According to Julian Hewett, Chief Analyst at Ovum Research, “2004 will be a defining year for wireless data.” Data has accounted for a growing percentage of Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) since 2002 but Hewett expects that rate of change to increase in 2004. There have been a number of challenges that have delayed wireless adoption by enterprise customers. As they’re addressed and data-enabled handsets continue to proliferate, market conditions will finally be present for mainstream penetration.

Mobile Workflow Defined
Three problems have significantly delayed the adoption of wireless applications that eliminate the gap between mobile employees and their desk-bound tools:
• Lack of end-user personalization
• Little or no automatic device optimization
• Lengthy deployment time requiring programming or third party consulting