The document discusses the potential for Android to be used as a platform for "grimy" business solutions, which are applications used by field service workers and delivery people. While Windows Mobile currently dominates this space, Android may be well-suited as the hardware used can often support Android, and Android allows for long scrolling screens that are better than the tightly packed interfaces of Windows Mobile apps. However, equipment manufacturers are still committed to Windows Mobile for the foreseeable future.

1. Blog posts
Separate examples of keyword rich neutral, technical & promotional writing.
Predictions of Android's growth for business solutions
Android and iOS to make significant gains in enterprise smartphone market, say analysts…
I recently read that Ovum predicts that it won't be until 2016 that
Android will overtake iPhone in the hands of Business smartphone
users. Just over four years seems like a distant future but it still is a
clear indication of the industry direction.
Android will make significant gains in the business smartphone
market over the next five years, and in 2016 will account for 26% of
corporate device shipments, just 1% less than BlackBerry predicts
Ovum.
The independent telecoms analyst finds that enterprise shipments of
Android smartphones will reach 14.2 million in 2016, growing at a
rate of 21% from the 4.7 million it will reach at the end of this year,
four times the rate of BlackBerry and double Apple’s growth predictions.
However, BlackBerry will remain dominant, with a narrow 27% market share of new device shipments in 2016.
Its growth rate is predicted to be 5.3% between 2011 and 2016, rising from 10.9 million at the end of this year
to 14.8 million in 2016.
The iPhone is also making inroads into the enterprise device ma rket and its presence will increase significantly
- thanks to 'pressure from employees wanting to use Apple hardware for work'. Ovum predicts shipments will
reach 9.3 million in 2016, growing at a rate of 11.2% from the 4.9 million it will reach at the end of 2011.
Principal analyst Pauline Trotter commented: ‘The business smartphone market will see significant growth
over the next five years, with shipments rising from 26.8 million at the end of this year to 54 million in 2016,
which is a growth rate of 12.4%. ‘The demand is being driven by the need to support business applications on
handheld devices as enterprises adopt more flexibl e working patterns and continue to support employees
away from the workplace.’
Trotter says ‘Ongoing improvements in manageability of these device platforms and support for more business
applications will begin to make these devices much more appealing to enterprise buyers and will boost
Android’s takeup'. Support for more business applications will also increase the appeal of both the Android
and iOS platforms to business users.
Another huge reason for these significant gains that we shouldn't forget is s traight up 'I want' and will reflect
trends in the consumer smartphone market.
Windows Mobile and Windows Phone were also holding their position in the Ovum report as with the vast
adoption of smartphones it seems there will be room for all to grow.
So, some good news

2. Google Android Open Conference October 2011
Highlights for my recent visit to San Francisco also known as developer’s paradise.
I found the cross-platform talks particularly relevant and interesting
given what we are doing with Meme IDE. For most of our current
customers using rugged-brick-phones the emphasis on design and
elegance of the user interface, would frankly not be their top priority.
However, for some of the software builders there, this is a reason not
to use any cross-platform IDE. And understandably, the subtleties of
design are clearly paramount for a consumer app.
Interestingly, in LinkedIn's talk by Kiran Prasad on their cross -platform development, the presenter sited a
design rule of breadth < 4 and depth < 3 so that the user does not get lost. I tried to think how this would map
onto some of our field service applications with a complex workflow and lots of information to collect. We
rarely have depth > 1, but i n some places we have chains of next / previous buttoned screens that are 10 or
more steps wide.
Other interesting talks that add to this argument were:
* Design, Building and Architecture for Twin Towers: Android & iOS by Bess Ho
* Cross-Platform App Development with Flex Mobile by Stephen Chin
* Awesome Apps and Agile Development by Dan Clifford
It is a different world. So the question arises, is our next step with Meme IDE to make it more 'consumer
capable' and relevant to this more general market? Or do we stick to the customers we know and sell it as a
premium field service mobile development kit?
Tricky!
Meme IDE Webinars
Your chance to speak to the brain behind our software.
Simon Monk our CTO (aka @theappmonk) will host an open discussion around any issues you want raised
involving Meme IDE™, its use and the future development plans.
The third webinar will start at 09:00 PST/17:00 GMT
on Thursday 8th of September 2011.
If you plan to attend the webinar please just drop your email to webinar@memeapps.com so that we can send
you out the Adobe Connect link.
DISCOVER HOW TO…
BUILD using our effortless development environment, Meme IDE™. Through its user friendly drag and drop
editor for both WM and Android.
DEVELOP complex functions using the unique MemeScript™. A language created to make elements simple and
cohesive on any platform.
Last week we held the first of our webinar sessions and this is second chance to catch it and speak to Simon
Monk, the creator of Meme IDE. We are fully open to any questions, bugs/fixes you want highlighted, any
future platform targets and features you want discussed. This is your opportunity to have input into the
development.

3. We would appreciate your questions prior to the event so we can prepare for them, post here or below.
If you just want to drop in, feel free to sit back and view the webinar as it happens; learning about Meme
IDE™, the thinking behind it, the specific technical details and where we are planning on heading. But please
let us know so we can send you the link.
You can find Simon on twitter or @memestreams for more information
As we have said this is a community based beta and we want to here what you have to say!
email webinar@memeapps.com to join
The Global Developer Challenge is now open
It’s time to build…
The challenge is for developers to create and
build a business utility application using Meme
IDE. The developer of the winning app will
receive a Panasonic Toughbook tablet. Worth
over $2,000.
Build any form of business app through Meme
IDE. That is the only specific requirement the rest
is up to you, the submissions could really be
anything from an expenses recording app, a to-
do list app or even a currency converter but we really just want to see with what you can come up with. We
are looking to reward development innovation from the Meme IDE beta community to stretch the capabilities
of our software.
Entry details and more info here.
Is Android a Good Platform for 'Grimy' Business Solutions?
Business solutions can be divided into two on the basis of the type of user.
Firstly there are 'shiny' business solutions for sales people and managers. These are
essentially extensions to an organisation's CRM system. These solutions will
generally also include email facilities and may be delivered on a Blackberry or an
iPhone or smart Android device, in other-words a consumer-style smartphone.
A quite different type of solution, but one that is generally higher value in per -user revenue is the 'grimy'
business solution. This will usually be delivered on a rugged brick of a phone. The end users may be involved in
field service activities (fixing things) or delivery activities.
The devices and app will be heavily locked down and the workflow will dictate the activities of the engineer or
delivery worker.

4. The vast majority of 'grimy' apps are written in Windows Mobile. In fact, we can be more
specific than that, because the rugged equipment manufacturers have stated that they will
be sticking with WM6.5 for the foreseeable future and not migrating to Microsoft's latest
mobile operating system. Windows Mobile (and even more aggressively WP7) has long been
negatively viewed by reviewers and blogs such as this one from Greg Kumparak
@techcrunch but still it is used and heavily relied upon in business.
So, back to the original question. Where does Android sit in all this?
My answer is that Android is well suited to this kind of app for the following reason s:
* Hardware compatibility. The hardware currently used by manufacturers of rugged WM devices is in most
cases perfectly capable of taking Android, without modification.
* The long screen. Screen designs for WM6.5 business apps tend to get very tightly packed. Scrolling the whole
screen does not work well, when you have an app out in the field and you are trying hit the 10 pixel wide scroll
area on a badly calibrated touch screen. In Android, it is far more natural to have a 'long' widely -spaced screen
that the user can wiz up and down with using swipes of the finger.
* End-user familiarity. WM6.5 has its roots in consumer phone technology. But this is a fast moving technology
and people are used to the iPhone / Android style of doing things. It is becoming more and more familiar to
end users.
* No stylus. Businesses buy styluses by the box full. They get lost and broken with great regularity.
* Tablet-tability. The increasing abilities of android tablets and especially rugged versions are making them a
more appealing option for businesses. Some good and more viable examples were highlighted by Matt Burns
over at Techcrunch back in April.
When will we see 'grimy' Android apps?
Well, they are starting to emerge, but it will probably be at least two years before they are on a par with
WM6.5 solutions - at least in the 'grimy' market.
It will be interesting to see if this is hastened by Google's purchase of Motorola's phone division.
Requirements Engineering for Business Apps
The boundary between the customer and the developer is often a dangerous
place to live. Customers think they know what they want and developers usually
know what they think the customer needs. As with all areas of
software development, success will only become possible when these views
converge. Lack of convergence will result in disappointment at best and
litigation at worst.
While this is not a problem that is confined to mobile development, it can be worse than a conventional
system for a number of reasons:
* Mobile Apps are a "new thing" and customers often don't understand the design constraints and possibilities
of a mobile phone platform.
* There is almost a status symbol value to having an App for your business, even if there is no immediate
operational need for such an application.
As with any situation where there is an expectations gap to be filled, communication is the solution. There

5. needs to be a common understanding esta blished between the customer and the developer. N.B. I use the
developer in the sense of the consultant or analyst / programmer who will be responsible for developing the
system. To my mind, creating another unnecessary information gap by separating the ro les of analyst and
developer is a recipe for disaster and contrary to the agile practices that we use internally to accomplish the
development, once the requirements have been gathered. Yes, ideally requirements should be more fluid than
that, but in practice customers will rarely be willing to accept an open-ended truly agile process, so we keep
most of the agility internal.
Some of these points have been were picked up in an insigtful blog post by Brian Sommer over
@ZDnet explaining how the requirements for business apps should be rethought to keep up with users.
We have a couple of techniques that we apply during our requirements gathering.
The first of these is about the customer teaching the developer and the second reverses the information flow
and - ideally - bridges the information gap, to initiate a successful project.
'A day in the Life of'
The first of these is about the developer l earning more about the current business process, and where the
customer sees the mobile extension of their business occurring. The day of one of the workers using the app is
spread out in a timeline, by attaching sticky-notes to a wall or whiteboard. Other contributory parts of the
business are also mapped onto this diagram.
It is essential that someone who either does the job, or has done the job of the person holding the phone is
present.
At the end of this kind of workshop, the developer will have a good understanding of the customer's business
and be buzzing with ideas and thoughts about how to create a great solution. The customer will probably also
have a better picture of their business process and also ready for the next step.
'App Workflow White-boarding'
The next step is for the developer to start drawing the App. This should
not be pre-planned. It should be created in the presence of the
customer with immediate feedback from them. The developer should
keep control of the whiteboard pen but consult the customers,
presenting their vision of the App in the form of a whiteboard workflow.
The app should support the mobile worker, not make their life more
difficult. It should lead them naturally through their daily tasks in a
linear manner. Modeless user interfaces where you jump around between screens and the user controls the
workflow in their head are rare. As such, it is the operational people in the room who should have most
influence. Hopefully they will be wowed by your insights and pleased to contribute.
Customers tend to want the App to do more than it needs to. The App development should be phased, so that
each phase can inform the design of the next. The first phase should be as simple as possible.
There is of course much more to requirements engineering for mobile Apps, but I hope these techniques will
give you a good start.
Standards in Mobile Development
When will mobile operating systems achieve a universal development
platform?

6. The generally accepted answer to this question by seasoned developers is around the same time that
Windows 7 and OS X become open source. There is far too much technological pride and 'not invented here'
syndrome floating around for that to happen any time soon. In any case, excessive standards can stifle
innovation.
HTML5 offers such a promise, but the standard is immature and Microsoft is still basing its Windows Phone
development on Silverlight. Kevin C. Tofel at Gigaom highlighted some telling stats In any case, many suppliers
of the rugged phones that are still the mainstay of business solutions are resolutely sti cking with Windows
Mobile 6.5.
Developers that I speak to have doubts about writing full featured apps using web technologies. Javascript is
still trying to shake off its 'script-kiddie' reputation. For some developers, the only acceptable way to write a
mobile app is to use native development tools.
If the desirability for standards across mobile platforms is largel y motivated by the desire to simplify the
process of creating cross-platform apps, then maybe this same goal can be addressed, not by standardizing all
platforms, but creating an application development layer that sits above the native development tools
generating native projects that are then compiled by the platform specific tools.
Meme IDE is such a tool. It has platform specific screen designers and a platform neutral programming
language (Meme Script). The platform currently generates native code projects for Windows Mobile 6.5 and
Android 2.1, with iOS and Blackberry on the way.
Something to think about!
Droidcon 2011
Android invades London...
I had not been to one of these events before and I was pleasantly
surprised.
The 'bar camp' is a great idea. Those who wa nted to talk about
something stood up at the start of the session and pitched for it. Then
the rest of the first day was broken out into three tracks for the
sessions that were voted in. In fact I think all the talks were voted in.
It produced a big range of talks, and yes many of them were promotional (including mine), but there were also
some good technical discussions. This included a good talk about using AspectJ to weave Google Analytics code
into an Android app without filling the codebase full of fl uff. I would love to be able to tell you who gave the
talk, but I cannot find the Barcamp speakers list on the conference website anywhere.
This event was full of consumer app developers, working on shiny devices. Where do we find our target
audience of 'rugged-handheld-computer' users who are stuck with Windows Mobile 6.5 but see an escape
route through Android?
They must be out there somewhere. Or, maybe they are not, and we just need to make Meme IDE more
consumer oriented.
Something to think about.