What’s in Your Smartphone?

Typical smartphone owners have an average of 41 apps per device, 9 more than they had last year according to the recent Nielsen report, State of the Appnation – A Year of Change and Growth in U.S. Smartphones.  Also last year, less than 40% of mobile subscribers in the U.S. had smartphones and this year, it’s at 50% and growing.  Android and iOS users fuel the smartphone app drive with 88% downloading an app within the last month.  They also found that as people download more apps, they are also spending more time with them (10% more), rather than using their mobile Web browsers for such activities.  The Top Five Apps are Facebook, YouTube, Android Market, Google Search, and Gmail, no change from last year.

More and more of our info is being saved on and collected by these smartphones and privacy is a big worry.  Last year 70% and this year 73% expressed concern over personal data collection and 55% were cautious about sharing location info via smartphone apps.  These concerns will only grow as more organizations adopt BYOD policies.  While users are concerned for their security, according to Gartner, IT shops won't be able to provide the security necessary to protect company data.  With so many entry points, data leakage outside the enterprise is a real risk.

Gartner advises that IT shops managing mobile devices consider some mix of tiered support: Platform, Appliance and Concierge.  With platform support, IT offers full PC-like support for a device and the device is chosen by IT, and will be used typically in vertical applications.  With appliance-level support, IT supports a narrow set of applications on a mobile device, including server-based and Web-based application support on a wider set of pre-approved devices.  Local applications are not supported.  With concierge-level support, IT provides hands-on support, mainly to knowledge workers, for non-supported devices or non-supported apps on a supported device.  The costs for support, which can be huge, are charged back to the users under this approach.

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References:

• State of the Appnation – A Year of Change and Growth in U.S. Smartphones
• Nielsen: 1 in 2 own a smartphone, average 41 apps
• Freedom vs. Control
• BYOD–The Hottest Trend or Just the Hottest Term
• Hey You, Get Off-ah My Cloud!
• Evolving (or not) with Our Devices
• The New Wallet: Is it Dumb to Carry a Smartphone?
• BYOD Is Driving IT ‘Crazy,’ Gartner Says
• Consumerization trend driving IT shops 'crazy,' Gartner analyst says