)

by Eric Klein | 05/11/2015

To no one's surprise, this past week's SAPPHIRE conference was all about S/4HANA, the next-generation ERP suite that SAP launched this past February. The company's CEO Bill McDermott spoke with conviction about the importance of digitization and customer centricity, and made it clear that S/4HANA was going to deliver on the "simple promise" and help businesses become both data-driven and seamless. Read more

Following Record Q2 Earnings, Apple Turns to Partnerships to Bolster Enterprise Ambitions

by Kathryn Nassberg | 05/01/2015

This week, Apple made headlines with record earnings in Q2, mostly on the back of iPhone 6 sales, while iPad sales continue to slip. In an effort to maintain the tablet’s relevance, Apple is redoubling its efforts in the enterprise, where the iPad has gained considerable traction. To that, CEO Tim Cook announced that Apple is working with an increased number of partners to expand its reach into the enterprise and change how people work. Read more

MobileIron's Miss

by Eric Klein | 04/27/2015

Larry Dignan's article over at ZDNet this past week was a shot across the bow for the EMM market. In case you missed it, MobileIron announced that their CFO was departing, and issued a profit warning in their pre-announcement of their Q1 earnings (the company's Q1 earning callis scheduled for this Thursday). In their pre-announcement, MobileIron said that its Q1 non-GAAP revenue will be between $32M-$33M (down from its previous outlook of $34M-$37M). Gross billings (between $35.5M-$37M) were also lower than the $40M-$42M that they had expected. MobileIron's CEO Bob Tinker attributed the miss to several large deals not closing in Q1. Read more

Xplore Technologies and Motion Computing: Austin Neighbors Get Cozy

by David Krebs | 04/23/2015

The news that Motion Computing was acquired did not come as much of a surprise, nor the fact that it was acquired by the ever-opportunistic Xplore Technologies. What was striking, however, were the terms of the deal - $9 million cash and assumption of $7 million of Motion Computing’s liabilities. Motion’s struggles with profitability have been widely rumored within the industry, with uneven performance resulting in substantial market share erosion. Motion's share of the growing rugged tablet market shrank by nearly one half over the past 4 years to the low teens in 2014. Read more

Mobility is Driving Enterprise Collaboration Innovation

by Eric Klein | 04/20/2015

Long a bandied-about buzzword, collaboration has gotten an enterprise makeover in recent years in integrating chat and content sharing. The market has emerged from its roots in consumer-grade social networks like Facebook and Twitter to incorporate established enterprise players like IBM, Oracle and SAP, especially after Microsoft’s acquisition of Yammer in 2012. Since then, enterprise-specific social networking products have transformed from more consumer styled chat tools to fully fledged business collaboration platforms that have the potential to replace not only intranets, but knowledge management systems and corporate portals as their features and functionalities continue to expand. Read more

Could the Apple Watch be a tipping point for enterprise wearables?

by Kathryn Nassberg | 04/16/2015

In the days before the official launch of the Apple watch on the 24th and Apple counting nearly a million pre-orders since last Friday, much of the tech world is abuzz with talk about the newest smartwatch to hit the market and the impact it could have on wearables as a genre. Although wearable devices have been on the market for some time, they have failed to garner any notable traction in the consumer market. Read more

Why Content is King on Mobile Platforms

by Kathryn Nassberg | 04/10/2015

VDC's recent conversations with CIOs indicate that a shift in thinking is underway; organizations recognize that they need to expand their security focus beyond their users and their device(s) to the data both the users and devices have access to. This data-centric security model is helping CIOs and IT leaders to exert greater control and increase their level of comfort with their mobile policies. While protecting data on a server has become par for the course in the enterprise, protecting data in motion is a whole other kettle of fish. The increasing use of mobile devices in the enterprise has employees carrying around (and potentially exposing) more information than ever. Read more

Rugged Mobile Market Entering 2015 With a Head of Steam...Sort of

by David Krebs | 04/06/2015

It has been undeniable that the rugged mobile computer market has lost its way over the past several years. Be it the competition from lower-cost consumer devices eroding opportunities or the overall economic malaise, the headwinds facing this sector have been palpable. In 2011, VDC Research published a report suggesting that one-fourth of the rugged market (especially the handheld segment) was at risk from the onslaught of consumer smartphones and tablets. Although the market outcome followed the narrative, the analysis did not fully take into account the market dynamics and the degree to which the market has transformed over the past three years. Read more

Does the New SecuTABLET Foreshadow BlackBerry's Transition to Software?

by Kathryn Nassberg | 03/17/2015

Following a turbulent year which saw sizable contractions and the launch of two new devices, the BlackBerry Passport and the Classic, the company once again made headlines this week with the announcement of its first foray in years into the tablet market after the failure of the ill-fated PlayBook with the unveiling of theSecuTABLET, a high-security tablet based on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5. Presented in collaboration with IBM at CeBIT 2015, the device is squarely focused on security, with the public sector and security-minded enterprises as its target market. Aiming for thehighest levels of security, the device, which has been designed with European governments in mind, is currently undergoing certification for a German VS-NfD (classified – for official use only) rating, making it one of the most secure tablets to enter the market in an era where concerns around data leakage and breaches continue to grow. Read more

Realizing the New Normal at Zebra Technologies

by David Krebs | 03/17/2015

Zebra Technologies announced its Q4 2014 earnings today for the first time since its acquisition of Motorola Solutions’ enterprise business officially closed. The results included two months of the enterprise business in addition to Zebra's existing operations. Zebra’s core printing and consumables business has been on a tear of late hitting record numbers on a consistent cadence. Q4 2014 was no different with the company reporting YoY sales growth of a strong 10.6%. The Enterprise business, conversely, was flat on a nominal currency basis (up a couple of percentage points on a constant currency basis). However, on a sequential comparison, the Enterprise business was up approximately 14%. Read more

The EMM Pivot is Upon us #MWC15 EMM Recap

by Eric Klein | 03/10/2015

As one might expect, the high profile handset refreshes from Samsung (Galaxy S6), HTC (M9) and LG (G Flex 2) and the notable (and well timed) acquisition announcements (NXP acquiring Freescale, HP acquiring Aruba Networks, and Mitel's acquisition of Mavenir) garnered the lion share of the post MWC media coverage. However, there was something different at MWC this year. There was a "new partner" sitting in on several of the briefings we had at MWC. Read more

MWC 2015 Recap

by David Krebs | 03/10/2015

Although the Mobile World Congress event we just attended in Barcelona is still largely a carrier show – as measured by the audience it attracts and the general lack of attendance by enterprise ITdecision-makers – the roster of vendors on display is remarkable. VDC spent three agenda-packed days at the show meeting with a variety of enterprise mobility and IoT-focused solution providers. Some of our team’s observations are summarized below. Read more

Event Recap ― IBM InterConnect

by Eric Klein | 02/27/2015

I had the opportunity to attend IBM's InterConnect event earlier this week in Las Vegas; the event was well attended (20K+ attendees) and showcased the depth and breadth of IBM's Cloud, Mobile, Security, and DevOps capabilities. The inaugural InterConnect event combined three previously separate IBM events (Pulse, Innovate and Impact). IBM's executives were successful in articulating the progress the vendor has made in the key strategic areas the company has focused on (analytics, mobility, security and cloud computing). Read more

Is Augmented Reality Primed for Warehouse Automation?

by Kathryn Nassberg | 02/27/2015

The trend of augmented reality (AR) has been picking up steam. Much of the recent hype stemmed from the Microsoft announcement of its HoloLens last month, where there was considerable buzz surrounding consumer applications for the device that bordered on the futuristic appeal of 1950’s world of tomorrow. However, the more grounded applications for Augmented Reality that are emerging are firmly planted in the realm of enterprise. Warehousing and logistics have long been a hotbed of activity for portable and wearable technology, where the opportunity to free up a workers hands has immediate productivity benefits and a strong ROI profile. Wearable voice-enabled picking solutions and wrist and finger mounted scanning solutions have been successfully used in these environments for over a decade. Read more

MWC 2015: Pre-Show Expectations

by David Krebs | 02/26/2015

Barcelona is again set to become the epicenter of all things mobile with MWC 2015 upon us. A team of four VDC analysts will be roaming the exhibit floors at Fira Gran Via - not to mention the odd Tapas bar in Barcelona's Barrio Gotico. With our calendars maxed, we are eagerly anticipating this year's story-lines. Using our 2015 research calendar as the backdrop, some of the themes we will be following closely include. Read more

Mobile Payments Race Heats Up with Samsung’s LoopPay Acquisition

by Kathryn Nassberg | 02/19/2015

Samsung announced yesterday its acquisition of the Burlington, MA-based startup LoopPay Inc. for an undisclosed amount after reports of the two companies working together a mobile payments solution in late 2014 towards. The announcement heralds Samsung’s entry into the mobile payments fray, pitting it squarely against Apple and Google Wallet as the market for the digital wallet continues to evolve. Read more

Revamping the Enterprise Inbox

by Eric Klein | 02/13/2015

Email, which has long been an established piece of enterprise productivity and at the tail-end of innovation, has received a considerable makeover in recent months. An increasingly mobilized workforce in recent years has meant that the majority of emails are now read first on a mobile device. The result is a palpable trend in the market to revamp email where ease of use and productivity is maintained in a cross-platform and touch-centric format. Many of these innovations include more seamless calendar integration, improved triage, search, and archiving functions, as well as enhanced communication tools that integrate chat and voice that are particularly well-suited to mobile platforms like the smartphone. Read more

How Quickly Will DYI Mobile Initiatives Give way to Mobile Managed Services?

by Eric Klein | 02/06/2015

While business analysts are now more experienced with identifying the right use cases and design requirements for mobile applications, designing, developing, integrating, managing, and maintaining these apps remains a significant task. Mobilizing and integrating manual business processes and workflows with modern mobile platforms is not only complex but costly, particularly when considering that many legacy applications and systems are not being abandoned. Creating new mobile applications to integrate with legacy systems requires both a high degree of specialized skills and additional software. Read more

A Salute to Erstwhile Colleague Chris Lanfear

by David Krebs | 02/06/2015

The VDC Research family is broken-hearted after hearing of the passing of former colleague Chris Lanfear on February 4th of a brain aneurysm. Chris joined VDC Research in 1999 and spent almost eight years with the firm. His contributions to VDC during his tenure were immeasurable, many of which are still felt today. He helped cement VDC as the go-to research and advisory resource for the embedded software community. Deeply respected by his clients, he brought a very creative yet actionable approach to his interactions, fostering relationships that endured. Always accessible to his colleagues, he challenged us not to conform and to find the implications that really mattered to our clients. Passionate about marketing, he was quick to realize the potential of new mediums and launched VDC's inaugural blog, On Target: Embedded Systems. Read more

The Notebook Market is More “PC Plus” than “Post-PC”

by Kathryn Nassberg | 01/30/2015

Despite cries that the enterprise notebook is dead, the form factor is making a long-awaited comeback, as businesses realize that tablets are not the notebook replacement they once believed. After a period of declining year-on-year sales, notebooks have been rebounding in the enterprise, as well as showing signs of positive growth in the consumer market. Read more

A Return to Innovation as Microsoft Lifts the Veil at Windows 10 Event

by Kathryn Nassberg | 01/22/2015

Yesterday saw Microsoft reveal more details about the upcoming Windows 10 OS. After two years of limited success with Windows 8, Microsoft has sought to recapture its audience with a return to the familiar with the reintroduction of the Start button as an integral feature, as well as expanding the system to serve as a unified platform across all form factors. In addition to improving the functionality of the Action Center, Windows 10 will also incorporate Cortana across form factors, including the PC. With this suite of features and improvements, Microsoft hopes that it can leverage its position as market leader among PCs to increase its mobile market share, which has languished in the single digits since launching. Read more

Meet w/ VDC's Mobile Team at #MWC15!

by Eric Klein | 01/15/2015

VDC's mobile team will be making the trip across the Atlantic again this year to visit the largest mobile technology tradeshow of the year, Mobile World Congress in Bacelona, Spain. Last year, the conference boasted 85,916 attendees! Below are the statistics from last year's event. Read more

VDC’s Mobile NRF Recap

by Kathryn Nassberg | 01/14/2015

With a show the scale of NRF there is no shortage of topics to address, so our focus will be on mobile solutions that struck us as particularly unique or crafty. The broad themes were largely an extension of topics introduced over the last couple of years: The "connected" and "in-control" customer; seamless "omni-channel" experiences; two-way "sharing" of information. While there clearly are retail visionaries who are daring and "get it" – like Cole Haan and the access they are providing their customers to in-store inventory or Outfittery, with its innovative focus on personalized curation - there seems to still be a lot of unsubstantiated noise. Read more

Vuzix and XOEye Partner to offer end-to-end wearable enterprise solutions

by Kathryn Nassberg | 01/08/2015

Leading HUD manufacturer Vuzix continues its trend of strategic partnerships with the announcement earlier this week of its partnership with wearable tech firm XOEye to create an end-to-end solution for more rugged industry segments that include manufacturing, construction, and field services. Under the partnership, Vuzix will bundle its flagship M100 smart glasses with XOEye’s cloud-based software platform and applications developed to enhance communication and operation efficiencies, particularly in regards to remote diagnostics, managerial support, compliance and project documentation. Read more