While BlackBerry has become the gold standard for the enterprise device market, Microsoft's involvement with Motorola, Palm, and others, as well as Nokia's commitment to an end-to-end strategy will threaten to weaken RIM's stronghold in the enterprise market, a report from IDC, quoted in a Wireless News report said.
As a relatively untapped market, converged mobile devices for the enterprise presents tremendous growth potential with significant opportunities for differentiation and specialization arising from stringent IT requirements and increasing demand for additional features and functionality, the report said.
The Wireless News report said according to IDC, this is creating a fiercely competitive environment comprised of converged mobile device vendors battling for dominance within the mobile enterprise.
IDC expects enterprise converged mobile device shipments to reach 63 million units worldwide by 2010, up from 7.3 million in 2005.
RIM is the undisputed market leader in the enterprise with more than 5.5 million subscribers worldwide and fiscal year sales around $2 billion, the report said.
But after nearly eight years, RIM is now challenged with defending its leading position as other vendors emulate its offerings.
IDC believes Nokia and Motorola are in strong positions because of their leadership in the overall mobile phone market, giving them influence as well as key positions within the value chains to challenge the work of RIM.