August 26, 2006

SmartPhone over Notebooks: Will It Happen?

In-Stat writes that in its ultimate incarnation, a SmartPhone should allow a user to leave the office without a dedicated wireless phone, a PDA, or a laptop PC. This would be a "converged device." In-Stat surveyed users to find out where SmartPhones stand today on this effort and to understand what users would need to have to achieve this aim.

I'd like to think this could happen for MANY people. But for those of us who need to TYPE (not peck) and work with multiple apps as they do on my daily train - a notebook is the best tool.

In-Stat continues - the positive news is that users consider their SmartPhones to be more valuable than laptops or PDA users consider their respective devices. In addition, SmartPhone users are very positive about the benefits of owning this device. While there are relatively few SmartPhone users that do not also carry a laptop, only 11% of our survey, these users are satisfied with the tools they have for their business.

The challenge is that manufacturers need to overcome several major hurdles if users are to rely solely on a SmartPhone. There are significant concerns about screen size and inadequate keyboards. Software companies need to make SmartPhone applications operate in a similar fashion to desktop versions and that automatically synchronize versions across platforms. A more stubborn obstacle is the behavior of mobile workers, who often want to carry redundant devices, such as a PDA and a SmartPhone.

In addition to the technical challenges, users are skeptical and there is not a sales channel that is in place to help users overcome their concerns. As SmartPhones become a larger part of the market because of developing business applications, we will see a virtuous cycle of more solutions on a SmartPhone.

More information is available in: Converged Devices: SmartPhones vs. Laptops and PDAs in Business Markets (#IN0602914MBM). You can access this report online here.:

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