Road Warriors Leading Charge to SmartPhones

Next-generation, richly featured handsets capable of both voice and high-speed data are still at the early stage of adoption, but are starting to win mindshare and regular usage among high-usage US business travelers, reports In-Stat. According to a recent In-Stat survey, business travelers spending US$300 per month or more on wireless, and business travelers on the road 30% of the time, are beginning to take to the new handsets, the high-tech market research firm says.

"For instance, they carry second mobile devices more often and use their advanced features more extensively than do business travelers in general," says Allyn Hall, In-Stat analyst. "And their use of SmartPhones as the primary device of the two they carry is already starting to rival BlackBerry."

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• Heavy business mobile users are consuming about a third of their total airtime via their secondary handsets.
• Challenges for next-generation mobile phone suppliers include market awareness, end-user resistance to change, and making the right technical design tradeoffs.
• The highest-spending business travelers averaged more than $450 per month spent on wireless services.

Posted to the site on 2nd November 2006