ANTenna Blog -- Mobile

They are expensive, costing a few hundred to several hundred dollars, each. Their screens can be small, and sometimes, their input options are difficult to maneuver. Yet, smartphones continue to gain popularity and account for a growing portion of the cell phone market, so your business needs to be ready to manage them.

Market research firm In-Stat found that the recent economic downturn will not damper smartphone sales. These devices will double their portion of the cell phone market, so they account for one out of every five sales in 2013. The market research firm expects that emerging mobile applications will draw customers to the devices. There is some irony in that deduction: users run far fewer applications on their phones as they do on their desktops. The average number of smartphone applications is only a about a handful, five.

Another surprise may be the market mix. While there has been a lot of hype about Apple’s iPhone, Linux systems represent smartphones’ fastest growing market segment. Spurred by acceptance of the Google Android, this sector will outpace growth seen with Symbian, Windows Mobile, and RIM. So, if a small and medium business has not yet had much experience with Linux, that could change in the coming years.

Also, the influx of these devices continues to present challenges to small and medium business IT departments. The survey found that many organizations view smartphone security as inadequate and likely to be a create problems for users and their employers. Trying to figure out how to include proper security functions for these devices has been a challenge for many companies. With sales of these devices on the rise, the likelihood is that it will become even more of a problem in the future.