In the recently announced partnership between Microsoft and Nokia, the mobile device manufacturer will be adopting Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform as the foundation for new smartphones and mobile devices.  The result of the partnership will be to put Windows Phone 7 on a solid footing to take share from the mobile device platform market, with Android and iOS currently commanding leads and HP having recently announced their upcoming entry riding on webOS.

The main news for developers is to look for Windows Phone 7 being a fourth and new important market.  Both Windows Phone 7 and the re-entry of webOS (after its days with Palm) constitute fresh development territory where it comes to applications.  Windows Phone 7 was only released late Fall of 2010 and according to NPD Group the platform obtained 2% of the smartphone market in the U.S. two months after release.

The Windows Phone Marketplace (Microsoft’s app store) offers 10 million songs sold in several ways, but only boasts around 11,000 apps so far (compared to hundreds of thousands for Android and iOS).  This is similar to the early-stage number of apps available for webOS.

Windows Phone 7 applications are based on XNA or a particular WP7 version of Microsoft’s Silverlight platform.  Microsoft makes Visual Studio 2010 Express and Expression Blend for Windows Phone for  phone app development.

Android and iOS will both have to work harder now with HP announcing their enterprise-wide effort to lean into the mobile platform market with webOS.  Microsoft’s Windows 7 was a moderate threat due to their history with Zune, first assuring the community they were very much behind it and then subsequently dropping the project altogether.  The partnership with Nokia puts Microsoft firmly in the arena with a highly-motivated partner and a lot of added global sales and marketing teeth. 

Microsoft mentioned in their press release regarding the partnership announcement that the mobile market is now a “three-horse race,” however that was before HP made their intentions publicly clear with webOS. Make that four horses, Microsoft.  We already predict the winners will be mobile developers and mobile device consumers.

For developers, a great way to enter mobile device app development is through IT training courses with GogoTraining.  In particular, the Android Developer Training Program is cost-effective and highly effective.

The mobile device operating system space has continued a long, drawn-out explosion of innovation due to the battle of Apple’s iOS and upstart Android from Google.  Especially after Android recently unseated Symbian as the top smartphone OS, that space has seemed entirely taken up by the two combatants who have been pushing the envelope of development and seemingly leaving no breathing space for a newcomer to get a word in edgewise.  Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 has seen delays getting to market and industry pundits are taking a “wait and see” position regarding the ability of the fine people in Redmond to develop meaningful market share.

Move over, says HP and Oracle.

HP recently announced several things they have set their sights on, specifically their intention to become a major cloud computing source and also to enter the mobile device field with their HP webOS which they acquired with their purchase of Palm in 2010.  HP has already introduced two smartphones to release this spring, the HP Veer and HP pre which are to release with HP webOS 2.2.

The bigger deal is the entrance into the tablet arena with the 9.7-inch HP TouchPad which will run on webOS 3.0 and is rumored to release in June for around $499 with a complement of features meant to compete with the iPad 2.  A 7-inch tablet nicknamed the Opal is also rumored for a September release date, in time to hit the holiday season.

Perhaps even more significantly, HP also announced they intend to ship all HP computers with the HP webOS on board starting in 2012.  HP CEO Leo Apotheker has indicated this is a bid to inspire developers to develop apps that will enhance and differentiate HP computers.  Developers have created well over 300,000 applications for Apple devices and over 250,000 for Android. According to HP, their webOS only has a field of 6,000 apps. If you’re an app developers, this is good news.

Oracle’s recent ownership of Java has meant a number of questions coming from the long-lived development community, a few more of which were answered recently.  Java ME is the version built for running devices that languished due to lower priority while under Sun’s wing.  Oracle is interested in turning that around.

Two key overtures occurred recently.  First, Oracle’s now much-publicized lawsuits and threats against Android with claims that the breakaway OS contains illegally copied sets of Oracle code.  In general, software giants only get into legal tussles for two reasons: to protect their IP (very legitimate) and to protect a market position they are working on entering or maintaining.

Second would be comments at the Server Side Symposium in Las Vegas this month.  Adam Messinger, Oracle VP of Development for Fusion Middleware reminds us that Java ME is already installed on many devices which he says ship at a “tremendous rate.”  He says Oracle has recently had discussions about Java showing up on tablet devices and also plans are underway to empower developers more by improving Java ME with capabilities such as library changes, metadata, annotations and more.

Whether Oracle intends to establish Java ME as a branded entrant and competitor in the mobile device space or keep consuming market share from the shadows remains to be seen.  In similar fashion, whether HP is able to replicate the success in computers they’ve had into the software and OS space also remains to be seen.  One thing is certain about both players: they have the resources and vision required to be contenders and they intend to enter the space, and that space is about to get a little more crowded.

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Check out GogoTraining’s online IT training course catalog for mobile computing training courses in Android and iOS.

A gap exists between today’s composition of IT groups and what is needed for enterprises to maximize return on systems investments, so say CIOs in a recent survey.

CIO magazine and the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) asked 370 CIOs about the makeup and goals of their organizations.  The CIOs indicated a new “value proposition” for IT was to move beyond building and running systems and into a space that contributes more fundamental business value to the enterprise.  This represents at least a partial shift of responsibility away from other departments who are often tasked with providing the ultimate value out of systems created and maintained by the IT department.

Skills such as vendor managers, IT/business experts, data and analytics experts, and application developers top out where it comes to skill sets needed to make that value proposition a reality.

IT/Business experts are the hybrids we discussed recently, people who have depth in both and are able to tie them together in meaningful ways.  One example are IT service managers who are not necessarily technologists but manage technology for the business.  ITIL certification and project management certification are highly advisable for those in such positions and are sure to be hired first in a glut of applicants.

Application developers will have specific skills that vary depending on the chosen technology.  Particular hot spots include Java, Oracle and Android application development.  Pursuing training in any of these areas is very desirable when seeking to build a strong resume.

GogoTraining continues to create new learning opportunities that allow IT professionals of any experience level to build a foundation for reliable job security and employability.

What area could you train for that would really make your resume stand out?

The latest large employer looking for mobile developers is SAP, one of the leading providers of business software.  Their model of how they meet market demands involves their Global Business Incubator, which essentially is a venture developer that creates nearly autonomous teams of people to act like a start-up company.  These teams are tasked with fulfilling a specific need in the market.

One such new team is the Consumer Mobile Initiative focused on “leveraging consumer’s adoption of smartphones and SAP technology to redefine consumer shopping experience in and around the store” (per many of the current SAP job postings for developers).  The new team has already developed market pilots with a handful of leading retailers and consumer product concerns in the American and European markets.

Specific areas of growth in SAP will be mobile development, cloud computing and security as they continue to pursue development using their Global Business Incubator model.

Those interested in meeting the need of SAP and other enterprise software providers in these growing areas can make use of IT training courses from GogoTraining, such as:

• Android Development Training Program.
• Cloud Computing training courses.
• Security training courses.
• Oracle training courses.
• Java training courses.

If there was ever a time to do an awareness check on your situation and make sure your career – and employment – is in the “safe and moving forward” zone, it is now. 

“In this economy” has become the preamble to all sorts of reminders of good advice on how to survive and thrive.  Let this be another one!  With that said, here’s four ways to keep your job and maybe even do a little advancing this year:

Dust off your communication skills.  It’s time to start speaking up in those horrifying status meetings.  A sure sign of being overlooked by management is to glaze over like a donut in the back of the room while they drone on about what features are being pushed to phase two.  Ask questions, make suggestions, and bring new ideas.  It matters less what you say and more that you try.  Trying gets noticed, and the noticed get remembered.

Improve your visibility.  Meet and converse regularly with the key decision makers in your department.  Ask your boss how else you can help.  Keep your ears out for opportunities to pitch in on other projects.  Keep the project manager updated on your status.  Be positive in all interactions while you’re at it.

Ask for feedback – and use it.  Ask your project manager and/or boss how you’re doing.  Ask what can be improved or what skill sets your department needs to sharpen or gain.  If you’re not sure how to obtain those skills, ask for training.  Even if you are sure, ask for training.  If you get feedback of a personal nature, do your best to make the changes suggested (or implied).  Overall, it is important to show that you are acting on feedback instead of just soliciting it.

Continually educate yourself.  Start by making sure you are staying current in you field.  It could be as simple as attending the right conference and taking a few online courses each year to stay up on trends and keep sharp on new industry developments.

Next, look to add to your skills.  A great way to add texture to your skill set is by obtaining project management skills.  The new protocol in IT as of 2011 is to diminish costs and increase efficiency, and producers who are trained in project management are sure bets on how to do that.  Why?  Because chances are high that a project could be taken on by as little as one to three people and there aren’t enough project managers to be had for such small teams.  If you’re a hardware or development geek who was just handed a two-week or two-month project to work on you need to be your own project manager – and you better know how to do it well.

GogoTraining can help with a catalog of over 140 outstanding IT training courses and a free library of podcasts regarding IT topics (with over 500 entries).  Some particularly hot areas include:

• Our brand-new Android Development Training Program.
• ITIL training courses.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam prep courses.
• Oracle training courses including Data Guard, Grid Control and Application Express.
• Our list of IT certification paths and included courses.

In recent years, Java was on the potential down slope as advancement on the language was lacking and developers started investigating languages that would run atop Java environments.  Despite the OpenJDK continuing to be attended to and Java tools continuing to grow, Java seemed to be shuffling about with uncertain direction.  Now, thanks to a new generation of big developments, the venerable language is proving its mettle as a backbone for innovation.

Take cloud computing for instance.  Amazon and others have launched major hiring sprees for 2011 to bring in software engineers in order to support development of their cloud computing services.  In particular, Amazon’s Elastic Complete Cloud (EC2), Simple Storage Service (S3) and Web Services divisions are looking to swell by at least several hundred software engineers alone.  What skill is in demand? Java.

Next up: operating system development.  What platform has erupted as the next big deal for smartphones? Android, Google’s operating system that took top spot for smartphone market share in the fourth quarter of 2011 (with 32.9% of global market).  Android’s software stack is made up of Java apps running on a Java-based object-oriented application framework.

Being integral to next-generation operating systems easily demonstrates Java’s continued fitness as a powerful and reliable foundation.  On top of it, application development continues to benefit from Java with mobile app development for Android being done primarily in that language.

Devices like Amazon’s Kindle, Sony Ericsson’s line of web-enabled media phones, and the Blu-ray Disc format all benefit from Java.  Software such as Alice, Carnegie Mellon’s free programming environment to Google Maps (who hasn’t used that?) to Nuesoft, the leading web-based medical management software (and one of the pioneers in SaaS) all found their foundations in Java.

If considering a programming language that will sustain years of productivity and innovation and can demonstrate a history of doing the same, programming professionals should look to Java.

GogoTraining provides the following Java training courses taught by industry experts:

Java Programming
Introduction to Groovy
Introduction to Programming in Java 5 Part 1
Introduction to Programming in Java 5 Part 2
Programming in Java 6 with Swing and Servlets Part 1
Programming in Java 6 with Swing and Servlets Part 2

Java EE Training
Developing Java Server Pages (JSPs) using Eclipse and Tomcat
Developing Servlets Using Eclipse & Tomcat
 
Java Frameworks and Platforms Courses
Introduction to Hibernate
Introduction to Struts
Java Development with JBoss Application Server

Android, the operating system by Google, accounted for 33.3 million of the 101.2 million smartphones shipped worldwide in the fourth quarter 2010, based on reporting from Canalys.

Where is the iOS? Running up well behind with 16.2 million phones shipping in the same timeframe.  That represents a 16 percent market share to Android’s 32.9 percent.  Research in Motion (producer of the Blackberry) came in just behind iOS with 14.6 million units for 14.4 percent market share.

Adding Verizon as a carrier is expected to let the iPhone catch up extensively to Android’s position in 2011, but the battle of the smartphones is only heating up with the addition of features such as 3D displays, dual-core processing and near field communications chips.

Continued sharp sales with no end in sight for both platforms represent a continually expanding environment for job growth in mobile application development.  GogoTraining’s mobile application development training courses for Android are releasing this February and updates to existing iPhone programming course to follow soon after.

Google is looking to take a bigger bite out of the downloadable app market, according to the Wall Street Journal.  The market generated by the popularity of their Android platform is significant enough to warrant their decision to hire more developers to create in-house apps that can be sold.  In-house apps created by Google gather 100% of the revenue for the search giant, rather than the 30% share they receive for third-party apps.

Google’s mobile aspiration is just another example of a rapidly opening job market for mobile developers in both Android and iOS platforms.

Interested in Android programming? Coming in February:

– Introduction to Android Programming

– Advanced Android Programming

According to Deloitte, more than 25% of all tablets sold in 2011 will be purchased by enterprises and that figure is expected to rise in the following several years.  Four factors are cited as being responsible for enterprise adoption.

1. Consumer cross-over: As consumers continue to purchase and use tablet devices they inevitably discover their usefulness in the context of work such as email, network access and so on.

2. Tablet-Friendly Industry Adoption: Industries that lend themselves to tablet use in the context of their day-to-day operations will mean a strong uptake of the device into their workforce.  This includes verticals such as retail, manufacturing and healthcare.

3. Ideal Form Welcome at C-Level: Where laptops and smartphones create an actual physical block between the user and someone else, tablets lie flat on a table and can be used without interfering in that critical personal space – something noticed by executives.

4. Enterprise Software Providers Already Responding: The big names in ECM, CRM, ERP and other enterprise applications are already addressing requests by Fortune 500 customers asking for software and interface upgrades that enable tablets in the workplace.

What does all of this (particularly number four) mean for mobile application development?  More jobs! With such a mass scale adoption already started, development of apps for tablets – including integration with existing enterprise applications – is set to see a strong growth curve through 2011 and 2012, and likely longer.

Interested in Android programming? Coming in February:

– Introduction to Android Programming

– Advanced Android Programming