Putting mobile design front of mind

This month finishes with my blog entry, Thinking about mobile UX and UI.

@RickyNealeUK

Going cross platform on mobile

I recently finished my blog entry on mobile cross platform development.  Here are the links to all three parts:

• Part one: How the market looks
• Part two: Native, web and hybrid apps
• Part three: Cross platform development tools

@RickyNealeUK

4G and advertising, Google Play SEO recommendations, Mobile NFC and using APIs to make data mobile

A roundup of my recent blog entries from the last couple of months:

• What impact will 4G have on our advertising efforts?
• Google Play SEO and Google’s discoverability recommendations
• Mobile NFC today and in the future
• APIs – Do you have the API-tite for having your data consumed in new and interesting ways?

Happy New Year!

@RickyNealeUK

iOS 7 brings with it a number of useful features for enterprise and MDM

Apple’s new iOS 7 brings a number of useful updates with it’s release, some of which will prove particularly useful from an enterpirse and MDM point of view.  Here’s a quick rundown of those elements available when transitioning to iOS 7 (time permitting I’ll touch on these in more detail in later posts):

Seamlessly protect work and personal data with more complete and streamlined MDM.

Touch ID for unlocking device and buying content from itunes, App Store and iBooks (passcode required after reboot or 48 hours of inactivity).  No details on when it will be usable by third party apps though.

Activation Lock – requires AppleID to delete iCloud account, erase all settings, activate device (enabled automatically with Find My iPhone, but disabled by default for Supervised devices).

Control attachments/documents through MDM managed accounts and apps – keep corporate data within managed apps and prevent personal data from moving to managed apps (does not control cut and paste between managed and unmanaged apps though).

All data is protected by “data protection” by default, with ability for developers to opt in to higher levels of protection if required.

Silent app installation and wireless app configuration on demand for managed apps via MDM.

Apps can now feedback on errors etc. to the MDM system.

Ability to push content updates to apps that aren’t running using a “silent push notification”.

Embed custom fonts (truetype and opentype) within an app’s configuration profile in base64.

SSO no longer limited to same vendor apps – SSO can be used across any apps that the IT administrator assigns via MDM as well as being passed to specified domains.

Improved Apple Store Volume Purchase Program – codes have been replaced by licenses and new APIs are available for managing the installing/revoking of apps.  When revoked the user is notified that they have 30 days to purchase the app after which it will stop opening making it useless.

VPN can now be specified per app – secure tunnel now provided for each managed app rather than one being used by all apps on the device.  Apps not provided by the company continue to connect to the internet as they would do normally.

Caching service (coming soon) – cache ios software, apps, updates, books and purchased content – private IP address zero configuration.

Airdrop photos, contacts, documents peer to peer – provision for encrypted transfers and share with only contacts or everyone (iTunes account based).

Mail updates – Add and reorganise smart mailboxes in the mailbox list, view PDF annotations, quick look for attachments and sync note support for Microsoft Exchange 2010.

Manage Apple TV in iOS 7 – IT administrators via the use of their MDM system, will now be able to enroll and control Apple TVs.

Better control for AirPrint in the enterprise.

Multipeer connectivity, multitasking for all apps, 64-bit OS for iPhone 5S and later.

@RickyNealeUK