Companies are adopting mobile applications faster than planned because of advances in technology and increased competitive pressure. What’s hot? Line-of-business (LOB) applications, like logistics and field service. Of course, industry variability is high as each vertical focuses on the applications that help it solve its unique business issues. The utilities and telecommunications industry is screaming out for mobile field service applications, and public sector; media, entertainment, and leisure; and retail and wholesale trade want a lot of customer-facing applications. The finance and insurance industry is still lagging but is starting to show interest in sales force applications. What happens next? Wireless email will hit a plateau, but mobility will continue to penetrate even deeper into business applications. Also, IT will start thinking of mobility not as a new and emerging technology, but as an integral part of the IT infrastructure.
[Via Recent Research from Forrester]
…Wireless email will hit a plateau, but mobility will continue to penetrate even deeper into business applications…
Mobile business applications is not area of strength for solutions such as the RIM BlackBerry. My interpretation of the info above is that wireless email is now truely a commodity and prices will come down. This puts a lot of pressure on the RIM business model and will for their channel (the mobile operators) to look for alternatives. Secondly, the uptake of business applications requires a platform approach and play very much into the strenght of the WIndows Mobile platform.
