Google Drive Could Be Huge for Google, in the Enterprise

Google Drive obviously will be valuable to consumers who want to store and share content that anybody can view and annotate from any device with Internet access and a web browser. But there is at least some thinking that it could wind up being a useful enterprise tool as well, especially for collaboration.


Lots of what organizations do these days is share information, with internal and external audiences. Google Drive seems to have superior search capabilities (no surprise there). 


Google Drive, in one sense, is part of the evolution of application and device usage in the direction of content consumption. Google Drive might just turn out to be a product with value both for consumers and enterprises and mid-sized or smaller businesses. 

Google Drive is Launched: 5 Gbytes of Storage Free

Goolge has launched Google Drive, a consumer cloud storage service. 


Google Docs is built right into Google Drive, so users can work with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. 


Once content is shared with others, users can add and reply to comments on anything (PDF, image, video) and receive notifications when other people comment on shared items.


If you have used cloud storage services before, you know the big advantage is that all the stored items are available from any device with Internet access and web browser capability.


Users can install Drive on a Mac or PC and can download the Drive app to an Android phone or tablet. Google also is working hard on a Drive app for Apple iOS devices.


All stored content can be searched by keyword and filtered by file type, owner and more.


The first 5 Gbytes of storage are free. Users can add additional storage as well. You can choose to upgrade to 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month or even 1TB for $49.99/month. When you upgrade to a paid account, your Gmail account storage will also expand to 25GB.



Drive is built to work seamlessly with your overall Google experience. You can attach photos from Drive to posts in Google+, and soon you’ll be able to attach stuff from Drive directly to emails in Gmail. Drive is also an open platform, so we’re working with many third-party developers so you can do things like send faxes, edit videos andcreate website mockups directly from Drive. To install these apps, visit the Chrome Web Store—and look out for even more useful apps in the future.

Galaxy Nexus now on sale in Google Play, Unlocked, for Use on T-Mobile USA or AT&T Networks

Google has started selling unlocked Galaxy Nexus (for HSPA networks ) from a new "Devices" section in the Google Play web store, allowing users to take advantage of Google Wallet, and the device, on either T-Mobile USA or AT&T networks, Google says. 


First available in the United States, Galaxy Nexus costs $399 and is sold without a carrier commitment or contract. You can use it on the GSM network of your choice, including T-Mobile and AT&T. It also comes pre-installed with the Google Wallet app which lets you easily make purchases and redeem offers with a tap of your phone. Best of all, we'll give you a $10 credit to get you started with your new mobile wallet.


Galaxy Nexus by Samsung runs the latest Android software, Ice Cream Sandwich, with Google mobile services, Google Play and new features like Android Beam and Google mobile hangouts. It also offers a 4.65” HD Super AMOLED display. 

Apple's "Stealth" Approach to Enterprise Adoption is Working

The " iPhone is changing the way companies across the globe use mobile devices for work," says Peter Oppenheimer, Apple Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President. That perhaps unremarkable comment nevertheless is interesting because Apple never has gone much out of its way to sell to enterprise and other business users, preferring to sell directly to end users, and simply relying on those users to do missionary work inside their organizations.


"In addition to accessing e-mail, calendar and contacts, many of these companies are developing and deploying mission-critical iPhone apps to help improve productivity and give employees secure and immediate access to information anywhere," said Oppenheimer. 


"Some new examples include Royal Dutch Shell, Credit Suisse, Kimberly-Clark, St. Jude Medical, Providian, Teradata, Nike, [indiscernible] and Facebook," Oppenheimer said.


The same pattern can be seen for iPad adoption by businesses of all sizes. 


"Nearly all of the top companies within major Fortune 500 markets including pharma, manufacturing, hospitality, consumer products, financial services, healthcare and retail are actively using iPad to improve workflows, business processes and customer engagements," said Oppenheimer.


"Real estate agents at Coldwell Banker and Sotheby's access sales presentations and use custom iPad apps in the field," he noted. "Retail chains such as Bed Bath & Beyond use iPads to deliver key business metrics on the sales floor."


"Wineries are using iPads in their vineyards to call up weather data and soil profiles, record quality assessments and make decisions on the spot about whether to harvest their grapes," Oppenheimer added. "And in this past quarter, Chinese airline, EVA, has also deployed iPads to pilots and crew for flight manuals, documentation and training."


The Denver Broncos have stopped using paper playbooks and now use iPads instead. 

AT&T Wireless Revenue Exceeds 50% for First Time

AT&T mobile services revenue has been building for some time, and in the first quarter of 2012 broke above the 50 percent level for the first time, reaching 51 percent of total revenue. Landline voice revenue fell to 18 percent of total. 


Looking only at fixed network revenue, 27 percent was contributed by services to business customers as well as data services. Wireless data alone accounts for 42 percent of total revenue. 

Mobile data will be the largest contributor to U.S. telecom service provider growth over the next five years, says Pyramid Research. That not-unexpected assessment is simple recognition of the fact that growth must be driven by services that have obvious demand drivers, fit network and other organizational capabilities are not already fairly saturated and highly competitive. Right now, in the U.S. market, mobile broadband to support smart phones and tablet devices is the only clear service that fits all the parameters.

Voice services are expected to dwindle, on both the fixed and mobile networks. There will be growth in the video entertainment, VoIP and high-speed access segments, but at modest rates. 

The U.S. telecom market generated $367 billion in service revenue in 2010, an increase of 3.1 percent over 2009.

"We expect the market to grow at a 3.1 percent compound annual growth rate over 2011 to 2016, reaching $443 billion in 2016, Pyramid Research forecasts. 

While it was the fourth-largest service segment in 2010 (after mobile voice, fixed voice and pay-TV), Pyramid Research projects mobile broadband will have a 12.7 percent CAGR over the 2011 to 2016 period.

That means that mobile broadband services will overtake mobile voice, fixed voice and entertainment video  to become the single largest revenue stream in the U.S. telecom industry by 2016.

As demand for fixed circuit-switched voice decreases, fixed VoIP will increase, growing at a 12.2 percent CAGR from 2011 to 2016. But VoIP still will be the smallest of all revenue streams over the forecast period. There might continue to be some small dial-up Internet access revenue, but it will be negligible. 

Apple Profits Most from "Consumerization of IT"

Though some will disagree, you can argue that Apple now leads the consumer electronics business, not only the computing business, while Microsoft has become more of an enterprise technology supplier. 


Five years ago, in 2007, Microsoft reported quarterly revenue of $14.398 billion and  profit of $6.589 billion. In 2012, Microsoft’s revenue was $17.4 billion, while profit was $6.374 billion. The company is still growing, but not fast, and is less profitable. 


The bigger story, though, is likely Apple.


Five years ago, in its first quarter of 2007, Apple revenue was $7.1 billion and profit was $1 billion,  the first quarter with a billion dollar profit in company history. In 2012, for the same quarter, Apple had $47 billion in revenue and $13 billion in profit.


The shift into different customer segments is not, in some ways, a surprise. Apple never has chased the enterprise market, preferring to sell directly to end users, and then watch enterprise sales grow as those users demanded the right to use their devices at work. You can say Apple has been the biggest beneficiary of "bring your own device" or "consumerization of IT" trends. 


Workers now report using an average of four consumer devices and multiple third-party applications, such as social networking sites, in the course of their day, according to a study sponsored by Unisys. 


Also, workers in the survey reported that they are using their own smartphones, laptops and mobile phones in the workplace at nearly twice the rate reported by employers.

In fact, 95 percent of respondents reported that they use at least one self-purchased device for work. Another big change is that where enterprise IT staffs used to assume they were responsible for training and supporting users on enterprise technology, these days many users simply will go ahead and train themselves to use tools they prefer. That also is a big change.

That 'consumerization' of technology is quite a big shift. Decades ago, the pattern of technology diffusion was fairly straightforward. The latest new technology was purchased by large enterprises and large government entities. Over time medium-sized businesses and organizations started to buy the same technology. Later, small businesses and organizations adopted the tools. Finally, some consumers 'brought the technology home' and used it as well.

All of that has changed over the last two decades. These days, many enterprise tools actually were brought into the enterprise by consumers who already had adopted the technology for home use.

U.S. Mobile Ad Spend Will Double in 2012

Mobile ad spending worldwide will grow 85 percent in 2012 from $6.3 billion to $11.6 billion, according to Strategy Analytics. 


In the United States market, ad spend for mobile advertising will grow much faster, at about a 128 percent rate, to about $4.2 billion, Strategy Analytics estimates. 


The total U.S. mobile mediamarket is expected to outperform the global growth rate as well, increasing by 22.1 percent to nearly $38 billion by the end of  2012. 

U.S. consumers are expected to spend $6.7 billion on mobile apps in 2012, a 24.6 percent increase over 2011, and accounting for 20 percent of all U.S. consumer mobile spend.