Mobile Web - Who are and will be the players

Everyone interested in the mobile space is wondering who the top players are and who they will be in the future. Currently the established players are RIM (blackberry), Microsoft, Palm, Symbian and quickly making gains is Iphone.
In terms of Internet usage, the Iphone tops the list with RIM and Palm Treo trailing behind.
With the North American mobile market quickly approaching saturation businesses need to keep an eye on the top players in the mobile market, especially with the next 5 years looking like Iphone and Android (Google) will take the top spots in terms of mobile Internet usage.

Who to build for?

With four out of five households in this country having mobile phones and being that high-end phone owners are the heaviest mobile Internet users, businesses should make their tools, platform agnostic so it doesn’t matter who the victor turns out to be in this mobile web war.


What's in the future for RIM?

Forrester Research and Network World surveyed mobility decision makers at North American enterprises and SMBs about their management and support of mobile operating systems and their likelihood for managing and supporting them five years from now.
73% of the mobility decision-makers surveyed already support BlackBerry OS, making it the most dominant mobile platform for work today in North America. Will RIM keep its leadership position in the years to come? All signs point to yes, especially after previewing the BlackBerry Bold. 72% of the respondents are likely or very likely to support the BlackBerry OS five years from now, which will ensure that it remains the most widely used mobile operating system for business.

What's in the future for Windows Mobile?

Microsoft has been playing catch-up with RIM and has started making some significant strides in the past couple of years.
54% of respondents support Windows Mobile and in early June Windows announced that it now has 50 handset partners that manufacture 150 Windows Mobile powered phones, across 160 mobile operators, with over 18,000 applications from which to choose.
While Windows Mobile growth is impressive they still have a ways to go before catching up to RIM.
RIM can prevent Windows from taking the lead by convincing businesses that BlackBerry isn't just email and personalized info. It needs to provide its users with useful more applications.

Is Palm still in the game?

Currently 40% of respondents support the Palm OS but Forrester recommends moving their investments into RIM and Windows Mobile over time since Palm OS is positioning itself as a consumer offering in 2009.

What's the hype about IPhone?

With the recent launch of the Iphone 3G and its native support for Microsoft Exchange Active Sync, push email, contacts, and calendars, VPN and the ability to be wiped clean if stolen, businesses are beginning to soften their stance on the IPhone.
With 12% of respondents already supporting the IPhone and more underway, businesses should weigh the good carefully (e.g., superior hardware design, robust Internet browser, 3G and GPS capabilities, reduced hardware cost, etc.) with the bad (e.g., lack of native data encryption, removable battery, and remote lock capabilities, ITunes as the application distribution mechanism, shorter battery life than the original, more expensive mobile voice and data plans, etc.).

Yeah Symbian is global but what about the U.S.?

Symbians’ world wide strength warrants inclusion even though it has a weak presence in North America. Symbian made up 65% of the worldwide smartphone market in Q4 of 2007 and was the clear leader in Asia Pacific, EMEA and Latin America. Being that it has struggled in North America, Symbian has relied on non carrier channels, like online retailers such as Dell.com. Although just 8% of the survey respondents support Symbian devices today, any organization with a strong presence outside of North America should plan on supporting Symbian, if it doesn’t already.
As companies struggle to keep up with an increasing mobile population and the pains of standardization, it is important to keep focus on relevant, user friendly, and tool agnostic applications.


What about mobile consumers?

Data usage in North America is accelerating amongst Gen Yers. Half of all subscribers use text messaging, more than third use picture messaging, and more than one in six access the Internet on their mobile devices. Not only do Gen Yers use more data applications but they are more likely to use them at a greater frequency (IPhone).
Mobile users will pick and choose the most useful tools on their mobile devices. All we can do is try to fulfill their needs.

Stewart Severino
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sseverino@gmail.com