If you have a Nokia device running on the Symbian operating system, you are the stereotypical mobile professional, according to research into the devices enterprises are using for their mobile applications.
Nokia devices are found in the hands of over half of all mobile professionals across Europe, whilst no other vendor can claim more than 10%, according to the research, which was conducted by Reading-based mobility analysts Canalys.
And the number of handhelds being bought is increasingly rapidly; up 52% on one year ago.
Of the other device vendors, HP is winning particular favour with 9.9% of overall mobile device sales, and it tops the popularity table for data-centric devices in which Nokia does not play.
But whilst sales of Nokia and HP handhelds are shooting up, Palm and SonyEricsson are very much out of favour.
Both saw their sales of mobile devices fall in absolute terms over the last year, causing a crash in market share.
One smaller company in which mobile professionals are showing interest is Medion, which manufactures data-led devices, and which has doubled its sales in the last twelve months.
RIM is still winning huge favour with its Blackberry device and client, with sales up 230% in the same period.
Trouble for manufacturers
Canalys’ director Chris Jones said, “There is still significant potential in the handheld market in EMEA, despite the negative news coming from other regions.
“But clearly not everyone is benefiting in the same way,” he said, adding that IT vendors such as Dell and Toshiba were having little success as well.
“IT vendors have tried before [to enter the wireless handheld market] but with little success.
“They should not underestimate the challenge of building relationships with enough operators in enough countries to make the venture worthwhile.
“Having a good product that appeals to EMEA customers is the first step. But it is really only the operators themselves and RIM, which has adopted a very operator-centric channel approach, who have had any kind of success in this segment.”
Symbian dominance
Even though Nokia has been stopped from taking control of the Symbian consortium, the Symbian operating system, on which many Nokia devices are based, remains the choice of the vast majority of mobile professionals.
Microsoft’s Windows Mobile has become less popular, falling back to around 4% of devices bought, whilst Symbian is the choice for 94% of handheld sales.
PalmSource represents the other 2%.