In any other market, a growth of 30% y-o-y would be considered a good, if not an excellent growth rate. But, in a country with 165 mn mobile phone subscribers, the fastest growing among all emerging markets, that kind of growth in the enterprise mobile application solutions market at such a small base can have only one conclusion: this market has not really crossed the basic threshold. Indian businesses havent really woken to the benefits of mobile applications. While a few early adopters have started pilot projects, investment commitment is still hard to come by.

According to a study by Forrester Research, business productivity improved by over 60% through the use of mobile applications, especially mobile email. In fact, according to the same study, there was an average gain of 55 minutes per employee by using mobile email application like Blackberry services.

Apart from employee productivity, customer services improve immensely by the use of such applications. According to the same research finding, customer service improves by 36% based on more responsive support, and the entire company operates 20% more efficiently due to smooth flow of the latest information and real-time communications.

Globally, the mobile applications space is really exploding in terms of innovations and market size. Multinational companies are using the power of mobiles to automate their sales force or to do real-time tracking of goods and products. As a matter of fact, many companies are marrying RFID based applications with cellular technology, and making them more effectual.

Even the Asia Pacific market is increasing quite dramatically. According to estimates, the mobile enterprise market is currently estimated to be worth around $23 bn and would grow to around $30 bn by 2010. Much of the action though is happening in our friendly neighborhood. China accounts for around 50% of this market, with the manufacturing sector using mobile applications extensively. A lot of it is also driven by MNCs that bring along with them applications that have been developed in the US and the Europe. Australia and Korea also account for a substantial market share. This figure does not include Japan, which obviously is a big market for mobile applications.

In contrast, the Indian mobile enterprise market is worth only around Rs 200 crore, according to Dataquest estimates. It grew by about 30% in FY 07. Dataquest includes applications such as field force automation, customer relationship management, mobile ERP and customized enterprise applications in this. This figure includes only the investment made by enterprises on applications and does not include either investment made by service provider on applications or that made by enterprises on buying services from the mobile service providers.

The Devices
Across the globe, email is the most popular of all applications. Business executives have taken up to email like none else. The ability to check, send emails, and be connected all the time has empowered the workforce. And, the undisputed leader in this domain is Research In Motion (RIM), the provider of the Blackberry. Over the last few years, Blackberry has completely dominated the space in the mobile email segment. RIM accounts for close to 70% of the mobile email market segment. As of April 2007, there were over 8 mn Blackberry users worldwide. But, its leadership is under threat from a multiple of quarters, namely with HP, Nokia, and others launching a slew of PDA phones.

As per estimates the global addressable market for enterprise mobile e-mail would be around 260 mn subscriptions, while global mobile operator revenues from mobile e-mail and personal information management are expected to surpass $600 mn by 2009, over three times those of 2005.

Back home in India, Blackberry has been a recent entrant. It is in the process of formalizing the agreements with all the operators, it has already signed up quite a few, the chief ones being Vodafone-Essar and Airtel. Yet, it is highly unlikely that it will dominate the mobile email market in India the way it has done in the US and Europe, as there are a lot many options that are available. RIM also offers Blackberry Services, which can be bundled with other PDAs.

Indian companies are using a variety of methods to let employees connect to the mail server, While Blackberry is a popular platform, a lot many are also opting for other GPRS-based push e-mail services. Yet, without an iota of doubt, mobile email happens to be the most popular of all enterprise applications even in India.

Logging on to Applications
The insurance and pharma sectors have been the first to adopt mobile applications. A lot of companies have gone in for ERP-centric applications, like order management and claim settlement. Companies like Tata AIG and Glaxo SmithKline have employed the use of mobile phones in a major way. In fact, ValueFirst, an enterprise mobile solutions vendor, has worked in close coordination with a plethora of companies from the same vertical.

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