Case Study #1

Meghan McBreairty
Case Study
GMMD 409
Doctor Sweeney

Case Study #1: Tablet and Mobile Devices

The
increasing rate of technological advances with tablets and mobile devices are
immense. They are even finding their way
into schools, younger generations, and also the business industry. One of the best quotes I could find that
truly explains the current state of these items would be that “mobile is here,
mobile is growing, mobile enterprises are innovating and providing value”
(Trice 2011). Another part of the
article talked about how “We are in the midst of a revolution across a
variety of screens, with new input methods, new formats, and new distribution
models. This revolution is being fueled by several fundamental drivers:
processing power growth, powerful portable batteries, increasing bandwidth for
wireless Internet connectivity, and a wide array of screen sizes and device
form factors. This “multi-screen” revolution represents
the growing number and diversity of screens in our daily lives – PCs, Smartphone’s,
tablets, TVs and more – as well as our increasing ability to interact with
content and applications across screens, and the interconnections between them”
(Trice 2011). I think that this really
describes the impact that tablets and mobile devices are right now in their
current state. These items are found
everywhere, our own SUNY Canton being an example with having tablets at use for
students to use in the library; we live in a world surrounded by the use of
these items.
There
was also a lot of statistics that I was able to find about how the supply and
demand of Mobile devices and tablets are becoming more of a demand of
desktops. One graph that I found that
was quite shocking with seeing the demand of internet usage between the two was
the image below:


















Another
graph that really showed the shipment difference of desktops to Smartphone’s
that showed how mobile devices are more of a demand is:

When
it comes to who are major players in the industries and who will be in the
future, you really have to look at both mobile devices and tablets
separately.
With
tablets even in the future Apple will continue to dominate the tablet space
with the iPad, and will of course be releasing there next model
eventually. One article that I found
that really talked about how it will develop in the future will be that “The
iPad 3, as it will likely be named, should be similar to the iPad 2 with
upgrades mostly under the hood. It’s not likely Apple can go much thinner and
lighter than the iPad 2, so expect processor bumps and software changes. Don’t
be surprised if we see a 4G-capable iPad, as Apple may test the waters on the
tablet first before bringing it to the iPhone with its smaller battery. Where
Apple might take a swipe at the competition is with pricing. Even a modest
price drop of $50 could shake things up in the tablet world, a bigger drop
would make things quite interesting.” I
think the next runner up in the Tablet industry and will give Apple a run for
their money would be the Kindle Fire from Amazon. It is said that “While technically an Android
tablet, the Amazon fork has its own look and feel and ecosystem to back it up.
Amazon sold a million Kindle Fires prior to actually shipping one, and should
have a second million in sales through the 2011 holiday season. Next year don’t
be surprised if Amazon notes another 6 million+ sales in the books, making it
easily the number two tablets behind the iPad. While rumors claim we will see a
bigger (8.9-inch) tablet next year, I don’t think that will be the case. The
$199 price of the Kindle Fire is important, and a more expensive tablet would
be risky”. Some other predictions that
are to be rumored for the future of Tablets would be “We should see Android
4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, shipping on tablets in numbers next year. While
the demonstrations I have seen of ICS running on tablets aren’t revolutionary,
it is better than Honeycomb so OEMs should flock to get their tablets to
market. Pricing will get quite competitive, which actually hurts Android as a
platform as they don’t seem to compete with the iPad, rather with each other.
We will see quad core processors powering Android tablets next year, making them
some of the fastest mobile computers around. There doesn’t seem to be one
single champion in the Android camp coming to dominate the rest. Next year will
be Microsoft’s springboard to try and claim a piece of the tablet pie, as
Windows 8 starts to hit in the latter half of the year. We should see both
Intel and ARM-based tablets come to market, with the former targeting the
enterprise and the latter the consumer. Microsoft has bitten off a big task in
using its flagship desktop OS to also power the tablet and it will be
interesting to see how consumers react. There is a draw to have your tablet
work like your main computer, and use the same apps, so we’ll see how big a
splash Windows 8 makes in the tablet sector. The Nook Tablet was released
nearly simultaneously with the Kindle Fire, but lacks the ecosystem and retail
smarts Amazon brings to the Kindle Fire. The techie crowd will jump on the Nook
Tablet due to its hack ability, but I believe regular consumers will go with
the familiar Amazon Kindle brand next year”
(http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-news/2012-mobile-state-of-the-union-part-1-of-3-smartphones/5593?tag=content;siu-container). Overall I think that the prediction is that
tablets will continue to sell well into 2012.
I also think that more consumers will realize they can do significant
portions of what computers can do and sometimes even more. The larger the
screen is better suited for most of these activities than the tiny
Smartphone’s. I also think that as the
prices will continue to drop the more that will be bought.
When
dealing with mobile devices there are a lot of predictions to what will happen
in the future. Some of the major players
in the industry would definitely be Apple with the iPhone, and the Android
market. For the future of phones one
article that I found that really helped some up what could be in store for us
in the future was that, “Next year will see the Smartphone space continue much
as it has this year, with the same major players. Android will continue growing
as a platform, but I think it will slow down somewhat in 2012. The platform has
settled into a mature platform, and subsequent upgrades will be incremental
rather than revolutionary. It will take most of next year for Android 4.0 (Ice
Cream Sandwich) to become the standard version in the installed base, in spite
of handling both phones and tablets.
Windows Phone took a long time to
get rolling in the marketplace, but it should pick up speed in 2012. The
partnership with Nokia should yield more handsets that are state-of-the-art,
augmented by Mango and other updates we will see next year. We might see more
OEMs jump on the Windows Phone platform in 2012, as public awareness grows. The
enterprise should take a deeper look at the OS from Microsoft, as concerns over
malware and security with Android continue to rise to the surface.
Apple should unveil the next
iPhone, and most likely it will add 4G capability. It will probably have a new
form, although nothing radically different than the iPhone 4/4S. The technology
behind Siri should leave beta status next year, and will integrate into more of
the iOS system on the new iPhone. Rather than hardware improvements catching
the eyes of the industry, Apple’s virtual SIM technology that may roll out in
2012 could set the mobile space on its ear. This will put the ability for
customers to leave one carrier and use the iPhone on another carrier solely in
Apple’s hands, and not the carriers. Having a SIM that is programmable only by
Apple will upset business as usual for the carriers, and they won’t like it one
bit. This could be the biggest disruptor in 2012.
RIM will bring out the first
phones running BBX, the new OS based on QNX. It will have a hard time enticing
customers back to the BlackBerry, and it is not clear how successful the
attempt will be. We very well may see major promotions giving the BlackBerry
away, to keep the installed base from dropping precipitously. If the new BBX
platform doesn’t hit the market running, RIM may find itself in serious
trouble.
Amazon may release a Smartphone of
its own in 2012, riding on the success of the Kindle Fire. It will be based on
Android like the Fire, but with the Amazon look-and-feel. It will sell millions
of these phones next year, if launched by the fourth quarter.
These five platforms, counting
Amazon’s Android fork as a separate platform, will totally dominate the
Smartphone space next year, and it is not likely another will step up to
challenge them. Android and iOS will together own the vast majority of the smartphone
market, with Windows Phone picking up more share from Android than it has to
date.
Hardware will continue to improve,
with faster processors appearing. Dual core processors will be the standard,
while a few Android super phones sporting quad core chipsets will blow the
doors off everything else. The inclusion of 4G capability will become the norm
in the U. S. Unlimited data plans will continue to be phased out and customers
will get a taste of hitting data caps in increasing numbers.
Totally platform independent, the
Smartphone with its integrated camera will continue to transform the global
community, one tweet and video at a time. As brilliantly
detailed by ZDNet colleague Zack Whittaker, the relationship between
citizens and the authorities will be impacted by the presence of the Smartphone
in the global population. It is no longer possible for authorities to put spin
on untenable situations, with thousands, even millions recording events in real
time. The Smartphone will become the most important factor in social media next
year, putting power back in the hands of the people”(http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-news/2012-mobile-state-of-the-union-part-1-of-3-smartphones/5593?tag=content;siu-container).
I found that this really was an
interesting point and I really do believe that even now we that the power is
back in the hands of the people. Even
though the use of these new advancements can be used in ways that are not
helping they have also done a lot of good.
There have been plenty of videos I have even seen on social media’s
through my phone about public events or corruptions of some sort being taped
and then plastered over the internet world.
I think now that we have Tablets and Mobile devices we have opened up a
new gate way of streaming information even more rapidly. I think that the future may have some
surprises for us with the advancement of our technology, but that we are in a
new generation that this is the technology that we will be using more frequently,
and will eventually be the only thing we know.









Sources:

http://www.universalmind.com/mindshare/entry/the-current-and-future-state-of-mobile
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-news/2012-mobile-state-of-the-union-part-1-of-3-smartphones/5593?tag=content;siu-container



**ITS MISSING PHOTOS THAT I INCLUDED, BUT COULD NOT GET THEM ON HERE IN THE RIGHT SPOTS**