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What's in: Smartphones. What's out: Conventional phones.

February 11, 2008


WallStreetJournal.com
By Ben Worthen

People can't wait any longer to do more on their mobile device: They're abandoning conventional phones in favor of high-tech smartphones at a staggering clip. It's a sign that the future of business really is mobile.
undits and futurists have long talked about a time when we'll walk past a coffee shop and have a coupon for a half-priced latte zapped to our phone. Ideas like this seem to belong to the same category as refrigerators that automatically order a gallon of milk when you run out: technically possible, but not something people really get excited about.

But now it's clear that there are things that people are excited about – surfing the Web, checking email, and generally being able to do on a phone all the things that you might do on a PC. Smartphones, mobile devices like a BlackBerry or iPhone that let people access email and the Internet in addition to making phone calls, are the tool that makes this possible.

Not surprisingly, a new study from ChangeWave Research shows that people are putting their money where their minds are. ChangeWave calls it a seismic shift in the market. Of the 800-plus consumers surveyed by ChangeWave who said they intended to buy a new phone over the next six months, 17% said they planned to buy one of Apple's iPhones – the most of any company. Research in Motion's BlackBerry came in second with 15% of those surveyed. In contrast, only 11% of those ChangeWave surveyed said they planned to buy a Motorola phone, down from 24% one year ago.

People will begin to use these phones for personal reasons, but it won't be long before they start using them for work purposes as well. That's the way technology always progresses.

WallStreetJournal.com