2012 was a pretty big year, in terms of mobile and enterprise mobility. Look at just a few of the milestones that spring to mind in a quick mental review of the year’s biggest mobile headlines:

Mobile application development is a “touchy” thing – both literally and figuratively. I mean it literally, in the sense that users generally let their fingers do the walking across your mobile app’s interface, which has some very interesting implications for your GUI (graphical user interface), and figuratively, in the sense that there are a lot of ways to go very wrong in the mobile development process.

I’ve had some limited experience in trying to design mobile apps, and a great deal of experience in using them. Very few apps that I download – and they must number in the thousands by now—pass the acid test of becoming permanent fixtures of my mobile experience. Most are “one and done” affairs, where I end up regretting the time I spent trying them out in the first place.

So here are four things that make a mobile app really stand out, from my perspective:

Mobile Device Management is no picnic. Just ask anybody who’s doing it – or trying to.

On the surface of things, MDM doesn’t seem so tough. All you have to do is read the website of any major MDM vendor, and they’ll explain that they have the whole problem handled. Just buy their solution, and “problem solved.” But you don’t have look very hard to start finding chinks in the armor.

Gartner’s 2012 Magic Quadrant for Mobile Device Management Software Report is prefaced with the assertion that “MDM features have commoditized with little differentiation,” indicating that most offer the same strengths – and weaknesses. Perhaps the biggest limitation on MDM as a category is that the ability to actual manage devices is highly dependent on the mobile operating system each device is running – and all mobile OSes are not created equal in terms of their ability to be managed.

Originally Posted by Aaron Goldberg, Tablets at Work Blog

When we start to talk about using tablets in an enterprise, one of the first things that must be understood is that the tablets we all know and love are not industrial-strength designs focused on the needs of a commercial organization.  Rather, these are consumer-first products that have real limitations when it comes to using them for business.  And this isn’t just a hardware discussion, although there are some key hardware differences.

1.  Operating System

The first large difference that has to be addressed is the operating system.  And the operating system is dramatically impacted depending on what the tablet is used for.  Consumer tablets are for browsing, running little apps, games, and generally “light-weight” work. 

It’s one thing to make big investments in mobile technology and other IT infrastructure in an effort to enhance the academic learning experience. It’s another thing altogether to ensure that technology is actively and effectively applied. When mobile IT and infrastructure investments are not paired with solid professional development for faculty and other staff, it’s unclear whether upgrading an institution’s technology to embrace mobility will ever pay off.

That’s the lesson that many colleges are now taking to heart as they seek ways to ensure they are maximizing their returns on mobile investments. They realize they must make professional development a priority if they are to engage faculty and produce successful outcomes.

The following ideas can potentially help your university make the most of its mobile technology commitment and investments:

Today’s workforce is increasingly empowered and enhanced with mobile technology. Colleges that are enabling their students to fully leverage mobile technology and learning are ultimately preparing them for success in today’s economy.

Consider some current trends:

First responders such as police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) play a critical, highly visible role in state and local government service. In fact, they’re often the public face of government itself.

In the past, public safety personnel relied on clipboards, paper charts and files. Employees had to commute back to a central office to synch devices, and complete and file paperwork, and information was only accessible from mainframe desktops. To significantly improve service and increase efficiency, public safety departments across the U.S. have turned to mobile computing technologies like laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Originally Posted by William Hong, Lenovo Blogs

Most of us only fuel our cars approximately once per week.  When can we expect to get the same mileage from our laptops?  Imagine charging your laptop once on a Sunday, and having it last a 40-hour work week without ever needing more juice.  With ever more efficient hardware and processors, we can see that sort of performance on the horizon.  So when exactly will it happen?

How should educators incorporate mobile technology into the college learning experience to achieve maximum student success?

It’s a question on many minds these days. While educators have grappled with this question in relation to online learning for many years, they are just now experiencing the “disruptive” effects of mobile technology on campus and in the classroom. While just 1.2 percent of college-age students used mobile technology in 2005, as of mid-2011, 88 percent of undergrads had a laptop or tablet computer, according to research from Educause and Pew Research. That’s a lot of change in a short period of time.

At more and more organizations, mobility is driving the need for desktop virtualization. This is largely due to what Linda Tucci, senior news writer at TechTarget, describes as “the growing appetite for using smartphones and tablets to access desktops remotely—even if only in a pinch and only for limited use.”

In “CIOs Sell Enterprise Desktop Virtualization with Mobility,” Tucci quotes David Johnson, senior analyst at Forrester Research: “‘I can’t quantify it, but there is a link…Mobility is a tipping-point issue for desktop virtualization.’”