Summary: Forrester projects 1 billion smartphones worldwide by 2016.
Forrester Research has published a new report in which they forecast that there will be one billion smartphones owned around the world by the year 2016. The report is based on a survey of 3,534 business related people, including CIO's and IT techs and concludes that 350 million workers will use smartphones in the workplace, and that only 150 million of those phones will be owned by employers.
While the study was business focused, it also projects that the mobile app market will reach $56 billion. Ted Schadler, one of the Forrester analysts who worked on the study noted that the the explosive growth in smartphones offers businesses a tremendous opportunity to more fully engage consumers. He encourages businesses to "stop thinking about (mobile) as a small website on a tiny computer, and start thinking about mobile as being deeply embedded systems of engagement."
The complete 28 page study is available at Forrester.com.