Over the years, technology as evolved as manufactures have incorporated new operating systems to their mobile handhelds. Out in the field today, there are many devices with a range with different OSs, both old and new. Former operating systems predominately ran on mobile handheld devices were MsDos, PalmOS, PocketPC, Windows CE, and Windows Mobile 6.5. Recently, the mobile handheld industry has seen a growing number, almost 13%, of users moving the Android.
This movement to migrate devices and applications to Android comes in light of the announcement from Microsoft regarding the "sun-set" of Windows Mobile 6.5. Apart of the "sun-set" plan, Microsoft is making no new enhancements to the platform. Important date apart of the "sun-set" plan set by Microsoft:
June 10, 2018 - Windows Embedded CE 6.0
June 9, 2019 - Windows Embedded 8.1 Handheld
January 14, 2020 - Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5
Companies with devices running legacy operating systems that are no longer supported are at risk to a potential data breach. Although this is most likely for mobile devices that are on the move and connected to outside their secure network. Developers are no longer supporting the operating system meaning there are no longer issuing new security patches nor are they making improvements to the operating operating system to improve performance.
In efforts to mitigate risk of a potential attack and the maximize your workflow, it is important to develop a strategy to transition to Android. If your organization utilizes a 3rd party application, it would be worth while to check with them to see if they have an Android version available and see if you can upgrade.
If your organization has their own end-user technology, there are two questions to ask and have a conversation with the IT Department to plan a strategy for the future. First, what are we using today? Second, what is plan for the future that we can scale with our business?
As companies grow and adapt to changes in the market, companies are looking for ways to scale their enterprise technology. While porting to a new operating system, another topic to discuss is moving to the Cloud. In a recent article by Forbes, Microsoft is the leader provider Cloud Services followed by Amazon and IBM. Having an app stored in the Cloud allows your faster response times to improve the user experience and the available to scale-up or scale-down depending on the apps usage.
As you sit back and reflect on the technology you are using today, where does your company's app fall on the timeline? For more information about porting your enterprise application from a legacy OS, such as, Windows Mobile 6.5 to Android, visit: www.wirelessns.com/customdevelopment