WebEx is one of the leading web conferencing providers in the market today. WebEx integrates audio and video conferencing and supports both Internet Phone (VoIP) and teleconferencing (telephone). Furthermore, meeting participants can use a simple text chat tool to communicate.
It's not a secret that the iPad has no camera, because Steve Jobs hopes to collect another $1K from his loyal customers for this feature in next version. And most likely, he would succeed in the consumer market, but the enterprise market is now a big question. Because mobile videoconferencing - is the main advantage of such tablets over netbooks and smartphones for business. And because today Cisco introduced its tablet Cisco Cius, targeted directly at web-conferencing and business video applications. First of all - Cisco business apps: Webex, Quad, Cisco Telepresence. But since the device is running Android OS - it is open for solutions from any vendor.
So, iPad is now available in US and like Avatar is breaking all records (already about 400 thousand devices are sold). The first users have already downloaded several millions iPad applications, but most of them are consumer apps, rather than business applications. As we noted earlier, iPad has a little chance to become a revolutionary business tool. And not just because of the lack of webcam, multitasking, Flash support and security measures. Despite its originality, iPad will compete in the corporate market with an army of netbooks and smartphones (including iPhone). But certainly iPad will be useful for business of software vendors, which have already begun to announce iPad clients to get the customer attention.
The same day, when Microsoft released Exchange 2010, its competitor, Cisco, impressed the IT world with numerous product introductions across all categories of its collaboration portfolio. The company unveiled the enhanced unified communication system, three new intranet and social software solutions. But the most significant new product is Cisco WebEx Mail that will compete with MS Exchange. It integrates some of the technology Cisco acquired when it purchased PostPath in 2008 and Webex Mail service. The mail difference from Exchange is that it's the SaaS solution. Users can access their mail and calendar through browser web interface or sync it with their mobile client (Blackberry, iPhone, ActiveSync). As for the desktop client, Cisco Webex Mail is intended to use MS Outlook. The developers boast of the complete integration with Outlook, including email, calendar, notes and shared folders.