Laptops breathe easy…
A dearth of innovative features has resulted in smartphones failing to dent the dominance of notebooks as the main mobile computing device in enterprises. This is supremely ironical because most smartphones are able to deliver the functionalities needed by notebook users – editing and viewing MS Office files, accessing the Internet, sending and receiving emails and chatting on instant messengers. Add to this the fact that most smartphones offer much better battery life than laptops, are easier on the wallet, and are so much easier to carry.

Considering the flip side, there are three main reasons: smartphone keypads (or styluses, as the case may be) are difficult to use, smaller screens especially when compared to that of a notebook, incompatibility with peripherals such as printers, scanners, projectors, etc. Regrettably, none of the manufacturers have been able to address these core issues. Software developers need to shoulder part of the blame too as barring a few applications, most enterprise mobile software is difficult to use. Ask anyone who has tried editing a Word or Excel file on his or her smartphone and a fair chance is you will hear a note of displeasure.

The future…
I am hoping the iPhone's growing popularity might actually jostle some smartphone manufacturers into trying something new. Perhaps this is why some of the loudest complaints about the iPhone have been from members of the business community who had been hoping Apple would bundle some enterprise applications (messenger, word processors, etc) with the phone. While the initial version of the iPhone had none of these, the market is buzzing with rumours that the phone's development team is attempting to come out with a mobile version of Apple's Apple Words office suite, which will be sold separately.

Now that would really stir things up.