For developers of corporate software, the abundance of choice is "a double-edged sword," says
BusinessWeek's Steve Hamm, because they simply can't afford to create different versions of their
applications for every kind of phone. Focus on the wrong device, and they waste time and money. It follows, therefore, that developers will have a major say in which companies dominate mobile
computing, Hamm says, because businesses will gravitate to those devices with the best applications and security for corporate customers.
It's very early days in this arms race, but
Hamm says that RIM, Microsoft and Apple look like the early favorites to dominate the corporate market. Researcher IDC says that RIM is currently on top, with 17.5 million BlackBerrys for business
sold last year, compared with 11.6 million Windows Mobile devices, 9.8 million Symbian devices and 3.9 million iPhones.
As Santiago Becerra Sr., chairman of MeLLmo, a business software
developer, says, "The industry will have room for three or four at the most. I'm sure Apple and RIM will be there for the long term. The others, I'm not sure."
Read the whole story at BusinessWeek »
Mark me down as a Blackberry lover. I also appreciate the stock as well. Did me good for a bit - before the economic fall.