Stories by Galen Gruman

The right office apps for the iPhone at work

With Apple's iOS 4 supporting corporate security requirements, companies are increasingly saying an explicit yes to iPhone use. Certainly an iPad makes more sense as a lightweight laptop replacement (see InfoWorld's picks for the best iPad office apps), but there are many times you can't easily pull out a laptop or iPad but can use a smartphone. Just as companies typically install a suite of productivity apps (nearly always Microsoft Office), what should the iPhone equivalent be?

Android, iPhone users outpace BlackBerry, Symbian users in data usage

It's no surprise that iPhone and Android users are using more data today than the iPhone users of two years ago (when there were no popular Android devices). But a recent report from Arieso, a British firm that provides cellular carriers software to optimize their network performance, does contain surprises, and it reveals how much people are using data services on their cellular devices.

First look: Chrome OS beta's Achilles' heel is its reliance on the Web

Computers and their software today are too complicated, and users are increasingly looking at iPads and cloud-based services such as Google Docs to handle the basics that most of us stick to: document editing, photo management, emailing, Web browsing, and the like. Running Office on a PC or Mac is beyond overkill for most people. Google proposes we do away with the PC altogether, at least part of the time, and replace it with Google's cloud-based laptop -- an appliance in which the Chrome browser serves as operating system. With the Chrome OS, all actions occur in the browser and the cloud.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab makes a strong case for buying an iPad

Competing with Apple on quality, elegance, and innovation is nearly always a losing battle. By comparison, most products feel awkward and substandard. And so it is with the Samsung Galaxy Tab, a 7-inch, Android 2.2-powered touch-based slate device.

Inside Google's new Chrome OS 'Chromebook'

It's been a year since Google first said it would deliver a browser-only operating system for laptops called Chrome OS. Today, Google previewed the real thing at a time the iPad slate concept has already gained remarkable traction by businesses and users alike. (InfoWorld.com is covering this event live. Return to this story to get the latest updates.)

iPad's business use soars as HP backpedals on Slate's fit

Although the Apple tablet been available for just seven months, the iPad is being strongly embraced by businesses, particularly financial services, health care, technology, and legal providers, say three separate enterprise surveys. A big reason is the iPad's ability to be both a general-purpose device like a computer and a highly managed special-purpose device like an appliance, notes Brian Reed, chief marketer at Boxtone, a mobile management provider that surveyed 1,200 enterprises on iPad usage.

Windows Phone 7 lacks on-device encryption

Many businesses will not be able to support Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system, which began shipping in the U.S. today. Like the competing Google Android, Windows Phone 7 does not support on-device encryption to protect data stored on it. Many businesses require such encryption to be able to access corporate data through EAS (Exchange ActiveSync) policies and automatically block connections from devices that don't support device-level encryption.

The new Mac OS X: What Apple has in store for business

With all the attention on the iPhone and iPad, you might have forgotten that Apple has a computer called the Mac. Today, Apple is previewing the new Mac OS X operating system, to be released in 2011, about two years after the release of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, a refinement of the previous version, Leopard. The company is also previewing new versions of some its Mac software, such as iLife.

Windows Phone 7 to have limited Mac sync capability

Ever since it unveiled the new mobile OS in February, Microsoft has been cagey on whether its new Windows Phone 7 would support direct synchronization with Apple's Macintosh computers. Now a spokeswoman confirms that Microsoft will offer a Mac OS X tool that syncs "selected content" between Macs and Windows Phone 7 devices.

iPhone 4, iPad, Android leap in business adoption

Apple's iOS and Google's Android OS dominate the new non-BlackBerry installations in enterprises across the globe between July and September 2010, according to Good Technology's tally of what the mobility management vendor's customers are deploying. Good's mobile management tool is typically deployed in large businesses and government agencies, and so is a good proxy for overall enterprise adoption patterns. But it does not support RIM's BlackBerry or Hewlett-Packard's WebOS, so Good's results do not include data on those platforms' activations.

Beyond the games: Apple to add wireless printing in iOS 4.2

Apple CEO Steve Jobs today -- in the midst of a blitz of consumer-oriented announcements such as video rentals in iTunes, a new touch-based iPod music player model, and an online multiuser gaming service -- introduced a new version of its mobile OS and a new version of the iPod Touch.

AutoCAD coming to iPad, iPhone, returning to Mac

Autodesk is bringing its AutoCAD architecture, design, and engineering software back to the Mac OS after an 18-year absence, the company announced this evening. But the company plans to do more than offer a Mac OS X version of AutoCAD: It says it will release a free version of the software, dubbed AutoCAD WS, for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch that lets users review, edit, and share AutoCAD files on those popular mobile devices.

BlackBerry copies iOS 4 feature in server upgrade

Research in Motion released BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) 5.02 today, an update that, in an unusual turnabout, copies a mobile management capability from the iPhone's iOS: the ability to manage corporate data separately from personal data. That allows, for example, IT to block access to corporate email and contacts from a device if a user leaves the company or loses the BlackBerry, while leaving the user's personal data intact. Apple introduced a similar capability in its iOS 4.0 in early June.

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