Mobile devices are the future of work
January 26, 2017
Download Case Study{{consumer="/components/cta/consumer"}}
Enterprise employees are using their mobile devices to do their jobs today, but the day when these devices usurp PCs as the preferred device for work is coming faster than you think, if the significant delta between PC and mobile devices sales is any indication.
Mobile devices are the way people work now. Today, enterprises are used to handing out PCs upon a person’s first day at the office. As an employee gets set up, though, businesses will quickly find that work is leaving those protected environments and happening, instead, on mobile devices.
PC sales are in decline worldwide
Mobile devices have a number of benefits over PCs and desktops. They are very powerful and significantly more portable than PCs. Employees are able to access data and systems critical to getting their jobs done from anywhere, while simultaneously having access to their personal lives and information. This means they don’t have to be seated at a desk, connected to Wi-Fi in order to complete quick tasks. This can happen in the lunch line, on the train, discretely in a meeting. Having work life and home life simultaneously accessible provides a peace of mind.
It’s no surprise, then, that PC shipments are in decline.
“Worldwide PC shipments totaled 68.9 million units in the third quarter of 2016, a 5.7 percent decline from the third quarter of 2015, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. This was the eighth consecutive quarter of PC shipment decline, the longest duration of decline in the history of the PC industry,” according to a Gartner press release. [1]
Mobile devices, on the other hand topped 363.2 million shipments in the same quarter, a 1.1 percent increase year-over-year, according to analyst firm IDC.
It appears that according to Gartner’s some regional markets are shrinking faster than others, notably:
- Asia/Pacific PC shipments totaled 24.7 million units in the third quarter of 2016, a 7.6 percent decline from the third quarter of 2016."
- "PC shipments in EMEA surpassed 19.2 million units in the third quarter of 2016, a 3.3 percent decline from the same period last year."
- "In the United States, PC shipments totaled 16.2 million units in the third quarter, a 0.3 percent decline from the same period last year. This is the second consecutive quarter of flat year-over-year PC shipment growth."