The business mobile email and messaging market is large -- four to five million users in the US alone, reports In-Stat. With a huge potential market of 20 to 30 million mobile workers in the US, and many millions more around the world, the market can still expand greatly. And, in the long run, higher bandwidth will lead to a wider breadth of services that will generate additional revenue.
"For now, mobile workers value mobile data services in general, but don't see much value in specific, richer services such as application access," says Allyn Hall, In-Stat analyst. "Subscribers need better handsets and greater network bandwidth to take advantage of the full range of mobile data services. The sooner 3G or faster networks are in place and mobile workers acquire handsets with more powerful processors, more memory, better screens, and keyboards, the sooner explosive market growth can occur."
In-Stat found the following:
- RIM remains the leader in the mobile messaging and data market, but other players have arrived.
- Respondents to an In-Stat survey of mobile professionals don't use mobile data for much more than email and simple text messaging, and they typically connect via wireless PC modems rather than handsets.
- The next "killer app" after mobile email will be sales force automation, followed by field force automation.
"For now, mobile workers value mobile data services in general, but don't see much value in specific, richer services such as application access," says Allyn Hall, In-Stat analyst. "Subscribers need better handsets and greater network bandwidth to take advantage of the full range of mobile data services. The sooner 3G or faster networks are in place and mobile workers acquire handsets with more powerful processors, more memory, better screens, and keyboards, the sooner explosive market growth can occur."
In-Stat found the following:
- RIM remains the leader in the mobile messaging and data market, but other players have arrived.
- Respondents to an In-Stat survey of mobile professionals don't use mobile data for much more than email and simple text messaging, and they typically connect via wireless PC modems rather than handsets.
- The next "killer app" after mobile email will be sales force automation, followed by field force automation.