SMARTPHONE

Nowadays in Malaysia, people start crazy towards smartphone including university/college students. It gives many benefits to them especially when they want to send/receive email, transfer file and also can do their work everywhere, anywhere, and anytime. A smartphone is a mobile phone that offers more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a basic 'feature phone'. While some feature phones are able to run simple applications based on generic platforms such as Java ME or BREW, a smartphone allows the user to install and run much more advanced applications based on a specific platform. Smartphones run complete operating system software providing a platform for application developers.

Growth in demand for advanced mobile devices boasting powerful processors, abundant memory, larger screens and open operating systems has outpaced the rest of the mobile phone market for several years. According to a study by ComScore, in 2010, over 45.5 million people in the United States owned smartphones and it is the fastest growing segment of the mobile phone market, which comprised of 234 million subscribers in the United States. The examples of popular smartphone are come from brand of BlackBerry and HTC but other competitors in the industry starts promote thir smartphone like Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, LG, and many more.

The first smartphone was called Simon; it was designed by IBM in 1992 and shown as a concept product that year at COMDEX, the computer industry trade show held in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was released to the public in 1993 and sold by BellSouth. Besides being a mobile phone, it also contained a calendar, address book, world clock, calculator, note pad, e-mail, send and receive fax, and games. It had no physical buttons to dial with. Instead customers used a touch-screen to select phone numbers with a finger or create facsimiles and memos with an optional stylus. Text was entered with a unique on-screen "predictive" keyboard. By today's standards, the Simon would be a fairly low-end product; however, its feature set at the time was incredibly advanced.

The Benefits of Smartphone

Because greater functionality is built-in, smartphones can do things much more quickly than their standard mobile phone and PDA precursors. It can keeping people organised where the smartphone handsets can function as personal organisers, with electronic diaries, contact lists, and automatic reminders. Other than that, it is flexible working as with a PDA, people can use their smartphone to take notes, review and edit your appointments, contacts and documents, all while they’re on the move. All the information at the fingertips when using it because more and more services are being made available on smartphones, from access to maps and directions to television transmissions with news coverage or weather reports to traffic information and scheduling alerts, which means users’ business can always stay one step ahead of what's going on.

Smartphone for Business People

Smartphones combine the functionality of PDAs, wireless PCs, phones, and even digital cameras in one handset, making them a powerful business tool. It is really suitable for business purpose where this group of people can connect to the internet for e-mail and web access 'on the move', or connect to the computer network to access relevant data, wherever they are, making it easier for remote workers, or a mobile workforce to stay in touch with the business. By using it, they get better information sharing which considerably more data can be received and transmitted via a smartphone, such as large e-mail attachments or data files from websites. Previous mobiles could only manage small e-mails without attachments. Smartphone also has greater functionality where many models offer built-in digital cameras with immediate snap and send functionality, so remote workers or offsite staff can instantly photograph and send images or videos of anything from supplier's goods to site inspections or damaged warehouse machinery. Smartphones could offer a new way of marketing to customers, Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) lets users include animation, graphics and music in a message. By using it, the communication become faster where the users able to access any web quicker than in previously available mobiles, making it easier to access e-mail and information from the Net. Some models and carriers offer an 'always-on' internet access service making connection easier.

It has become a standard piece of office equipment in some industry settings. Of course, just because everyone else is doing something does not mean that it is the best idea for a particular business. There is often a societal expectation for companies to stay technologically-advanced and people have often convinced themselves that they must stay on the "cutting edge" in order to survive. However, there are still some "old school" methodologies that allow people to conduct business and be successful. With technology there is training, adjustment, and cost. Therefore, organizations need to decide whether certain devices are a good fit for their business model. Here are a few pros and cons of using smartphone in business.

The Challenges of using Smartphone in Business

Smartphone have a lot of potential, but they also have some drawbacks. Mobile companies are usually happy to sell their devices at affordable prices, but the service plans can be fairly expensive. If a company is considering getting smartphone for a number of employees, they may be incurring a large monthly cost that can have a strong negative impact on the budget. In addition, some applications on smartphone can be suspect at times. Some networks are slow or do not provide certain services. In addition, people may be able to access information, but seeing it on a tiny screen can sometimes be annoying or downright impossible. Smartphone may be intriguing, but companies have to decide whether people actually need the technology to do their job.

Overall, companies have to decide if smartphone will make them more productive or whether it will just be expensive "eye candy." People like toys, and sometimes employees may lobby for a device because it seems "cool" to carry around. The reality is that people can still do jobs even without some of the latest technology. Advanced electronics can do some amazing things, but companies still need to measure the cost.

NURUL SYAZWANI BT MOHAMAD SAID

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