Instant Messaging Stands Out as Next Rising Star
Boston, MA - October 3, 2006 -- From personal productivity and messaging solutions to mobilized line-of-business applications, Strategy Analytics predicts that by the end of the decade more than 41 million North American business users will spend over $10 billion annually on wireless enterprise data services. The latest Wireless Enterprise Strategies service report, "Wireless Enterprise User-Level Market Forecast (N. America Country-Level 2005-2010)," also concludes that enterprise mobile email will eclipse SMS as the prime revenue generator as early as 2009. IM and `presence' are also identified as hot trends as businesses realize the benefits of a mode of real time non-voice mobile communications, and ranks of internet-savvy young adults enter the workforce. Strategy Analytics analysts cite dramatically lower costs, vastly improved user experiences and thinner, more stylish QWERTY devices, as key demand catalysts for mainstream business adoption.
"Climbing to over $8 billion in revenues, we expect the category of Personal Productivity tools including email, SMS and IM, to continue to dominate wireless enterprise data revenues through 2010. Wirelessly mobilized business process applications, such as Field Service and Sales, other CRM, ERP and SCM, will see healthy levels of growth, but will be relatively constrained by high solution deployment and service delivery costs," comments Antoine Mathiaud, Senior Analyst with the Wireless Enterprise Strategies service and author of the report. "As mobile email becomes the next mobile enterprise cash cow, Instant Messaging-- with staggering year-on-year revenue growth exceeding 100 percent-- is the next rising star in the enterprise mobility space."
Cliff Raskind, Director of the Wireless Enterprise Strategies service further notes, "The US market truly stands out as a global bellwether, not only in terms of the maturity of the mobile email market, but also in un-tethering a range of line-of-business applications from the PC. Despite comparatively slower growth than email, Sales Force Automation is one e-business application that will see wireless handheld access spread out to nearly 33 percent of all SFA users by 2010. Alongside mobile operators, SFA mobility enablers and Independent Software Vendors, themselves, are effectively expanding the universe of mobile SFA options towards managed services that can more affordably be offered by carriers to small businesses. Companies like Sybase/iAnywhere, SAP, Siebel, Sendia/Salesforce.com, Entellium, Pyxis and Vaultus are all working to move the US market forward faster than we see in other regions."