Current global trends in mobility spending

Realities converge on the fact that, Connectivity services will represent the largest category of mobility spending in 2017 followed by consumer and enterprise purchases of phones, tablets, and portable PCs.

Although hardware and services dominate mobility spending overall, applications and application development platforms represent the fastest growing areas of mobility with five-year CAGRs of 17.3% and 20.3% respectively.

Mobility has moved from niche and novelty usage in business to a core end-user computing technology for enterprise workforces.

Mobile app platforms and services create entire new business models and customer interaction opportunities.

Enterprise IT buyers must know the relationships, dependencies, and requirements of all aspects of mobile computing, from hardware and devices, to management and development platforms, security, and services.

Banking, discrete manufacturing, and professional services will be the three commercial industries making the largest mobility investments in 2017.

Banking customers are increasingly reliant on their mobile devices for managing all aspects of their lives and are demanding innovative and secure mobile experiences from their financial institutions.

Small offices with 1 to 9 employees will deliver the largest share of global mobility revenues, as these businesses purchase mobile devices, connectivity services, and mobility services as an affordable alternative to traditional IT solutions.

Large and very large businesses (more than 500 employees) will invest more than $2.7 billion this year in mobile application development platforms and mobile applications as they seek to enhance worker productivity and provide new capabilities to customers and partners.

Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), led by strong investments in China, will be the largest overall mobility market in terms of revenues, which are forecast to exceed $500 billion in 2018. The United States represents the second largest region, followed by Western Europe. Latin American is forecast to deliver the fastest revenue growth (4.1% CAGR) while Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) will also see revenue growth greater than the overall market.

Overall, IDC forecasts worldwide mobility revenues to reach $1.57 trillion in 2017, an increase of 2.6% over 2016.  The firm also reveals that, Purchases of mobile hardware, software, and services is expected to continue swiftly over the next several years, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.1% over the 2015-2020 forecast period and reaching $1.67 trillion in 2020.