Is the battle converging on the mobile enterprise?

So over the past few weeks the competition war between computing's big hitters has ramped up in a number of interesting ways (particularly to those of us in the spatial / location arenas) amidst a slew of product launches and releases. What is clear is that again the competition are not afraid of stepping on each others toes in core areas.


Apple's announcement last week that it's mobile devices would now feature their own mapping was not unexpected, and indeed Google somewhat pre-empted the move a few days earlier with it's 'next dimension' roadmap for it's now long-established mapping services. The news has already caused much debate and discussion, and this post does not attempt to dissect or analyse this particular information; although I would recommend that anyone interested reads some of the following blog posts:

• http://geothought.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/reaction-to-apple-maps-announcement.html
• http://www.vicchi.org/2012/06/11/a-bipolar-attitude-to-aerial-and-satellite-imagery-plus-maps-fear-uncertainty-and-doubt/

Suffice to say in this example of the escalation, with mobile capability now critical, mapping and location is clearly front and centre the skirmish between these two behemoths. Also of note last week was Google's revelation that 'enterprise businesses' (one of which is Google Earth/Maps Enterprise - http://www.businessinsider.com/google-generates-1-billion-on-five-enterprise-products-can-you-name-them-2012-6) accounts for $1.34bn of sales; this might seem a lot but in reality it only accounts for 4% of it's revenue; although it is growing some 30% per annum. This was followed up yesterday by the announcement of Google Maps Coordinate (http://www.google.com/enterprise/mapsearth/products/coordinate.html) a seemingly 'light-weight' app for mobile workforce management in the enterprise. This is particularly interesting as it is one of the first examples I can recall of Google using it's mobile and mapping technology in a wholly-enterprise focussed application.


At the start of the week we also had the news that Microsoft are set to release their own tablet; finally joining both Apple and Google in developing their own mobile hardware platform. All of these things have reinforced my suspicion that all the individual skirmishes taking place are part of the larger objective (and end-game?): the battle for mobile enterprise computing.


Apple might have stolen the (long) march in the consumer mobile device market but with the exception of a few-niche industries (e.g. graphic design) have never really been a serious option in the enterprise. With the lines between the office and home, work and personal computing blurring my feeling is that both Microsoft and Google have recognised this relative lack of enterprise presence as a potential Achilles heel for Apple and one which they are trying to exploit.


Clearly Microsoft, the de facto leader in the enterprise space have recognised that their proliferation in this area is an ideal bastion from which to mount a counter-offensive. With their tablet seriously pitching at both the work and personal markets they aim to win back a significant share of customers looking for a mobile device which works both at home and at work. The combination  of the Chromebook / Chromebox  and the other enterprise-directed products (e.g. Google Drive, Google Map Coordinate etc.) also seems to indicate that they too see mobile and enterprise as a key to winning the battle.