Survey Finds Multimedia Capabilities Wanted by 54% of Chinese Enterprise Mobile Users Planning to Upgrade to Smartphone

Responses to surveys of mobile business customers in the US, China, India, Indonesia, UK, Germany and France conducted by ABI Research indicate that mobile devices providing the best experiences with multimedia, applications, and productivity features are those most favored by business users.

Selected survey results show:

• Multimedia was the top reason Western European respondents chose their current mobile phone; 50% of those who plan to upgrade to a smartphone chose applications and Internet access as the top reasons for their smartphone selections.
• More than 50% of Indian and Indonesian respondents chose their smartphones based on multimedia capability.
• The top reason stated by 54% of Chinese respondents who plan to upgrade to a smartphone is a better multimedia experience; for Indonesians 35% will upgrade based on improved multimedia experiences.
• 47% of Indians who upgrade to a smartphone chose corporate email and applications as the top reasons to upgrade.
• 60% of US smartphone respondents say data services are more important than voice services for business use.
• Wi-Fi for Internet access, location-based services, speakerphones, and touchscreens are the top features rated as extremely/very desirable in a mobile phone by 40% of US respondents.

 What does this mean for device vendors? According to ABI Research enterprise practice director Dan Shey, “Now that the mobile device platform environment is stabilizing by brand and form factor, the real work with the enterprise segment begins for the mobile device community. Businesses now want to translate platform capabilities into real business results. The winners will be those that offer the best combination of functionality, security and — increasingly — multimedia capabilities.”

ABI Research has conducted three different surveys: “Business Mobility Survey by Size of Business: United States,” “US Business Mobility Survey: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile,” and “Business Use of Mobile Phones and Smartphones.”

The first two present US mobile business customers’ preference profiles, interest, adoption, and usage of mobile devices and services, segmented by size of business and by mobile operator, respectively. The third collects similar data for six major countries: the UK, Germany, France, China, India, and Indonesia.

All these surveys are included in the firm’s Enterprise Mobility Research Service, while the third is also part of the Smartphones and Mobile Devices Research Service.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advises thousands of decision makers through 30+ research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.​