60% of Telecom and Mobile Pros Would Buy an Android Tablet
You won't find a more influential group of mobile insiders than the keynote audience from last week's CTIA conference in San Francisco. It's a Star Chamber of the telecom elite, without the star-shaped room. So I found it interesting to see the results of an informal poll (conducted by Sybase 365) of about 150 CTIA audience members on what they think about key mobile issues.
On the question, "Which of the following advancements would drive the largest impact for mobile innovation?" 56% replied advances in interoperability, while 21% cited increased standards. This aligns with the theme of Sybase CEO John Chen's speech, which was a cry for the industry to come together and knit together some open standards, lest the government impose its heavy hand.
"If a tablet device (similar to the iPad) was available using Google’s Android operating system software, would you purchase it?" 60% said yes, 33% said unsure, while only 7% said no. Granted, this is the type of audience that probably buys and throws away more smartphones in one year than you do in 5 or ten. But it does jibe with recent results of a Zogby International poll (sponsored by my employer, Sybase) that show 23% of all Americans interested in Android tablets.
"What will enable the growth for new mobile services?" In order, more mobile bandwidth (45%), lower prices (27%), globally managed IP networks (15%) and improved browser security (13%).
"What feature/functionality will help drive adoption of mobile computing?" 60% said faster data networks, aka 4G, followed by touch displays (18%), longer battery life (17%) and voice-activated commands (5%). Shameless plug: Sybase offers the Advanced IP Messaging Server that allows operators to test and deploy 4G without interrupting their current service.
"In the next year, where do you expect to see the biggest advancements in mobile initiatives within the enterprise?" 33% of respondents said apps like mobile CRM, mobile BI, etc. would be the biggest advance next year, ahead of mobile marketing/advertising (29%), mobile financial services (28%) and mobile loyalty programs (8%).