Avaya and Samsung Work to Make Android SAFE

In this case, SAFE stands for Samsung Approved for Enterprise. This program from Samsung should help them and one of their partners, Avaya, to create high quality devices that will be able to use Avaya One-X. In the effort to attain unified communications throughout all of the different aspects of a company. The Galaxy S III is the first Samsung Device that bears the markings of the SAFE program. This means that the device will be able to work with many different tools designed for unified communications, including Avaya One-X, right out of the box. One of the best features, equally as exciting as the unified communications possibilities, is the fact that SAFE could help IT teams no longer have to worry about Android fragmentation.

Those who are using other types of phones right now might want to consider the Safe2Switch program that Samsung is offering. They will let users of other phones trade in their devices and choose a Samsung smartphone. If you already have a Samsung phone, it will be possible to trade up for a newer device. Those who want to use Avaya One-X should find this to be an enticing offer. Even though the Galaxy S III is the first to have the brand of SAFE on it, there are actually 20 SAFE devices on the market right now.

Samsung decided that by having the SAFE brand more noticeable for their devices, starting with the S III, it will make it easier for IT departments to make a decision on the phones that they choose for their company. IT wants to find phones and devices that are going to work well and that will not need repair all the time. They want something that is able to provide unifiedcommunications for their company and customers. The S III, with Avaya One-X is proving to be a popular choice for IT departments.

 

In addition to Avaya One-X, Samsung also works with VPN providers, such as Cisco, for IP encryption. Avaya is one of the primary steps in ensuring that the device is going to work great for businesses. It can connect all aspects of the company, offering unified communication and better all around service.

When choosing the phones for your own company, consider the Galaxy S III and the features that it offers. Make sure that you are working with a phone that is going to be able to give your employees the access and the unified communications they need for a seamless operation.

Is this really the next iPhone?

Over the past few days, the latest round of purported pictures of Apple's forthcoming iPhone 5 have hit the web. And I can't be the only potential customer who is deflated by what they see. In fact, I'll go far enough to say that, if the iPhone 5 looks like the pictures that have recently appeared, Apple may be screwed.

Why?

Because, the "iPhone 5" looks pretty much like the iPhone 4S. Which looked exactly like the iPhone 4, a phone that is now two years old.

In the meantime, Samsung and other manufacturers have come out with phones that make people's jaws drop, such as the Galaxy S3, which has a (relatively) humongous screen. Although the Apple faithful may start hyperventilating about things like the movement or elimination of a button, most phone buyers couldn't care less. Now that most phones do the same things and work pretty much the same way, the most obvious (and, arguably, important) difference between them is the screen.

In short, the Galaxy feels like a next-generation phone. The iPhone, meanwhile, looks small and old. And the pictures that purport to be of the iPhone 5 show a phone that is pretty much the same small, old phone.

(Yes, they've moved the camera an inch. And it's longer. And it has a metal back. Whoop-de-do.)

(And, yes, apparently the screen is a little taller. Somehow that isn't the same. Check out the size difference in the photo below between the current iPhone and the Galaxy: A bit taller won't cut it.)

To be sure, regardless of what the iPhone 5 ends up looking like, the Apple faithful will scarf up tens of millions of them. They'll line up around the block and sleep outside the stores. They'll rave about the amazing slickness and geniosity and sophistication of Apple, especially as compared to the plebeian "bigness" of Samsung (the Galaxy will no doubt be dismissed as the McMansion of phones).

But, secretly, a lot of those faithful will be disappointed.

And, more importantly, so will tens of millions of other customers and potential customers.

As they should be.

Because it will make it clear that one observation that many Apple skeptics make is dead-on correct--namely that each new generation of the iPhone offers less and less improvement over the prior generation, and, thus, gives customers less reason to upgrade. This, combined with carriers increasingly making moves to discourage customers from upgrading frequently (see AT&T's stealthy changes, which may have helped hurt Apple's iPhone sales in the June quarter), will stretch out the upgrade cycles. And that will mean fewer sales--and less growth--for Apple.

Which screen would you rather spend 18 hours a day using?

Apple's competitors, meanwhile, are on a tear.

In the past year, as Apple moved back its iPhone release schedule and then released a phone that seemed like only a modest refresh of the prior version, Apple's competitors have been gaining ground. Samsung sold 52 million smartphones in Q2, twice as many as Apple, and is now the clear worldwide smartphone leader. Samsung's Galaxy S3, which some reviewers say is better than the iPhone, has sold very well in its first couple of months on the market.

Despite the amazing success of the iPad (which will soon face serious, low-priced competition of its own), the iPhone is still by far and away Apple's most important product. The iPhone generates about half of Apple's revenue, and, likely, a lot more than half of Apple's profits.

If Apple's stock is to power its way to the the $1,000 that most analysts and investors now expect, the iPhone has to keep going gangbusters. And releasing a phone that looks pretty much like the same old iPhone--with a screen that now seems small--probably won't get the job done.

So here's hoping those pictures aren't actually of the iPhone 5.

(Source:  Business Insider )

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