MFF: Consumer, enterprise smartphone sales 'brisk'

A new report from Mobile Future Forward, a consortium of leaders in enterprise and consumer mobility, found smartphones accounted for 55 percent of mobile devices sold in the second quarter of 2011.

As Google, Apple and other mobile OS developers continue to advance their software for highly capable devices, both consumers and business customers are lining up to upgrade. For enterprises, reliable, modern mobile solutions are crucial to ensuring success, especially as competitors continue to make improvements.

However, some companies are struggling despite the rapid mobile expansion. Nokia, the Finnish handset developer, saw its global market share fall to 22 percent after hovering around 40 percent for years. A new agreement with Microsoft may help the company rebound. Nokia handsets will run Windows Phone 7 moving forward. For businesses that use Windows PCs, the use of WP7 may help improve compatibility between apps running on both PCs and handsets.

The rapid expansion of mobile devices in the enterprise means businesses need tools to govern use and monitor compliance. Mobile device management solutions have become especially popular and critical to success.