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.

Mobile hardware outpaces software, user capabilities

Mobile hardware is outpacing software capabilities and the mobile user experience, according to a panel of technologists at Technology Review's Emerging Technologies Conference held at MIT in Cambridge, Mass. Among those speaking was Rich Miner, group manager of mobile platforms at Google Inc., who said open operating systems -- like the one launched on Google's long-awaited G1 Android phone -- will drive future innovation, but much of it may be lost on the user in the short term.

"The easiest way to see this is ... about 80% of mobile phones have cameras in them today, yet if you were to ask how many people actually use those cameras (know how to get photos off of the phone), it's probably literally 10% to 15%," Miner said. (ie ClickOVA)

But with the entrance of companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Google in the mobile platform market, a shift is coming. In a few years, a large contingent of consumers may not even use a PC, but instead perform all their Internet and communications applications on mobile devices, according to panelist Kevin Lynch, chief technology officer of the experience and technology group at Adobe.

$11.5 Billion U.S. Mobile Phones in 2007, Says NPD Group

According to The NPD Group, a leading consumer and retail information company, mobile phone sales to consumers in the U.S. reached 146 million units by the end of 2007. NPD estimates total 2007 consumer sales of $11.5 billion, after rebates and promotions.