Irish-based company FancyFon has announced that it’s FAMOC platform now supports the iPhone. What does that mean? FAMOC is a mobile device management system for “work phones”, that allows all of the phones being used in a company to access the same applications and work services.
Who is FancyFon?
It’s an Irish company that specifically deals with mobile device management. The primary function of its product FAMOC is to allow a single computer to remotely manage the applications and settings on multiple phones. For businesses, this means that employees don’t need to worry about keeping their apps up to date, or know how to change their settings to allow (for example) access to work email. One person with FAMOC on their computer can do it all.
What’s their news?
FAMOC can now handle the iPhone. It allows a central manager to issue password policies, applications and network configurations. They can also configure email servers and online calendars on the iPhones.
They’re only adding iPhone now?
You might think that the “Jesus phone” would be the first phone they’d add. But the simple truth is that the iPhone isn’t the most popular device platform in the world. This service is aimed not at “people with smartphones”, but at the market in general. And the majority of “people who can run apps” have S60 devices. So far the FAMOC platform supports Symbian S60, Symbian UIQ and Windows Mobile. Now it has added iPhone – which is a good move. Given the sheer number of Windows Phones we’re going to see in the next year, it’s good that they support that OS already – but they really need to get Android and Blackberry support as soon as possible.
What we think?
The explosion of applications has proven a double-edged sword for smaller businesses. Small and medium businesses – especially those with mobile workforces – can benefit hugely from them. Thanks to developments in mobile finance and applications, a single device can provide phone, email, PDA, credit card terminal, and a hundred other functions. But they’re damn expensive – providing every employee with an app-capable device is just opening a world of troubles. But services like FancyFon allow you to bring all of your employees already-owned devices onto the work network, and standardise the “work applications” they’ll need.
Ok, it’s not a perfect system. Not everyone will HAVE a phone that can run apps… and not everyone who owns one will want their boss tinkering around with the applications and settings on it. But it’s a further step towards cloud-based management that will make things easier for mobile workforces in the future.
