Oh RIM, where art thou? A new Forrester Research report notes that Apple, Google and Microsoft will command the lion's share of smartphones and tablets. The evolving mobile market will also require CIOs to appoint a chief mobility officer.
Among the many
pearls of wisdom from Forrester Research's new report on the impact of mobile
technologies in the business world, is the notion that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL),
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) will provide the software platforms
for more than 90 percent of smartphones and tablets worldwide.
That leaves
little room for enterprise mobility stalwart Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM),
whose declining market share and decaying brand have made it both the target of
sour jokes and the recipient of hushed condolences.
If there is a
light in RIM's dark sky, it's that some 1 billion consumers will have
smartphones by 2016, including 350 million corporate workers, 200 million of
which will bring their own personal smartphones into the workplace for
professional communications.
That goes for
tablets, too, according to Forrester analysts Ted Schadler and John McCarthy,
who co-authored the report
"Mobile
Is the New Face of Engagement." The analysts culled their data from
talking to 3,534 CIOs, IT managers and other corporate managers around the
world.
"Smartphones
and tablets are valuable enough at work that employees will buy their
own," Schadler and McCarthy wrote. "Today, employees pay for more
than half of the devices and data plans used for work across every region. The
same is true for tablets: Employees pay for 70 percent of the tablets used for
work."
Yet, surely,
not all of Forrester's massive addressable mobile market will be filled by
iPhones, iPads, Android machines, or Windows Phone handsets and slates. This
means the BlackBerry, still entrenched in many large businesses worldwide, has
a legitimate shot to bounce back from its dead period.
Still, this
poses quite the quandary for the chief information officers in large
enterprises worldwide. Should businesses stick with RIM, whose new CEO Thorsten
Heins had vowed to stay the course and compete with the iPhones and Droids with
phones based on the BlackBerry 10 operating system?
Or should CIOs
throw open the doors to the so-called bring-your-own-device policies that are
increasingly prevalent among companies? This has already happened in certain,
limited instances.
For
example, Fender, which fancies itself a progressive enabler of new technologies,
encourages employees to bring their iPhones and Android handsets into the
workplace.
These are things
technology purchasers must consider. Of course, the hardware is still the shell
in which greater things are conceived.
Forrester
anticipates business workers will use context-aware apps and smart products.
Corporate road warriors will check status, find knowledge experts, make
purchases and conduct other communications from smartphones leveraging
location-based services.
In one
practical example from Forrester, a system of engagement presented on a
smartphone will know that a guest has entered the lobby for the first time and
if he or she is likely to check in.
By using GPS
or location context from the device, the hotel guest system will know that
"when you enter your room, the app should default to the concierge and
room service tabs, thus providing immediate access to these hospitality
services."
To that end,
Forrester said CIOs must go so far as to create a new position called CMO, with
the "M" standing for "mobility" instead of
"marketing."
The CMO will
design applications and policies around mobile technologies first, fueling
"profitable growth with stickier offerings and mobile self-service."
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