Good article over at InformationWeek, the results of a survey of,"325 business technology professionals." All sorts of interesting results for those interested in smartphones in the corporate space. Multimedia? They don't care. Security and ability for IT depts. to manage the devices, they care a lot. Other tidbits:
- Apparently Blackberry is just barely edging out WM in the US, 64% to 63%
- Symbian still rules the roost worldwide, at 73%
- Access will continue Palm compatibility, but they face competition from a consortium of companies including NTT CoDoMo, NEC, Motorola, Panasonic, Samsung, and Vodafone
- RIM's closed platform makes them good at email, bad at other stuff. The "other stuff" is becoming more important.
- "industry observers believe Photon will eliminate the need for separate software development kits for Windows Mobile's Smartphone and Pocket PC edition" - Let's hope!
Their analysis of WM's position in the marketplace is amusing, "Microsoft's challenge: Symbian's more experienced, RIM's more focused, and Apple's got the mojo." I'd say that may be true generally, but for the US corporate market, pssh. RIM may be "more focused" as a company, but what is that supposed to mean? Nintendo is "more focused" on gaming, but does anybody really think that means the Xbox 360 team is going in 8 different directions at once? As for Symbian, well... if somebody could explain to me why Symbian hasn't gotten itself into the US, I'd love to hear it. It's a mystery to me, a mystery I expect to continue for awhile. Apple - I don't know that I want to touch that with your ten foot pole until the device is out.
Two-thirds of respondents to an InformationWeek survey this month cite security and manageability as top smartphone software features. Multimedia support--a must-have among consumers--ranked dead last.
