Research Finds a 40% Increase in Mobile Application Adoption

Following on the heels of a report from Sybase yesterday which said 90 percent of U.S. and UK IT managers are planning to implement new mobile applications this year, InformationWeek Analytics released a report today, also showing a spike in mobile application adoption.

According to InformationWeek Analytics’ latest research report, Application Mobilization: A Rapidly Changing Landscape, 52% of respondents said their companies are currently deploying, or planning to deploy, mobile apps on smartphones, up from 42% in 2009—a 30% annualized increase. Yesterday’s report from Sybase, revealed that 21 percent plan introduce 20 or more mobile applications into their organization in 2011.

Mobile applications are becoming critical for companies trying to improve employee efficiency and customer service and sharpen their competitive edge in today’s global markets. Achieving a high level of mobilization, however, is surprisingly challenging—companies must be able to accommodate multiple mobile platforms, establish and manage security and access disparate back-end data sources.

Other Key Findings from the Report Include:

• 27% of survey respondents report widespread adoption of mobile applications throughout their enterprises, up from 21% in 2009—that’s an annualized increase of 38%.

• When it comes to mobile platforms, BlackBerry leads the pack with 57%, iPhone has 35%, Google Android 27% and Windows Mobile 22%; Palm Pre and Symbian trail with 6% each.

• 50% of respondents claim they’re willing to develop their own enterprise mobile applications.

• Of respondents who say their companies aren’t deploying mobile apps, 42% cite a lack of business benefit as the biggest reason.

Related: Mobile & Smart Device Security Survey Results – Concern Grows as Vulnerable Devices Proliferate

Technical Reading: Designing Security for Newly Networked Devices

“We probably shouldn’t be surprised by the fast growth of app mobilization—the iPhone and the Android barely factored into the enterprise equation not too long ago, but look at them now,” says Lorna Garey, content director of InformationWeek Analytics. “Just don’t be fooled into thinking it’s easy to manage the adoption process, given the multitude of platforms, ongoing security and related considerations. As Peter points out in the impact assessment packaged with his report, the benefits certainly outweigh the risks, but there are inherent challenges.”

“Tablets are already making inroads too,” Garey adds, “so the mobile app landscape will continue to change.”

According to a statistics released by IDC yesterday, the worldwide PC market continued to slow in the fourth quarter of 2010, many claim as a result of iPads and other tablet devices (combined with a soft economy) eating up some market share of the global PC Market.