The times when an iPhone was just a toy, a consumer product and the serious business phone was a Blackberry, are now gone…

Increasing popularity of different smartphones in the consumer market has also changed a business mobile market. Smartphone is more like a mini PC rather than a phone, and that’s why for business users simple password protection and remote wipe features are just not good enough to protect confidential company information stored on the device.

IT people had to finally admit that instead of avoiding smartphones in the workplace they need a solution to effectively protect the smartphone’s content (and respect employee privacy).

Those were some of the conclusions on a Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Briefing “How the smartphone has evolved in the workplace” held on Thursday 19th January in the Savoy Hotel, Limerick.

Conference guest speaker – Munster player – Gerry Flannery showed how the rugby has embraced technology.

Gorden Kearney (Chamber of Commerce), Paul Giltinan & Karyn McCaffrey O'Regan (Commercial Wireless), Peter Brady (IT Depatment UL) and Gerry Flannery (Munster Rugby)

Commercial Wireless had a great opportunity to demonstrate the benefits that our flagship product – MobileIron (Mobile Device Management Platform) brings to the companies – from large corporate to SME.

We would like to thank everyone who attended the conference and those of you who didn’t have a chance to join us – listen to Limerick’s Life 95FM podcast, where Gillian talks to Karyn McCaffrey O’Regan from Commercial Wireless about smartphones in the workplace.

Update:

About us in the press:

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers for your support in 2011.

A challenging year which saw the Smartphone dominate handset sales in the Business Sector, we would also like to thank all our customers and the team here at Commercial Wireless, who helped us make Mobileiron the number one Mobile Device Management Software product in the Irish Enterprise Market – a great achievement in this new space in the mobile industry.

We look forward to helping, assisting and advising you all in 2012.

Samsung and Google, have announced GALAXY Nexus™,which will be the first smartphone running new Android™ 4.0 – Ice Cream Sandwich.

New Android has a redesigned user interface with improved multi-tasking, Wi-Fi hotspot and a full web browsing experience.

GALAXY Nexus features:

• 4.65 inches HD Super AMOLED display technology at 1280X720 resolution
• 1.2GHz dual core processor
• 1 GB of RAM,
• 32 GB of internal storage
• 5MP camera
• full set of sensors: Accelerometer, Compass, Gyro, Light, Proximity, Barometer

GALAXY Nexus will be available in the U.S., Europe, and Asia beginning in November and gradually rolled out to other global markets.

Good news for iPhone fans – 15 months after iPhone 4 was released, Apple is going to give us newer version - iPhone 4S!

What’s new?

- Operating System

iOS 5 brings you over 200 new features, including: better notifications and remainders systems, new Safari browser, iCloud (to back up and sync all your apple devices) and Siri - voice activated assistant – which sounds really interesting (see the link below)

- Processor

New A5 chip is not only fastrer, but also more power efficient;

- Camera

8MP with all-new optics and also handy editing options and HD video recording

But that’s just a tiny portion of the new features, so check Apple’s website for more info and be patient untill 28th October

If you think you can do just about everything with yout iPad…

Few months after announcing new OS – Microsoft showed us what’s coming next.

So, the next release of Windows Phone is code named “Mango” and will include hundreds of new features that “will deliver smarter and easier communications, apps and Internet experiences”.

“Mango” will be available for free to all eligible Windows Phone customers when it’s releasedin the autumn.

See Microsoft page for more details.

We all know Huawei for making the mobile broadband modems…

Well, not any more – they just have launched a new phone – G7010.

G7010 is colourful and sleek, features 2.8” resistive touhscreen and gives you smartphone-like experience: focused on Java applications many widgets.

More info on Huawei website.

HTC have released new tablet – HTC Flyer.

It features 7” LCD display, 1.5 GHz processor, 32GB of internal memory and 1GB RAM, 5MP camera and runs on Android 2.4 (Gingerbread) OS.

And what do we like the most?

• Aluminium, slim body – feels and looks great and it’s small enough to hold it in one hand
• It comes with “magic pen” – a little “helper” that many touchscreen devices users have been waiting for. HTC Scribe Technology means “If you see it… you can write on it” – brilliant tool for adding notes on your documents, pictures, e-books…

HTC Scribe Technology

• Full web browsing experience (supports Flash 10 and HTML5)
• HTC Watch – a new download service where video content, such as movies, can be bought or rented. And, as it uses “progressive download technology”, you don’t have to wait for a huge file to finish downloading before you can watch it.

Visit HTC site if you wish to find out more.

May 2011: Ireland’s largest independent mobile communications solutions provider, Commercial Wireless, has announced a new partnership with the UK’s leading provider of managed communications services, Azzurri Communications.

The partnership will see Commercial Wireless and Azzurri developing cross-channel mobility and ICT solutions to incorporate single source operator contact, device fulfilment and support including unified managed services.

The combined scale and resources of the two firms will deliver best in class services and competitive pricing to enterprise customers with offices in both the UK and Ireland. An early success of the partnership saw a detailed review and subsequent implementation of ICT and Mobility solutions for a major UK and Ireland High Street Retail Group.

By utilising a single point of contact, led through the Azzurri UK team, the partnership negotiated beneficial cross-channel contract terms with O2, and then rolled out devices and services across the UK and Republic of Ireland. Importantly, the coordinated service allowed the customer to avoid costly roaming tariffs.

Specialising in enterprise mobility management and security, Commercial Wireless is O2’s exclusive indirect enterprise partner and currently manages in excess of 50,000 O2 Business Subscribers. Commercial Wireless also offers a range of ICT products and services including, Fixed Line, Broadband, Systems Integration and cloud-based Smartphone support services.

The Commercial Wireless Group is an appointed reseller of the MobileIron Smartphone Management Platform and operates the Fonemenders brand in the Republic of Ireland.

Azzurri Communications is a converged networks and communications specialist, and are the leading independent provider of managed communications services into the UK enterprise sector.

Ronan Murphy, Sales Director of Commercial Wireless said: “We believe there is a strong opportunity to support UK headquartered firms with Irish operations, and vice versa, who want seamless mobile connectivity and services without the costs associated with roaming charges. The first customer project we’ve undertaken together has been a significant success, having exceeded the customer’s expectations. This is a strong proof point for the partnership and we look forward to further successes in the near future.”

About Azzurri Communications

Azzurri is the UK’s leading independent managed communications services provider, delivering flexible voice, data and mobile communications at every level. Services range from audit, analysis and solution design through to implementation, support, ongoing management and cost saving.
Azzurri was formed in June 2000 and offers global access to sales, service and support to customers in 130 countries. Customers include Severn Trent Water, PZ Cussons, Dixons, Bupa, STA Travel and Reed Specialist Recruitment.

There are few new devices launching on O2 in May – we have flip Samsung C3560, new version of Samsung Genio, two new HTC – Wildfire S and Mozart and also new tablet – exclusive to O2 Motorola Xoom. So let’s have a closer look…

Samsung C3560

Samsung C3560 features might seem pretty basic – 2 MP camera, 2.2” screen… but what makes it stand out from the crowd is its compact flip / clam-shell metallic design. C3560 offers you access to Samsung Apps Store, social networking and email integration, as well as a music player (with 3,5 mm jack).

Samsung Genio Touch II

Slim and stylish Samsung S3850 Genio II is  exclusive to O2. It features large 3.14” capacitive touchscreen, so connecting to your Facebook or Twitter profile  is a pure pleasure. It also gives you access to Samsung Apps Store and Exchange Active Sync. And that unusual colour…

HTC 7 Mozart

HTC 7 Mozart is a new addition to the Windows Phone 7 device family (giving you i.e.  Microsoft Office on the move: Word, Powerpoint and Excel, X-Box Live Gaming, Windows Live and Marketplace).  It features 3.7” S-LCD screen, 8 MP camera with HD video recording - and for all music lovers – SRS WOW HD system for an enhanced audio experience.

HTC Wildfire S

Another new HTC device out this month is HTC Wildfire S, running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense. Featuring 3.2” screen, 5 MP camera (with reach camera effects), geo-tagging, social networking integration and an universal Inbox (all your email in one) – it’s a great tool to keep in touch.

Motorola Xoom

We also have a new tablet – Motorola Xoom. It is the first device on the market running on Android 3.0 Honeycomb - the first Android platform designed specifically for tablets. It is equipped with powerful dual-core processor, 10.1″ HD display, 5MP camera, HD Video recording . The battery life is great: browsing over Wi-Fi up to approx. 10 hrs., MP3 playback up to approx. 3.3 day, stand-by time up to approx. 14 days – sounds great – doesn’t it?