Move beyond the Apple cart: Suncorp CIO

Suncorp's chief information officer, Jeff Smith, has issued a warning to businesses putting all their applications into Apple's basket.

Suncorp chief information officer Jeff Smith has warned that designing apps for one device leaves business at a disadvantage.(Basket of chicken eggs image by Woodley Wonderworks, CC2.0)

In an interview with ZDNet Australia, Smith said that while the Apple iOS platform is popular with users, business must build apps that serve multiple platforms.

"We want to have things out on the iPhone because it has a lot of traction ... but I think it's really important [to understand] that you don't know who's going to win," Smith said.

He pointed out that three years ago, Apple was a virtually non-existent player in the mobile phone market and had since risen to amazing heights.

"There's new devices coming out every quarter and you have to be prepared to run your applications on all of those platforms. We are prepared," he said.

Smith predicted that in five years, more business transactions will be completed via mobile device than on a PC.

"When you hear statistics like that come out, we had better be ready for having applications that can run on multiple devices. I think [a mobile strategy] is critical for business to survive in the changing market."