Apps Tech News

Nearly every day features news of high-profile hacks; clearly the “old school” password just doesn’t cut it anymore. PayPal’s chief information security officer Michael Barrett certainly agrees.

In a strange turn of events, the Pentagon has authorised BlackBerry (whose security was possibly questioned by the UK government) and Android-based manufacturer Samsung’s devices for use in the Department of Defense; but left Apple’s iPhone in question.

Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablet has had a rocky start, with the International Data Center (IDC) pegging Q1 2013 estimates at just 900,000 (compare to Apple iPad’s 19.5 million!), causing IDC analyst Tom Mainelli to slam it with: “It’s just not there yet.”

Leading up to the announcement there were plenty of rumours about a forthcoming Facebook Phone along with speculation that Facebook was moving into hardware. In such a dynamic space I would never rule anything out but it does seem sensible for Facebook to "Play" (pardon the pun) to their strengths.

The latest report, which surveyed Citrix customers currently with EMM (enterprise mobility management) in the cloud, concluded that iOS platforms proved better for those enterprises where there was a lot of one-on-one customer engagement, such as retail, whilst Android was better for mobile field service organisations.

California-based mobile engineering product provider AgreeYa Mobility has today launched Onvelop, a cross-platform interoperable enterprise mobility tool which synchronises with SharePoint, Lync, and Office365. Launched on the second day of Mobile World Congress, the product is unique in that it is the only product on the market which Microsoft has enabled to license its tools.

It’s been a tough time for the Tribune Co, fighting to make headway in a highly competitive market, its four year journey back from Chapter 11 has been no cake walk. We caught up with Steve Weiss, the group’s senior Android mobile developer, ahead of his appearance at Apps World next month in San Francisco.

A new research paper from Osterman Research has shown that, for small businesses, security issues continue to be a major problem.