Thursday, February 19, 2009

Small-Medium Businesses are driving mobility


According to ABI Research, the estimated number of mobile small-medium businesses (SMB) in the world (those with between five and 99 employees who use smartphones) will pass 200 million. Micro-business users (SOHO: 1-4 employees) will add another 100 million to this population. This represents opportunity for several important segments.

  • Mobile Service Providers: This is the segment with the most obvious market opportunity. The SMB and SOHO population will need reliable and fast network access in current -- and potentially worsening -- market conditions more than ever. It's the only way they can exploit the natural advantages -- agility and flexibility -- they have over large businesses.
  • Mobile application developers: Moving transactional capability off the desktop and onto the PDA will give any enterprise a leg up on their competition. As SMB/SOHO mobile users need to move faster and faster, they will want to be able to actually accomplish things while out on the road, before they forget.
  • Automotive Safety Device Manufacturers: Let's face it. The more that people can do on their PDA, the more they will do on their PDA. And it's naïve to believe they will always pull over to the side of the road to do it. Look for government-mandated safety protocols to show up in the news over the next 12 months.

More information from ABI Research

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