FRAMINGHAM, Mass.—IDC said there is tremendous growth potential in the market for business-focused phones, and predicted that Microsoft Corp’s involvement with Motorola Inc., Palm Inc., and others, as well as Nokia Corp.’s commitment to an end-to-end strategy, threatens to weaken Research in Motion Ltd.’s stronghold within the enterprise arena.
The research firm said it sees significant opportunities for differentiation and specialization arising from stringent I.T. requirements and increasing demands for additional features and functionality. Indeed the potential is giving rise to a fiercely competitive environment comprised of device vendors battling for dominance within the mobile enterprise.
And while IDC believes RIM is the undisputed market leader in the enterprise with more than 5.5 million subscribers worldwide and fiscal-year 2006 sales of about $2 billion, the firm noted that competitors are challenging RIM’s eight-year leading position with new, BlackBerry-style devices.
IDC named Nokia and Motorola as strong competitors because of their leadership in the worldwide mobile-phone market, which gives them brand influence and power over enterprise supply chains.
“The Motorola Q and Nokia E61 are high-profile devices intended to generate buzz and to resonate with business users on both a functional and personal level,” IDC stated.
Drilling deeper into the fight for the enterprise market, IDC pointed out that both Motorola and Nokia are leveraging well-established software companies. While Nokia has acquired Intellisync, Motorola has combined forces with Microsoft in offering devices running Windows Mobile. Further, Motorola recently announced a deal to buy enterprise device vendor Symbol Technologies Inc.
Microsoft, according to IDC, is the key partner to give device vendors such as Motorola, HTC, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Palm the ability to attack the core BlackBerry user base.
“Microsoft is ramping up I.T. policy support and is seeking to exploit its dominant position in the I.T. systems of enterprises worldwide as well as with end users familiar with the Windows OS and Microsoft applications. IDC expects these Windows Mobile-supported devices to undergo the fastest growth, comprising 32.3 percent of the market share by 2010,” the research firm stated.
IDC said it expects business-focused smart phone shipments to reach 63 million units worldwide by 2010, up from 7.3 million in 2005.
“Several BlackBerry clones have previously attempted to challenge RIM’s reign in the enterprise market, but this is a more formidable strike,” said Sean Ryan, research analyst for IDC’s Mobile Markets. “The timing is right for a more powerful attack against RIM’s BlackBerry as competitive forces converge. Nokia is offering an end-to-end solution of its own, while Motorola and Palm, among others, are leveraging Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0 and Microsoft Exchange.”
