Cloud Computing and Smartphones

For the past two years, the tech industry trends have revolved around cloud computing and smartphones.  As Venture Capital firms rapidly invest in cloud computing and smartphone companies, it is important to look at how these two technologies interrelate.

Today the majority of mobile applications do most of the data storage and processing on the mobile devices themselves and not in the cloud, going forward cloud computing and smartphone technologies will evolve into a mobile Cloud, with mobile specific infrastructure, cloud storage, security and compliance, and applications among other things.

As users/employees spend less time on PCs and notebooks and more time on smartphones and tablets, to access information and perform work related functions, it is crucial for cloud service vendors to deliver cloud functionalities compatible with a number of different devices, including smartphones and tablets.

Mobile cloud computing has many advantages among the few listed below:

• Sharing information and applications without the need of complex and costly hardware and software as the business computations are run in the cloud.
• Enhanced features and functionality of mobile phones through new cloud applications.
• Ease of access and development since the access point to mobile cloud computing is through a browser and not a mobile operating system.
• Cheaper for cloud computing vendors to build mobile cloud applications because of economies of scale, i.e access to all smartphone devices, one application can be shared and accessed by many smartphone users.
• Broader reach, since mobile cloud applications can be accessed through a browser, the cloud computing applications can be reached by all mobile users not only smartphone users, as long as the mobile has access to the internet.

Some of the potential pitfalls to mobile cloud computing is the lack of internet speed and access. Also, mobile cloud computing presents challenges already inherent in PC and Notebooks such as security breaches, and viruses’ attacks, and it is thus important to have identity authentication as well as controlled and secured access.

Mobile cloud computing will provide many benefits for cloud computing, mobile network operators. Among those benefits: increased reach, reduced costs, and reduced reliance on hardware and software equipments.