An Opportunity Second To None

[AltApple]

Africa has 1,1 billion people of which less than 16% saturation. It is a lucrative market growing at around 3 600%. Yes, 3k%!

As broadband is both hugely expensive and also simply non-existent in many places, we MUST HAVE Outlook local sync between phone and pc via USB, Bluetooth or wireless.

Apple just started forcing iSheeple through a mostly nonexistent cloud, thereby alienating hordes of users even on Europe.


Nokia was rather unwise to take Nokia Suite away from Lumia My country is where 6 Nokias get sold for every single non-Nokia device. That is changing fast as Nokii jump ship. Android could be taking over because of Nokia's short-sightedness.


Bring in full local sync as we simply cannot use an imaginary cloud. Calendar, tasks, reminders, contacts and especially Notes.


Marketing departments should see this as an opportunity to render a service that will render other OS's obsolete.

 

[Rukbat]

There are already apps and methods to sync Exchange Server and Android phones. It's not that there's a market with no product, it's that there's a market that needs technical knowledge to make use of a technical product, and not enough technically educated people to set them up with it.

A simple Google search would show you how to sync an Android phone with Exchange. It's been discussed here many times, and it's been discussed on other Android forums many times.

 

[AltApple]

I thought that MS Exchange costs money and runs on a server. How fo users deply this on a laptop and a phone somewhere in the desert or jungle, where they work on mining, construction, humanitarian or environmental projectd?

 

[AltApple]

There are already apps and methods to sync Exchange Server and Android phones. It's not that there's a market with no product, it's that there's a market that needs technical knowledge to make use of a technical product, and not enough technically educated people to set them up with it.

A simple Google search would show you how to sync an Android phone with Exchange. It's been discussed here many times, and it's been discussed on other Android forums many times.

OK. In your infinite wisdom you say that people who are already challenged need to lug a server around. Or. from their immensely strained budgets buy apps costing USD30 or more, which is a fortune to them. More so, how do they purchase it online when they struggle along in a tiny village where nobody has a bank account, let alone a credit card.

Please, people, we are looking for solutions but please do not post unless you have the insight and expertise required. We need to keep this sanitised and posting drivel will not bring solutions to people who really need this for survival, not for fun and games.

 

[zuben el genub]

Nokia phones (Symbian) were very popular in countries like yours. I read a lot of the forums in English.

When Nokia switched from the old Nokia Suite to Ovi Suite, most people hated Ovi.
I didn't like it. It didn't do much of anything. There were a lot of complaints on the English version of the Indian forum. I read that as the English forum ignored the complaints.

MS has admitted shoving the Windows 8 GUI on desktops since they wanted one look for all devices, so the move to get all devices to work the same could have been what killed Nokia Suit Nokia Suite might spoil that plan - not every country needs it.
Do your carriers add apps, or do you just get a phone you can use with every service?

Enough complaints about Windows 8 forced MS to put back the original start button, so if all the local affected carriers could complain, you might get some answers or a solution.

Opera Browser sued MS in Europe to get browser choice and won.
A partial post of complaint:
Opera sues Microsoft of standards compliance - Ajaxian

Windows 8 causes most precipitous PC decline in history | ExtremeTech

 

[Slug]

we MUST HAVE Outlook local sync between phone and pc via USB, Bluetooth or wireless.

Depending on which phone you have, it's already available. Samsung's Kies, and Sony's PC Companion software both do it. Other software from various OEMs is no doubt also available, plus as mentioned numerous third-party solutions in the Play Store.

Also, please respond to others as you yourself would wish to be. Accusations of "ignorance" and/or "stupidity" are not welcome here.

 

[zuben el genub]

Isn't Lumia a Windows Phone? He might have posted in the wrong forum. I see no Android listed. The old Nokia Suite did look exactly like Kies. Ovi was more like Windows 8. I did have a Symbian Nokia phone and a lot of Nokia owners were annoyed about Nokia removing Nokia Suite for Ovi.

 

[mikedt]

Africa has 1,1 billion people of which less than 16% saturation. It is a lucrative market growing at around 3 600%. Yes, 3k%!

As broadband is both hugely expensive and also simply non-existent in many places, we MUST HAVE Outlook local sync between phone and pc via USB, Bluetooth or wireless.

Many Chinese phones have Outlook and Exchange sync as the default option.

Apple just started forcing iSheeple through a mostly nonexistent cloud, thereby alienating hordes of users even on Europe.


Nokia was rather unwise to take Nokia Suite away from Lumia My country is where 6 Nokias get sold for every single non-Nokia device. That is changing fast as Nokii jump ship. Android could be taking over because of Nokia's short-sightedness.


Bring in full local sync as we simply cannot use an imaginary cloud. Calendar, tasks, reminders, contacts and especially Notes.

I'm in a country where Google's "imaginary cloud" is basically not available, so that's probably why most smart-phones here have MS Outlook and Exchange syncing. Seems to me that low-cost Chinese Android phones are becoming more popular in many emerging markets, and these are the ones with Outlook and Exchange syncing.

Nokia killed Symbian(Stephen Elop alias Jar Jar Binks "burning platform") in favour of expensive Windows Phone devices. However they're supposed to be launching low-cost Asha and Android handsets for emerging markets, that can have limited, unaffordable or non-existent cellular internet, maybe these will offer local Outlook and Exchange syncing.

 

[SiempreTuna]

Reminds me of the story about the two shoe salemen - one a conservative European and one a go get 'em American - who arrive on an isolated, undeveloped island.

Two days later they each send a message home.

The European's message says "Nobody here wears shoes. Do not send shoes."

The American's message says "Nobody here wears shoes! Send more shoes!"

 

[argedion]

More so, how do they purchase it online when they struggle along in a tiny village where nobody has a bank account, let alone a credit card.
.

This is the going to be the problem with any kind of technological advances. In the end Money talks. Technology cost and while it is getting cheaper and cheaper however for third world countries its still not cheap enough. But to be quite honest with you If these places don't have the available funds then its not going to get any better. If I was a marketer I would avoid any town where they could not afford the services I provide. I think you will find that is going to be the case pretty much anywhere you go.

 

[MacLinDroid]

Hi

The cloud is a wonderful thing, especially when it works. Sometimes it is better not to host a server on-site but to access a remotely hosted one through VPN. For individual users it has its obvious benefits, as we see how easily PIM data can by sync'ed via Google, iCloud, etc.

But what if there is no "cloud cover"?
Or where broadband is insanely expensive?
Or where large tracts of land only has GPRS/EDGE?

People used to the cloud may easily be under the wrong impression that everybody are having it as easy. The opposite is true,

Reality is that the big world out there is not really connected yet. Lots of "sunny skies" and no "cloud cover."

Global Internet penetration stands at around 35% only. In Africa, there are just over a billion people but only 15% have internet. Of that 15%, the majority sees weak signals, insanely expensive data and broadband only in major centres.

Africa has 54 countries and many politicians control broadband spectrum with an iron fist. Even so, the market is expanding at a rate of 3,600% - yes, three thousand six hundred per cent. The bulk of that growth is Android only. Vendors, there is an opportunity!

First it was Microsoft and Nokia that decided users did not need local sync and removed Nokia Suite, USB sync functionality, etc. Linux just never had it and Apple caused a firestorm when they recently forced users through the iCloud through software updates that removed this essential functionality. Apple support forum saw more than 212 pages of users venting their anger and voicing their frustration.

It is evident that users still have the essential need of synchronising data between laptops, tablets & phones via USB or local wireless connection. Maybe, in a decade or so, we all will be connected via the cloud, but that needs to materialize first.

Meanwhile, there is a serious and dire need to see local sync in a user friendly way - and the time is right, as Windows XP support has been terminated now. Linux can harvest millions of users provided it can meet the needs of the average computer user.

Sync is required for PIM data such as Contacts, Calendar, Tasks & Notes.

What we need is an application similar to PC Suite, Akruto or Companionlink but that can run on at least one of the major distributions. If something like Baikal-Server can be improved upon, the world will be a better place altogether.

Integration with Thunderbird is essential.

Scores of users have been nagging Nokia, Microsoft and Apple for many years now. Will someone with the required programming skills please pay attention?

 

[SiempreTuna]

My phone automatically sync's with my Google account - so kinda cloud-y - but I most definitely do NOT rely on it. I'm not as religious about sync'ing with Outlook on my laptop as I used to be (then it was daily, now maybe monthly), but I try to make sure that Outlook is kept relatively current.

One thing I had with my old Nokia that I haven't managed to do with my droids is to also sync my work calendar with my phone.

The reason I haven't been able to do that is not because there's a technical issue with Android, more because everywhere I've worked over the last few years (banks, insurance companies, police forces, mobile phone networks, tax authorities etc etc), security has precluded it

There was a time I worked for these sorts of institutions and not only could I, I was actually expected to, use my own kit. They'd just give me a network cable and ID and any software I needed but didn't have .. When I were a lad

 

[MacLinDroid]

I also sync via Google but I was immensely frustrated the other day when I had no broadband for almost an entire working day, while attending various meetings in rather posh suburbs in between and behind mountains. It is an area that looks much like Monaco, including mansions costing as much as US$40 million. Yet there is dysfunctional connectivity at best.

Thousands upon thousands of engineers, surveyors, miners, constructors, paramedics on our roads, etc., are being affected negatively. It also hampers people involved in consulting, such as financial brokers, who travel a lot and need to be in touch. These would usually sync data frequently, as were were "trained" by the convenience of Nokia Suite. Sometimes, an entire staff of, say, 50 people, get affected in this way.

Then there was the instance where someone dragged an anchor across the ocean floor in the Med and severed the one cable that serves India, the eastern coast of Africa right down to Cape Town, as well as others Australasian countries. Usually, in developed countries, there will be ubiquity and robustness of alternative routing, but we do not have that - six cables are there, yes, but the government(s) do not always allow full uptake and/or service providers are short-sighted and do not plan for "force majeure."

Then there is another question: why would it be better for my data to travel via optic fibre to London and from there to Apple, and return the same way, totalling 42 000km instead of going just 20cm to my laptop from my phone? It really makes no sense.

 

[mikedt]

I also sync via Google but I was immensely frustrated the other day when I had no broadband for almost an entire working day, while attending various meetings in rather posh suburbs in between and behind mountains. It is an area that looks much like Monaco, including mansions costing as much as US$40 million. Yet there is dysfunctional connectivity at best.

I sync my contacts and working schedule via Google, but don't always have to be online to do it. As long as I can make the additions and changes either on my phone or laptop it'll sync to Google when there's internet available.

Thousands upon thousands of engineers, surveyors, miners, constructors, paramedics on our roads, etc., are being affected negatively. It also hampers people involved in consulting, such as financial brokers, who travel a lot and need to be in touch. These would usually sync data frequently, as were were "trained" by the convenience of Nokia Suite. Sometimes, an entire staff of, say, 50 people, get affected in this way.

Then there was the instance where someone dragged an anchor across the ocean floor in the Med and severed the one cable that serves India, the eastern coast of Africa right down to Cape Town, as well as others Australasian countries. Usually, in developed countries, there will be ubiquity and robustness of alternative routing, but we do not have that - six cables are there, yes, but the government(s) do not always allow full uptake and/or service providers are short-sighted and do not plan for "force majeure."

Then there is another question: why would it be better for my data to travel via optic fibre to London and from there to Apple, and return the same way, totalling 42 000km instead of going just 20cm to my laptop from my phone? It really makes no sense.

Depending on you're particular situation and usages, you might not have your laptop available to sync to. You have your laptop available at all times? I'm only using a laptop at work(teacher's office at school) or at home, anywhere else I'm using my phone. My contacts and schedule probably go all the way across the Pacific, China to USA. There's more chance for me that my phone will be connected to Google than it will be connected to my laptop. Many times depending on where I am. I've only got metered GPRS/EDGE coverage a lot of the time, syncing contacts and calendar is fine on that. It's not like streaming HD video, it doesn't need fast broadband.

 

[Hadron]

Then there is another question: why would it be better for my data to travel via optic fibre to London and from there to Apple, and return the same way, totalling 42 000km instead of going just 20cm to my laptop from my phone? It really makes no sense.

That one is easy: it increases the extent to which you are locked in to the "ecosystem". That's always Apple's first priority.

In Google's case add "more data we can mine to target ads".

 

[MacLinDroid]

Thousands upon thousands of business folks travel long distances every day, a few hundred miles maybe, between clients. We/they lug along a laptop and a smartphone and then some even have a full PC back at home/office. Now, bear in mind almost the bulk of an entire continent has NO broadband, so there is still NO sync when back home......can you begin to understand the frustration? No way to sync at all......that is hectic. One sometimes can driver sixty or a hundred miles or more to get where a strong enough signal exists. A USB cable still is shorter than such a drive. I really think that most people have no understanding of how people live in other countries; I am not meaning this in a bad way, just trying to point out that a couple hundred of million computers users ex-USA need local sync, as no alternatives exist. Imagine that

 

[John Bean]

I have to admit I have had no real need of sync ever, and when local sync was the only option I didn't really use it. Nowadays I let Google sync my browser-based stuff for convenience and have a few non-vital things on Drive and Keep, but nothing that would have any impact if it vanished.

Vital stuff is present locally on whatever device, and my "sync" is invariably to copy stuff back and forth as required by whatever means with minimum bandwidth - rsync is my friend

Old habits die hard; I learned the hard way how to manage data across machines when the only available connection was a 300 baud dial-up via an acoustic coupler. High speed data? Wot that?

Those were the days. Not

 

[MacLinDroid]

I want to see the average user fiddling with rsync - it will be spectacular

I am not sure how to go about this but I am trying to alert the "right" people that there is a serious problem out there, of global proportions, that IT developers/architects are blissfully unaware of. An oversight, even understandably so, yet devastating to those in Asia, Africa, Australia, South America and even in some areas in Europe who are having their livelihood, income, etc., compromised because someone in faraway Seattle and Cupertino did not see/think far enough when they forced all into the cloud.

How does one communicate this so that decision makers realise they are effectively excluding countless people when introducing local "rules" that affect others globally?

Some developers sit up and listen: Airdroid reacted when they heard of the problem and I see it now has USB connection as well. We need Apple, Microsoft and especially Linux developers to take note.

If someone with proper skills can take something like Baikal-Server forward and make it easy to install and use.............??? It will be the most wonderful dream come true! Spread the word.........

 

[John Bean]

There are good (and simple) GUI front ends for rsync - perhaps not for Android though - and of course there are other "backup" programs that use rsync-like methods to minimise the bandwidth requirements that make it simple to sync local files/folders on an Android phone with those on some external resource. I tend to use rsync on rooted devices simply because I'm familiar with it but I also use and recommend SyncMe on non-root devices.

Of course my emphasis is on files and folders; if I desperately needed (say) local calendar sync I'd be out of luck. Your general point about the need for an all-encompassing cloud-like sync but to a local server is perfectly valid, it's just that I've never had a need for it.

 

[MacLinDroid]

I am using LuckyBackup on Mint, very easy and intuitive. Even I can do it!

SyncMe: I will be having a look at it just now.

 

[davidchsw]

Broadband is not required to syn PIM information. Even a poor data connection would be enough. I would expect as demand goes up the infrastructure will increase to meet it. That is the way it has worked here in the USA.

 

[MacLinDroid]

Demand only sees the big service providers/monopolies pay out billions in dividends yet the service does not even improve.

To sync a couple of megabytes with an unstable GPRS connection is bad. Worse, some of the latest phones do not even support GPRS/EDGE.

And, on this Friday, a Google sync managed to mess up my contacts completely. For a few years, I never had an issue and I always wondered why others complained. Today, I know. And Thunderbird's sync extensions of course had something to do with it. This is the one thing I miss from Microsoft: and that is Outlook.

Back to upgrading infrastructure: there is a different mindset on some regions; do not expect from either enterprise- or political leaders to reason along the same lines you are used to.

Local sync will be a necessity for a decade or more.

 

[Slug]

I am not sure how to go about this but I am trying to alert the "right" people [...]

We need Apple, Microsoft and especially Linux developers to take note.

You won't find many Apple or Microsoft developers hanging around Android Forums, though.

Many Android OEMs offer desktop solutions that allow local sync of contacts, calendars and media via USB connection. If one isn't available for your devices then the manufacturer(s) would be the best people to approach with the suggestion that it be provided.

 

[mikedt]

To sync a couple of megabytes with an unstable GPRS connection is bad. Worse, some of the latest phones do not even support GPRS/EDGE.

Are you looking at phones that are meant for the North American market. Because I know in the US, the FCC and carriers are doing away with the 2G GPRS/EDGE services, as the wireless bands are being reallocated for 4G LTE usage. And so 2G technology will no longer be required in that market. Could be the same for the EU as well.


All Chinese phones should have 2G though, because so many people are using GPRS/EDGE with China Mobile, the world's largest carrier. I understand it's really low-cost phones from China that are particularly popular in many African countries. And not phones from the United States or whatever.

 

[chanchan05]

Well, you can always NOT use cloud. You do know that OEMs like Sony, Samsung and HTC still offers USB sync to outlook today right? Even the newest Nokia Suite supports Lumia phones for USB sync. You aren't tied to cloud. You still have that option to sync to your laptop your calendar, notes and contacts without using internet.