5 Top Tablet Conferencing Apps
As mentioned in an earlier article, tablet-based conferencing is a rapidly growing niche of the Web conferencing market. The market for tablet conferencing is dominated by several big name players, including networking and remote computing giants Cisco Systems' WebEx and Citrix Systems' GoToMeeting. Other names include Adobe Systems' Connect, FuzeBox Fuze Meeting and Saba Meeting.
Here is a look at what these vendors offer:
Cisco Systems WebEx (iPad and Android Tablets)
Cisco is the market leader in web conferencing, and its WebEx meeting system is aimed at everything from small two- or three-person meetings to large webinars. WebEx has strong support for Apple's iPad and Android tablets, although devices running lower than Android 3 or with screen sizes lower than 7.1 inches do not support two-way video.
Tablet features include:
- Two-way high-quality, multipoint video with camera switcher
- Voice-activated video switching
- Full-screen video
- View content and video simultaneously
- Schedule, start and cancel a meeting
- Invite others to a meeting
- Pass presenter capabilities to another participant
- Integrated VoIP audio and Web conferencing on Wi-Fi and 3G
- Full-screen meeting view
- View attendee list
- View shared content with annotations
- Pinch to zoom and scan
- Private or group chat
Citrix Online GoToMeeting (iPad and Android Tablets)
Citrix is well known for its virtualization software and server-based computing software, but its Citrix online division is the fastest growing part of the business. Its GoTo brand includes GoToMeeting, GoToAssist, GoToMyPC, GoToWebinar and HiDef Conferencing. GoToMeeting is popular for smaller departmental level meetings, while GoToWebinar is appropriate for training or large webinars.
Tablet features include:
- Attend or start GoToMeeting sessions from anywhere
- Attend GoToWebinar sessions of up to 1,000 attendees
- Participate in Webinar Q&A and polls
- Start meetings from your iPhone, iPad or Android device (with paid GoToMeeting account)
- View presentations, mock-ups and reports — anything the presenter shares on-screen — or present from your iPad
- Connect to audio through your device's built-in mic and speakers or dial in over the phone
- Pinch to zoom meeting content
- See who's presenting, who's talking and who's attending
Adobe Connect Mobile (iPad and Android Tablet)
Adobe Connect is a market leader in education and government circles, and one which is gaining traction in the enterprise. The user interface is configurable by meeting hosts, and functionality can be extended by using pre-built or custom extensions. Until recently, it had the reputation of being one of the more expensive conferencing options.
Tablet features include:
- Fully host and present content change layouts, whiteboard, advance slides and control animations
- Share documents and other media-rich content
- Take shared notes
- Run polls
- Begin and end meetings
- Control meeting audio, video and recordings, remove unwanted attendees
- Share presentations, video and other images from a cloud library
- Host multipoint videoconferences with support for back- and front-facing cameras and camera switching
Fuzebox Fuze Meeting (iPad and Android Tablets)
Fuzebox is a relatively unknown company but it appears to be growing fast. With a relatively full feature set and low price, it is winning fans. That said, it may not have a long-term future if the sector consolidates around the larger players.
Features include:
- Initiate, manage and record meetings directly from your iPad
- Host up to 12 concurrent HD video conference feeds and 100 participants
- Share content from your screen, iPad album or the cloud (including Dropbox)
- Use your finger tips and simple gestures to manage settings, pan, zoom, annotate or point at shared content
- Choose voice connections via Internet audio (VoIP), direct dial-in or via Fuze's “Call Me” feature
- Record meetings for later review or sharing
- Shoot and share photos and video from both iPad cameras with a Fuze meeting in progress
Saba Meeting (iPad and Android Tablets)
Saba‘s roots lie in education and training, but in the last year it has broken into the more general collaborative meeting and Webinar market. Its functionality is also integrated into the company's social software platform, Saba Social.
Tablet features include:
- Chat and two-way audio conferencing during a meeting
- Private mobile chat rooms
- Chat with multiple attendees
- Use polling, break-out rooms and evaluations
- Use whiteboard and markup tools to annotate and mark up slides and documents
- Checkmark, raise hand, applaud and laugh features allow you to interact with attendees during your mobile Web conference
- Record and save your mobile meetings, Webinars and classrooms so you can go back and review them later
Paul Rubens has been covering enterprise technology for over 20 years. In that time he has written for leading UK and international publications including The Economist, The Times, Financial Times, the BBC, Computing and ServerWatch.
Paul Ferrill has been writing for over 15 years about computers and network technology. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering as well as a MS in Electrical Engineering. He is a regular contributor to the computer trade press. He has a specialization in complex data analysis and storage. He has written hundreds of articles and two books for various outlets over the years. His articles have appeared in Enterprise Apps Today and InfoWorld, Network World, PC Magazine, Forbes, and many other publications.
