On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

Is enterprise ready to embrace mobile? IT professional and company association CompTIA recently asked this question at the annual EMEA Member Conference, with a session discussing the growing (in both size and importance) role of mobile devices in enterprise.

After all, 90% of the 1 billion internet-enabled devices sold in Europe are mobile devices.

Starting off the session was GfK group director and market researcher Carl West, who says the traditional PC business has reached saturation point-- and mobile devices, together with the cloud, are reinvigorating the market, kicking off the replacement cycle and "giving us something to talk about."

West states "mobility and the mobile enterprise is not about hardware but is instead about implementation and best practice.”

Next to speak was Dimension Data CTO Neal Louw, who described mobile enterprise not as an evolution, but a revolution rapidly changing a landscape IT departments are struggling to keep up with.

His biggest concern is security-- a concern that is only getting bigger, as more employees bring their devices to their workplaces. Louw asked whether IT departments have a "bring your own" policy. If not, they are "already behind the curve."

The industry needs to address the growing complexity behind mobile enterprise, Louw continued.

RIM platform product marketing director Anthony Payne also talked about mobile enterprise, describing it as both a challenge and an opportunity for both vendors and IT departments. Payne points out we are living in a multi-platform world, and thus vendors and resellers need to tailor solutions to their customers-- the platform is not as important as "enabling" the user in question.

Moderator Bob Snyder, Channel Media Europe editor-in-chief, summed up the session by saying today the IT business is becoming the mobile business-- and mobile is driving the cloud by enabling computing anywhere, anytime, on any device, for better or worse.

Watch CompTIA EMEA 2011: The Mobile Enterprise

Apple and Samsung were never the best of friends, not with still ongoing months-long copyright infringement litigation between the two. And now Samsung stabs at Apple fans with the latest Galaxy S II advert.

The advert in question concentrates on mocking the Apple afacionados queueing to get (presumably) the iPhone 4S, while "regular" Galaxy S II-using folks pass by. "This phone... is amazing," one of them says as the queuers look on.

"The Next Big Thing is Already Here," the advert concludes. Which is true, in a way-- the Galaxy is physically huge compared to other phones.

Clearly Samsung wants to get first time smartphone buyers, rather than try to convince iPhone users to switch phones. And a few sneaky digs at Apple (rather than, you know, show the actual device the advert should be selling) never hurt, right?

Or maybe Samsung is still hurting after getting dumped by Apple?

It is actually happening-- will the market "like" it? According to AllThingsD, Facebook is entering the mobile arena with a smartphone carrying the social network at its very core.

Who will make such a phone? Taiwan's HTC, a recent choice on Facebook's part. Samsung was also being considered as potential hardware partner, apparently.

Code-named after TV vampire slayer Buffy, the phone will run on (surprise?) Facebook-modified Android. According to All Things D sources, "Buffy" Android will also support HTML5 and might be too deeply customised to run regular Android apps (demanding an alternative Facebook app store).

AllThingsD says the Faacebook phone will only hit the market in 12-18 months' time-- but Business Insider differs, and insists the launch "might come much sooner than that," on Q2 2012. Even if "not everyone close to the project is optimistic" the Facebook phone will manage to hit the market.

The word "Biscotti" does not simply refer to Italian biscuits any more-- it is also the name of a miniature VoIP TV phone that's only a bit bigger than the actual baked goods sharing the name.

The Biscotti consists of a small camera-carrying box designed to sit on top of TV sets, to which it plugs in using HDMI. Connecting to the internet via wifi, it allows users to make video-calls through either Biscotti service or Google Talk from their living rooms.

Control comes via included 6-button remote, while a HDMI-in port allows one to connect the Biscotti to both TV and cable/satellite STB and make calls while watching other TV channels.

Users can also set the Biscotti to automatically answer calls from select contacts and even turn the TV on when receiving calls through a simple menu system.

It works with wifi upload speeds starting from 256Kbps, and delivers HD video at speeds of 1Mbps and over. Now all we need is some coffee to go with such crunchy treats...

Go Biscotti TV Phone