Study finds Office functionality is highly desirable on mobile phones

I am not your average mobile phone user as I personally require my mobile phone to allow full access to the internet, email, Office documents, PDF files, and more while still serving as a good cell phone. According to a recent ORC International research study consumers consider Microsoft Office functionality as a primary feature to have on their mobile phone in the future. 45% or respondents desired Office functionality, 44% mobile TV, and 39% wanted a QWERTY keyboard. Office functionality is available now on many Symbian devices, Windows Mobile Pocket PCs, and Palm Treos (both Windows Mobile and Palm OS based). There are 3rd party viewers for Windows Mobile Smartphones too.

I have had this functionality on my devices through integrated or 3rd party applications for quite some time now and personally I rarely create or edit documents on my mobile phone. I do regularly view documents and think that having a viewer onboard will meet the needs of most people. The Office compatible suite included in the latest S60 3rd Edition devices is actually very powerful and I like using it better than Office Mobile found on Windows Mobile Pocket PCs.

Do people really want to create or edit documents and spreadsheets on a small screen with a keypad and maybe a thumb keyboard?

Thanks to PDA Live for the link to the research study.