American small businesses are embracing current mobile phone technology to increase their productivity. The total Small Office and Home Office (SOHO) smartphone market will grow 18 percent in 2014 compared to 2010, according to the latest market study by In-Stat.
The SOHO business category is comprised of U.S. businesses with one to four employees. In this category, the education and professional services sector will be the highest growth vertical market segment.
"Smartphone purchases across all verticals and all U.S. business sizes will increase 14 percent in 2014 compared to 2010," says Frank Dickson, In-Stat Research Vice President.
As both manufacturers and service providers increase the number of smartphone models and applications, In-Stat sees U.S. businesses finding greater utility from smartphones, thus enhancing worker productivity. The return on investment for providing smartphones is easily understood by these companies.
The total U.S. business handset market, which includes smartphones, feature phones, and basic handsets will see a slight contraction in 2010 before returning to slow but positive growth in 2011.
The utilities, mining, and manufacturing vertical markets are exceptions to the trend and will continue to see declines in handsets purchased over the forecast period.
Highlights from the In-Stat market study include:
- Purchases of basic mobile phones by U.S. businesses will decrease to 3.9 million.
- Feature phone purchases by U.S. businesses are set to decline 12.3 percent from 2010 - 2014.
- Small business feature phone purchases will decline by 14 percent from 2010 to 2014.
- The healthcare and social services vertical will purchase over 4.5 million handsets in 2014.
The SOHO business category is comprised of U.S. businesses with one to four employees. In this category, the education and professional services sector will be the highest growth vertical market segment.
"Smartphone purchases across all verticals and all U.S. business sizes will increase 14 percent in 2014 compared to 2010," says Frank Dickson, In-Stat Research Vice President.
As both manufacturers and service providers increase the number of smartphone models and applications, In-Stat sees U.S. businesses finding greater utility from smartphones, thus enhancing worker productivity. The return on investment for providing smartphones is easily understood by these companies.
The total U.S. business handset market, which includes smartphones, feature phones, and basic handsets will see a slight contraction in 2010 before returning to slow but positive growth in 2011.
The utilities, mining, and manufacturing vertical markets are exceptions to the trend and will continue to see declines in handsets purchased over the forecast period.
Highlights from the In-Stat market study include:
- Purchases of basic mobile phones by U.S. businesses will decrease to 3.9 million.
- Feature phone purchases by U.S. businesses are set to decline 12.3 percent from 2010 - 2014.
- Small business feature phone purchases will decline by 14 percent from 2010 to 2014.
- The healthcare and social services vertical will purchase over 4.5 million handsets in 2014.