The analyst firm has identified 10 mobile technologies that will evolve significantly through 2011 and expects this evolution to impact both short-term mobile strategies and policies.
Gartner has highlighted certain technologies and according to Nick Jones, vice president and distinguished analyst at this firm, every organisation should focus on them for growth and success.
He expects several customers or employees to adopt the following technologies and believes they will address particular mobile challenges that organisations will face through 2011: Bluetooth (3 and 4); The Mobile Web; Platform-Independent Mobile AD Tools; Mobile Widgets; App Stores; Enhanced Location Awareness; Cellular Broadband; Touchscreens; Device-Independent Security; and M2M.
Gartner predicts two new Bluetooth versions to emerge by 2011. While Bluetooth 3 will introduce 802.11 as a bearer for faster data transmission, version 4 will enable communication with external peripherals and sensors. More than 85 per cent of handsets shipped globally will include some form of browser by 2011 and the popularity of mobile widgets will increase by the same period.
The analyst firm expects the mobile platforms to become more diverse through 2012 and thus there will be more demand for solutions that can lower the issues associated with delivering installable applications to several platforms.
People are high on smart phones and other mobile devices and in future, App stores will be the primary (and, in some cases, the only) way to distribute applications to these products. More than 75 per cent of devices shipped in mature markets will include a GPS by the end of 2011 and this technology will be the primary, but not the only, means of establishing handset location.
The availability of multi-megabit wireless broadband performance will continue to grow during 2010 and touchscreens will be included in over 60 per cent of mobile devices shipped in Western Europe and North America in 2011.
The M2M market is growing at more than 30 per cent per year and a good range of both national and multinational M2M service options will be available in mature markets in 2010 and 2011. Gartner says enterprises should also focus on device-independent security technology that can enable CIOs to deliver applications that can run on a variety of devices while reducing security risks.