Is The Smartphone Your Next Computer?
Is the smartphone the new laptop? Can we really ditch our Windows-powered portables when we travel, in favor of BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile-, or Symbian-powered handsets? It's true that full-fledged x86 computing excels at supporting deep views into business intelligence and CRM databases. However, most professionals would like nothing better than to lighten their load on the road. And hey, if they can access their companies' Oracle , Salesforce, SAP, or Sybase apps from a lightweight mobile interface, why not?
What we found is a mixed bag. Smartphone makers are rushing to partner with software houses, as both see big bucks in giving their customers mobile enterprise access. The former envision over-the-air ERP and CRM as ways to drive expensive handsets into the hands of workers who currently don't rate more than commodity cell phones. And software vendors anticipate broader usage--or at least heightened mindshare--for their apps if they can get many more people to spend more time interacting with customer and transaction-oriented data on their handsets.
As for users, we found a market clearly in its early stages though poised for rapid growth. In an InformationWeek online survey of 1,139 business technology professionals, 30% of smartphone users say they use their devices for enterprise connectivity, and 37% either occasionally or frequently leave their laptops at home in favor of their smartphones.
Many more users would like to ditch their laptops when they travel but are afraid of being caught short. Most midlevel execs will only cop to arriving at a meeting armed with just a smartphone if they're on a day trip. So, for the near-term, a dual-use scenario will be the norm, where laptops lumber on in their traditional role.
What we found is a mixed bag. Smartphone makers are rushing to partner with software houses, as both see big bucks in giving their customers mobile enterprise access. The former envision over-the-air ERP and CRM as ways to drive expensive handsets into the hands of workers who currently don't rate more than commodity cell phones. And software vendors anticipate broader usage--or at least heightened mindshare--for their apps if they can get many more people to spend more time interacting with customer and transaction-oriented data on their handsets.
As for users, we found a market clearly in its early stages though poised for rapid growth. In an InformationWeek online survey of 1,139 business technology professionals, 30% of smartphone users say they use their devices for enterprise connectivity, and 37% either occasionally or frequently leave their laptops at home in favor of their smartphones.
Many more users would like to ditch their laptops when they travel but are afraid of being caught short. Most midlevel execs will only cop to arriving at a meeting armed with just a smartphone if they're on a day trip. So, for the near-term, a dual-use scenario will be the norm, where laptops lumber on in their traditional role.
Labels: laptops, smart phones
posted by Ellie Hernandez at
8:15 AM
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