IDC names 10 mobile companies to watch in ’08
February 7, 2008
IDC's top 10 are said to punch above their weight
By Mickey Alam Khan
Market researcher IDC has identified 10 mobile companies with the potential this year to impact the market disproportionate to their current size.
The companies listed by IDC – in alphabetical order – are Aegis Mobile, Enterprise Mobile, Gearworks, Hook Mobile, Inside Contactless, Medio Systems, mFoundry, Mobile Posse, Mobilians and vLingo.
“Collectively, the outlook for these emerging mobile players is bright when set against the backdrop of the rapidly evolving mobile ecosystem and marketplace, the evolving market strategies of larger mobile players and the overall trend of mobile becoming ever more central to ever more subscribers as the ‘third screen’ in their lives," said Scott Ellison, vice president of mobile and mobile communications at IDC, Framingham, MA, in a statement.
Mr. Ellison didn’t return a call for comment by press time.
The firms on IDC’s 2008 watch list exhibited four broad characteristics. First, they look to create new markets and industry sectors through new capabilities or a combination of those that already exist. Second, they are developing new ways to address existing or near-future customer and industry trends.
Third, these mobile companies see market challenges in terms of business opportunities and articulate how to address them. Finally, though the selected companies are small, they have the potential to both grow and play larger roles in the broader mobile industry over time, IDC said.
“The last 12 months have shown that the increasingly rapid evolution of the mobile ecosystem and marketplace continues to create many market opportunities for smaller companies that can effectively address issues in the financial services, multimedia, content, data, search integration, application-enabler, enterprise, location-based services and advertising markets,” IDC said in the statement.
Editor in Chief Mickey Alam Khan covers advertising agencies, associations, research, and column submissions. Reach him at mickey@mobilemarketer.com.