Tech Bits
Middle East CIO IT budgets will increase.
• 3G grows; LTE starts
• Mobile workers on the rise
• Plan to spend more
• Bouncing out malware
• Apple No. 1 brand
• Cloud, security skills pay
3G grows; LTE starts
Arab Advisors Group stated that during the period between December 2009 and November 2011, 3G/3.5G services were launched in four more countries and with nine more operators, increasing the number of Arab countries with 3G/3.5G services to seventeen. As for LTE services, they were commercially available in three Arab countries by January 2012. Countries offering commercial 3G/3.5G services are: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen. It’s important to note that 3G/3.5G services in Iraq are only offered by one provincial operator. Furthermore, Yemen Mobile offers “EV-DO Rev. A” technology in limited areas. The Arab Advisors Group analysis of the 3G/3.5G operators revealed that all 36 3G operators offer mobile Internet. Local video calling service is offered by 30 operators. Mobile TV is the third most common 3G service among the operators, and is offered by 16 operators. LTE services are commercially offered by five operators; Mobily, STC and Zain in Saudi Arabia, Etisalat in the UAE and Viva in Kuwait.
Mobile workers on the rise
The world’s mobile worker population will grow from just over one billion in 2010 to reach 1.3 billion by 2015, representing 37.2 percent of the total workforce. According to an updated forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC), the most significant gains will again be in the emerging economies of Asia/Pacific thanks to continued, strong economic growth. The Americas will experience a slower growth rate due to a protracted economic recovery and high rates of unemployment. In Asia/Pacific, excluding Japan, IDC estimates that there will be 838.7 million mobile workers in 2015 up from 601.7 million in 2010. Much of this increase is due to the sheer size of the population in China and India, combined with strong economic expansion in both countries. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), the mobile workforce will see a healthy compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.6 percent as it expands from 186.2 million in 2010 to 244.6 million mobile workers in 2015.
Plan to spend more
Enterprises in the Middle East and Africa are ramping up IT spending with CIO IT budgets expected to increase 14.3 percent, according to a survey of CIOs by Gartner’s Executive Programs. This is in contrast to flat or declining IT budgets in North America and Europe. Enterprises in the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf region, are building business capability in support of regional and global growth. Analytics/business intelligence was the top-ranked technology for 2012 as CIOs in the Middle East are combining analytics with other technologies to create new capabilities.
Bouncing out malware
In the Google Mobile Blog, Hiroshi Lockheimer, VP of Engineering, Android, noted that Android device activations grew 250 percent year on year and the total number of app downloads from Android Market topped 11 billion. Additionally, Lockheimer revealed the company’s “Bouncer” service which provides automated scanning of the Android Market for potentially malicious software without disrupting the user experience of the online software store or requiring developers to go through an application approval process. The service has been looking for malicious apps “for a while now,” and between the first and second halves of 2011 there was a 40 percent decrease in the number of potentially-malicious downloads from the online store.
Apple No. 1 brand
A Harris Interactive poll found that in the US, Apple trounced Google in brand reputation, moving from fifth place last year to No. 1 this year. Apple has the highest score in the 13-year history of the study and beat all other companies in four of the six key reputation areas: financial performance, products and services, vision and leadership and workplace environment. Whole Foods was tops for social responsibility and Amazon.com for emotional appeal. The Reputation Quotient (RQ) for Apple is 85.62 and for Google, 82.82. Rounding out the top 10 are Coca-Cola, Amazon.com, Kraft, Walt Disney, Johnson & Johnson, Whole Foods, Microsoft and UPS.
Cloud, security skills pay
In its 2012 salary and employments insight report, recruitment specialist Hudson ICT found that “cloud is king.” The company stated that workers with experience in cloud environments and information security specialists are in high demand by Australian enterprises and are compensated accordingly. Last year, Nextgov.com noted that the US was “lacking some 20,000 to 30,000 people with the requisite skills to defend cyberspace.” According to a report by Global Knowledge, in 2010, the average salary for certified information systems auditors was $100,855; certified security administrators took home on average $99,512. However, highly qualified individuals need to keep their greed in check to land their preferred jobs. Hudson ICT found that 44 percent of hiring managers reported the best job candidates usually expected a lot more money than was budgeted. Instead of increasing IT budgets to hire someone more qualified, over half of those surveyed hired their second choice.
