Cisco’s Cius tablet is all business | TechCentral

— Craig Wilson, TechCentral

With all its rivals focusing their tablet computing offerings squarely at consumers, networking giant Cisco is taking a bet that its tablet offering, the Cius, will appeal to the corporate set. The product, which is now on sale in SA, is only available to business customers.

The seven-inch Android-based tablet has a 1,6GHz Intel Atom processor, a back-lit, multi-touch LCD screen with a resolution of 1024×600 pixels, 32GB of storage, front and rear cameras both capable of 720p video (and offering support for all Cisco TelePresence videoconferencing) and weighs just 535g.

At launch, there is only a Wi-Fi model available, but mobile broadband models will follow soon. The Cius includes a microSD slot for expanding the on-board memory. This can also be secured so the card can’t be read when used in a device other than the Cius.

Despite its capable hardware, the Cius runs the somewhat outdated Android 2.2. The company says this is because of the need for high security specifications and that there will be support for Android 3.1 in future.

Regarding the decision to go for a 7-inch screen, Cisco engineer Leon Wright says the company decided seven inches was the ideal combination of functionality and portability.

Considering its target market, it’s not surprising the Cius offers virtual desktop integration, a unified communications porfolio, cloud centralisation of device management, and high-definition videoconferencing support, all of which is complemented by its “contacts-driven” user interface. The Cius also ships with QuickOffice preinstalled for viewing and editing all major document formats.

It offers operating system and file system-level encryption, password management, the ability to push and enforce policies remotely, the large-scale provision of services across multiple devices and the ability to remote lock or wipe the device – or a batch of them – on demand.

The Cius connects to a company’s existing telecommunications network via an optional docking station, which supports fixed-line telephony, includes a full duplex speaker for hands-free use, two USB ports for a keyboard and mouse, an HDMI-out port for extending video capabilities to an external display, and a power-over-Ethernet port for networking and charging.

Another feature of the Cius that has yet to make its way to consumer tablets is the detachable battery that offers an anticipated eight-hour battery life and can be swapped out with a spare if necessary.

Cisco has also created an application store that it calls App HQ, which is complementary to the Android Market. Apps HQ hosts applications specifically designed for the Cius and tested by Cisco.

It is also possible for system administrators to limit which apps users can install, and can do this per user or per group of users – for example, the sales team can all be granted access to the same apps.

System administrators can even create a custom marketplace with handpicked apps for their particular business.

Techcentral // Acer’s Iconia A500 Tab: an exercise in optimism

Just about every computer and phone manufacturer now makes tablets in the hope of grabbing some of the scraps of market share Apple doesn’t hold with the iPad. Acer has a couple of tablet offerings, but its headline act is the Iconia Tab A500, a 10,1-inch Android-powered monster with innards that compare well to rival offerings.

Some of the A500’s vital statistics include a 10,1-inch capacitive LCD touch screen with a resolution of 1280×800 that supports multi-touch gestures with up to ten fingers, a light sensor for auto-brightness adjustments, and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video calling or checking for spinach in your teeth.

Behind its not-unattractive visage — albeit one more prone to fingerprints than its competitors and less than great in sunlight — is a dual-core 1GHz Tegra processor and 1GB of RAM, meaning lag is no problem even when running a range of applications simultaneously. There are all the usual bells and whistles we’ve come to expect from tablets, like a microphone, surprisingly good speaker, accelerometer, GPS, multi-tab browsing and Bluetooth, but it’s the unexpected additions that are the A500’s strongest selling point.

Though the mini-HDMI port isn’t unheard of and neither is the microUSB port — which unfortunately is only for data transfer, not charging, purposes — Acer has included a full-sized USB 2.0 port, making it a far more flexible device than any of its competitors’ products.

Not only can you plug in an external hard drive, but card readers and other USB devices suddenly become tablet friendly. Naturally, there are limitations to what will work with the A500, but it is nevertheless a great differentiating feature. Another of these differentiators is the LED flash that accompanies the rear-facing, 5-megapixel camera, which also includes autofocus and the ability to shoot video at 720p at 29 frames per second. There’s also a microSD slot that allows for expansion of the default 16GB or 32GB of onboard storage. The A500 is Wi-Fi only, while the A501 offers support for 3G. The A500 appears to include a crippled Sim slot under the same flap as the microSD slot, but it’s covered with a sticker that reads:
“Warranty void if seal is broken.”

At R5 399 for the 32GB version, the A500 costs as much as the equivalent Wi-Fi-only iPad 2. However, it weighs slightly more than the Apple device and, despite the price, the A500’s build quality doesn’t feel as good as those of Samsung’s or Motorola’s tablets, let alone the iPad.

The seam running around the edge of the device is unsettling, and prompts visions of the device winding up in two parts if dropped accidentally. Also, although the rest of the buttons feel decent enough, the orientation lock/unlock button and volume rocker feel flimsy and cheap.

Then there’s the proprietary charger, something common to most tablets, but annoying nevertheless and a reminder of the days of proprietary cellphone chargers. The charger also seems bulkier than it should, and rather than incorporating a data cable with a power adaptor the A500 requires carrying both.

There are two big failings with the Iconia A500. The first is its size. Not only is it quite thick at 13,5mm, but tipping the scales at 730g it weighs more than the first-generation iPad and about the same as the Motorola Xoom.

There’s one another failing: poor battery life. Plugged in and fully charged on day one, with Wi-Fi left on and less than 30 minutes of use, the A500 was almost dead the by the morning of day two. Having charged it again, by the end of day two and having played around with it intermittently for no more than two hours and having had it on standby for another eight, the battery charge had fallen to 27%.

The Iconia A500 runs Android 3.1

The A500 gets around six hours of use to a charge, which is relatively poor next to the competition. What’s more troubling is the standby time. Perhaps Acer needs to refine how its tablets behave when they’re on, but idle.

In its defence, the A500 offers excellent functionality, a respectable display with superb viewing angles, a plain-and-simple Android interface atop Android 3.1, some great features other tablets don’t offer, and it has a respectable design.

However, the price, in conjunction with the build quality, brings to mind a (somewhat paraphrased) line from the cult Australian film The Castle: “Tell ‘em they’re dreamin’”.

— Craig Wilson, TechCentral

Auditing and Benchmarking your communications costs

You don’t know what you don’t know, and you cannot manage that which you don’t measure.

CommsCloud believe that managing communications expenditure without Business Intelligence [BI] tools and the insight it affords role players could be equated to running a large business without accountants or computers. The opportunities afforded any decision maker are significant when you are making well informed knowledgeable decisions based on fact.

CommsCloud’s point of departure for any new project is twofold;

1. Gain a detailed understanding of the communications costs before offering up any opinion
2. Ensure that all the role players are well informed of the results thereof and obtain buy-in on a way forward

CommsCloud starts by performing an Audit [and benchmarking] of all communications infrastructure for both fixed and variable costs. During this Audit phase we benchmark your communications costs against market trends in SA and CommsCloud’s "Best Practice Standards". We then present the “BI” derived from this process to all the role players in a way that makes sense and allows the role players to relate to the opportunity and play a definitive role in building a communications strategy.

The information we gather and report on in during the “Audit phase” informs the decision making for all the roles players going forward. This process not only highlights opportunities but also savings and ROI on any project.

CommsCloud have found the process will;

• Ensure that all role players are well positioned to make decisions and understand
o their unique business need
o fixed and variable costs
o infrastructure efficiencies and problems
• Highlight problems and opportunities; thus enabling decision makers to
o define a common goal and purpose
o define a strategy
o understand where to start and what to start with
o measure success of the implementation on any project
o hold vendors and service providers accountable after implementation of a solution to the “promised” efficiencies, costs savings and SLA

CommsCloud have a strong track record when it comes to managing organisations with large geographical footprints. We have the requisite resources, project management skills, supplier relationships, product knowledge and “Best Practice Standards” required for a project of this nature. Any business wishing to improve efficiencies, effect savings, upgrade technology and business processes, put together a strategy and managing a large geographical footprint will find it difficult to do so without a partner such as ourselves.

CommsCloud will help your business manage the process from A to Z and ensure a successful implementation of any communications project, be it infrastructure or a solution.

We hope this overview enables you to get a sense of what is possible using our unique methodology and would welcome the opportunity to give your business more detail on the processes, the BI reporting and how we could simplify your project.

For further information see;

• www.commscloud.com
• http://www.linkedin.com/in/peterwalshzar

Cape Town - September 2011

BlackBerry Bold 9900: fantastic and forgettable // TechCentral

BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) makes both high- and low-end devices, and its Bold range has traditionally fallen somewhere in the middle of its range. The latest addition to the Bold family, the 9900, is a beautiful device that errs on the higher end of the scale and promises users faster browsing and easier interface navigation.

If we had to sum up the 9900 in a single sentence it would be: “It’s very much like the previous Bold, but with a touch screen.” Though that’s a little reductive, it sums up our first impression of handling the device.

The 9900 is a curious combination of the sort of comfortable Qwerty keyboards that make most BlackBerry’s devices instantly recognisable and capacitive touch screens that so many non-BlackBerry users have assumed the devices include when trying to use one for the first time.

The result is a BlackBerry that’s easier to operate than non-touch versions, albeit one that is still burdened with an operating system (OS) that is more complicated and frustrating to use than it should be, especially for first-time users.

Though the 9900’s menu structure is somewhat better than its predecessors’, changing settings still requires digging about in menus, and sections still aren’t labelled as intuitively as they should be. Long-time BlackBerry users won’t find this a problem, but for those who aren’t accustomed to the BlackBerry software, it’s an annoying aspect of an otherwise lovely device.

Equipped with a 1,2GHz processor, 768MB of RAM and 3G HSPA+ aerial, the 9900 runs BlackBerry 7 OS, which includes support for HTML5 and promises much faster browsing speeds. RIM claims there is an improvement in speed of as much as 40% over BlackBerry 6 and 100% over BlackBerry 5.

The 9900 has the same dimensions as the Bold 9000 but is far thinner at only 10,5mm thick and — this is a big selling point — it includes a larger keyboard. The keyboard is superb and the bigger keys result in fewer typing errors. If you’re a fan of Qwerty keyboards, the 9900’s is best in class.

With support for 16m colours and a resolution of 640×480, the phone’s 2,8-inch screen is bright, crisp and responsive to the touch. It supports pinch to zoom, which makes Internet browsing and document reading even better.

Click image to enlarge

The 9900 also includes a digital compass and accelerometer as well as support for near-field communications (NFC), the mobile payments technology. Although there aren’t as yet any real uses for NFC in SA, it does mean that the 9900 has a degree of future-proofing.

One of the most appealing things about the 9900 is the styling. It feels and looks like a top-end device. From the feel of the keyboard and the vibrancy of the screen, to the stainless-steel trim and matching buttons around the edge of the device, it exudes style.

The high-gloss rear cover is a fingerprint magnet, but the rubberised portion that surrounds it makes the 9900 a pleasure to hold and less slippery than it would be had the cover’s material been used for the whole rear.

The 9900 comes with 8GB of internal storage and support for microSD cards up to 32GB. Like its peers, the 9900 is charged or tethered by means of microUSB.

It also includes a 5-megapixel rear camera with an LED flash. The camera is capable for its class, and although RIM hasn’t included a front-facing camera, considering how rarely we’ve actually ever used one, this doesn’t seem much of an impediment.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900, which retails for R6 999 without a contract, is the logical evolution of the Bold range and that’s both where it succeeds and where it fails. It succeeds because it offers a familiar but improved experience to the BlackBerry faithful. It fails because it offers little in the way of features compelling enough to attract outsiders to the fold.

If you like BlackBerry devices, you’ll probably love the new Bold. If you don’t, you probably won’t even notice it. — Craig Wilson, TechCentral

Gadget Web Site - The eee Pad has landed

The WiFI version of the Asus eee Pad Transformer sneaked into South African stores in July with little fanfare. But the high-end 3G unit arrives this month, and Asus expects it to shake up the market. ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK assesses its chances.

Four years ago, Asus was one of the earliest and most aggressive players in the Netbook market with its Eee PC. It practically invented the format.

So, when Apple redefined portability with the iPad in 2010, Asus was expected to be one of the first challengers. And, indeed, it hit the market mere weeks after the iPad, confusingly announcing an e-reader it called a Tablet, and a tablet it called a Pad. The fact that Apple didn’t immediately take them to court may well have been an indication that these devices posed little challenge to the iPad at the time. Fast-forward a year, and Asus has a device on the market that goes beyond the iPad.

It’s called the eee Pad Transformer, a 10.1” tablet running Android 3.0 or Honeycomb, and offers an optional docking keyboard that also boosts battery life from 9 hours to 16 hours. Well-priced at $399, its first production runs – estimated at about 100,000 – reportedly sold out immediately in some markets, and in June it shipped a further 300,000 units.

That it remained in short supply is an indication that, with more aggressive and courageous marketing, it could join the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 as the main challenger to the iPad.

The first version of the eee Pad (pronounced “e-pad”) was WiFi only, and that’s the version that arrived quietly in South Africa in early July. September sees the 3G version arrive in South Africa, around mid-month.

“We have some significant retail developments to be announced in September which will boost our unit sales,” says Tyrone Grüner, Asus product manager at Platinum Micro.

He points out that the Asus eee Pad Transformer has quickly become the number one-selling “open” tablet in a number of international markets. Its success, he says, is a design which delivers against the demands of a market spoilt for choice.

“While a number of Android tablets are emerging, the eee Pad is winning market share owing to its battery life, performance and design. It is on these criteria that it is unbeatable,” he says.

Asus also makes much of the fact that, in July, it was reported that Asus has assumed the mantle of the world’s biggest non-iPad tablet maker.

“This is significant,” says Grüner, “as there is no shortage of competition in this segment of the market. With over 400 000 units shipped, and with the Asus device listed as the number one selling tablet on Amazon.com in April this year, consumer demand is strong.”

It’s not the tablet alone that is selling, he adds.

“What is particularly noteworthy is that the bundle including the keyboard is the top-selling configuration. This tells us that tablet users want more than touchscreen input from their device. That’s especially true as the tablet is seen not as a ‘play’ device, but one which is at home in the office or after-hours.”

In the light of criticism that Sony’s newly unveiled Tablet P is “plasticky”, it is also significant that the eee Pad uses high-quality materials that include brushed aluminum. It takes on the iPad with dual front and rear cameras, the Galaxy Tab with an SD and MicroSD card slot, and delivers on the now standard tablet expectations of embedded GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity.

Since it uses the Google Android operating system, says Grüner, “it represents an ecosystem which is delivering hundreds of thousands of apps to the user. Easy interoperability with compatible mobile phones is assured, which, when tethered, create a WiFi hotspot. With support for Flash and supplied with the Polaris Office suite, the versatility of the device is clear.”

At $399 in the USA, the eee Pad is the most affordable Android Honeycomb tablet on the market. However, this price advantage is not carried over to South Africa. The official prices announced in June start at R4499 for the 16GB version, which at first site appears to compare directly with the iPad 2’s R4 399 for its own 16GB version.

But comparing Apples with Asuses, this is plain poor strategy. The comparable US prices being $399 and $499 for the Pad and iPad respectively, the South African cost for the eee Pad should be around R3600. That would make it far and away the cheapest major name brand large format tablet in South Africa (with only Huawei’s 7” Slim at the same price point), and give it an unbeatable advantage in this market.

Perhaps we will see more competitive pricing when the 3G version arrives in bulk. Meanwhile, the reseller channel – Hirsch’s, Look & Listen, Computer Mania and Chaos are lined up to stock the device – should expect customers to demand that it be better than the iPad if they are expected to pay the same price.

Grüner is confident the customer will make the right choice: “Consumer demand is there; it’s hard to describe the appeal of this product without seeing it for yourself, so we believe that as word of mouth gains momentum, there will be plenty of people who are looking for the advantages of great hardware design combined with Android’s appeal who will choose the Asus tablet above any other. We’ve seen it internationally; we’ll see it in South Africa, too.”

* Pricing for the Asus eee Pad Transformer is estimated at R4499 (16GB), R5499 (32GB) and R6499 (32GB dock bundle). Final pricing is reseller-determined. For more, including specifications and demonstrations, view: http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_TF101. For more information on Platinum Micro, visit www.platinummicro.co.za

* Follow Arthur on Twitter on @art2gee

Operators must up service game – Bain | TechCentral

Vittorio Massone

SA’s mobile operators must do more to up their game in customer service instead of simply trying to outdo each other on price, says Vitorrio Massone, managing partner in SA at management consulting firm Bain & Company.

In the past year, the operators have slashed their mobile data prices in the hope of attracting new customers as the market begins to reach maturity. But Massone believes they could be doing more to retain their existing customers by improving the service experience.

“What’s happened in the past year is they have kept competing more on price than anything else, especially the new entrants,” Massone says.

The entry of Telkom’s mobile arm, 8ta, into the market, coupled with a reinvigorated Cell C, has shaken up the market in the past year, with operators undercutting one another on price, especially in broadband.

“The operators have been focused on attracting the most number of new customers as fast as possible, but the game is now about retaining customers and selling them more services. This is a completely different game and requires a different way of competing.”

Now, rather than chasing new customers, SA’s operators must understand how to create “happy customers” who will promote their brands — Massone calls them “promoters” — and win over clients from rival networks. “Growth now needs to be based on loyalty economics.”

Massone says promoters help operators attract other customers through positive referrals and typically spend 20% more than other customers. Also, they’re much less likely to move to other networks. Companies need to understand what keeps these customers loyal and what creates “detractors” and improve their customer touch points to turn more subscribers into promoters.

“You need to understand what in those touch points can create a promoter and what can create a detractor,” he says. “There’s a need to focus on creating a consistent performance at the most important customer touch points. It’s a pervasive exercise and has to become something that is done at the CEO level, if not the board level, and must become part of the mission and strategy of the company.”

The challenge for operators, Massone says, is that customer-facing employees are often not sufficiently empowered or trained because they are too far from where power rests and where decisions are made.
“The key step is empowering these people,” he says. He suggests operators could call back customers within 24 hours of an interaction at a key touch point, asking them to score the quality of the interaction to create an objective measure of what’s happening in the company’s branches and call centres. Then, he says, offer to have the employee who dealt with the customer call them for further feedback.

“You empower the front end so these employees begin to understand the impact they have on clients,” Massone says. “From this feedback from clients, [employees] will learn enormously.”

He adds that it’s also important for operators to identify their best customers and focus extra attention on them. “If you are able to understand what clients want, and offer them a differentiated service, then you can prevent yourself from competing only on price.”

Customers will often look for the reassurance of the brand and the quality of support and service on offer and won’t always go for the cheapest option.

However, operators must also reduce their costs as competition intensifies and prices fall, Massone says.
Networks can define who and where their most important customers are and plan differentiated coverage that helps them to manage their capital expenditure better. Operators must also focus on extracting more productivity from their field staff as a way of improving efficiencies and reducing costs. — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral

Telkom gets aggressive with business mobile | TechCentral

Telkom has launched its first mobile offerings aimed at the business market and is taking the fight to its rivals with aggressive introductory offers on smartphones and tablets.

Telkom Business Mobile — the brand the company is using for its business-focused products — is offering tablets from Apple, Motorola and Research in Motion at aggressive prices on 24-month contracts.

The company is promising savings of about 20% compared to products offered by rival network operators.

For example, the company is offering Motorola’s Android-powered Xoom tablet for R340/month with 10GB of monthly data on Telkom’s own mobile network (plus 10GB for use late at night for R100/month more).
It’s also providing BlackBerry smartphones and PlayBook tablets on two contracts costing R410/month and R595/month, depending on the hardware taken.

It’s offering Apple’s iPad 2 tablet, too, though is offering a R6 000 rebate for use at iStore outlets as the US company does not allow the iPad to be sold on contract bundles. The offer allows consumers to buy any Apple product except the iPhone and includes 10GB of monthly data for R375/month on a 24-month contract. — Staff reporter, TechCentral