mobile - News, Features, and Slideshows

Features

• How to implement an effective BYOD policy

  Companies have accepted that BYOD is a reality. The challenge now is striking a balance between security and flexibility.

• 5 things you need to know about Apple's Volume Purchase Program

  Apple hopes to bolster its position in the enterprise mobility management (EMM) market in September with its new iOS 9 software, which packs key features and overdue enhancements for IT administrators. Apple's Volume Purchase Program (VPP), a specialized App Store and service that lets businesses purchase software licenses in bulk and then distribute apps to multiple users, will soon give admins more options to install, update and remove business apps.

• Will hotel room keys and front-desk checkin soon be obsolete?

  After traveling all day, the last thing you want to do is wait in a long line to check into your hotel. And when you finally get to the front desk, it seems like the hotelier has to type a million keystrokes into the computer before finally handing you your room key.

• Two Snapchat features you probably don't know about

  Many social media apps have features that show up when you swipe in different directions, or functionality that isn't visible at first glance. But Snapchat might have ‘em all beat because it has a handful of hidden features and gestures that are only discovered through frequent usage or word of mouth. Frequent users of Snapchat may have noticed several places within the app that display numbers and emoticons, but most people either don't know these features exist or don't know what they mean.

• CIOs say AppleCare for Enterprise is lacking

  Apple's budding partnership with IBM culminated in the release of AppleCare for Enterprise, the company's business-specific support service, but for the vast majority of organizations that use Apple products the initiative is nothing more than a glorified Genius Bar. CIOs and IT professionals welcome Apple's recent interest in the enterprise, but many are still unclear on the levels of support and services the consumer giant offers -- and few are satisfied with Apple's commitment.

• The BYOD debate is not over

  While a recent U.S.-based poll of 375 IT professionals showed the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) fad is fading, there's new evidence showing that BYOD still has plenty of life.

• When it comes to mobile apps, IT is ‘slow, poor and weak'

  When 80 percent of employees say mobile technology is critical for getting their job done, but the same number say they haven't asked their IT department for the apps they need because they don't think they'd get what they need, that's a sure sign of trouble.

• 5 reasons you're going to want Apple's next iPhone

  Apple is cooking up such an iPhone upgrade path, with a wave of rumors warning the next iteration will be faster, thinner, and possibly even curvier than before.

• Wearables for workplace wellness face federal scrutiny

  Federal regulators are weighing reforms to widespread workplace wellness programs that could affect how personal data from consumer-grade fitness bands and smartwatches is kept confidential.

• Enterprise mobility slowed by security concerns

  Mobility is marching forward in the enterprise in all sorts of ways, say some 430 companies at MobileIron's user conference in San Francisco this week. Yet they're facing the same stiff hurdle -- namely, security. These were the key highlights of the keynote session, which included a special guest appearance by an Uber executive.

• What Apple News means to publishers, advertisers and you

  Apple is taking a fresh stab at content curation and aggregation with a native mobile app that it will release as part of iOS 9 this fall. The Apple News app will combine and curate articles from more than 50 publications at launch, and it is sure to create another rift between those who create online media, advertisers and the many companies that want to deliver it to online readers.

• Enterprise tech a no-show at Google I/O

  A parade of top Google executives cycled on and off the stage for more than two hours yesterday at the company's annual I/O developer conference in San Francisco, but because Google is involved in so many projects and markets, the company barely scratched the surface of what it is up to. For example, driverless cars, easily Google's most popular moonshot project, weren't even mentioned until the closing minutes of I/O keynote address. Cloud computing and Google+ weren't mentioned at all. Neither were Google's plans for the enterprise.

• How wearables will shape the future of mobile payments

  Last week, at the Wearable World Congress in San Francisco, executives from Capital One, MasterCard and PayPal participated in an animated discussion about the future of mobile payments and explained why wearable technology is an important part of their companies' game plans.

• The 23 top Apple Watch apps you should get

  With more than 2200 Apple Watch apps already available, finding the best ones for new Watch owners isn't easy.

• This isn't your father's enterprise software

  When Patrick Benson joined Ovation Brands back in September 2013, he was given a tall order: modernize an array of legacy IT systems that could no longer keep up with the restaurant-chain conglomerate's business processes.