Mobility will maintain prominence in 2012, Gartner says

With all that companies have invested in enterprise mobility the past several years - including new devices, robust applications and high-speed service networks - it's hard to believe the technology can possibly earn any more attention. But that's exactly what will happen next year, according to Gartner researchers.

They recently released their list of the top technology trends for 2012, and enterprise mobility was featured more prominently than anything else. In fact, mobility earned three of the first five spots on the list of 10 technologies.

"Say hello to the post-PC era," Gartner researcher David Cearley said at the recent Gartner Symposium, where the list was revealed, according to PC Magazine.

The continued rise of tablets like the iPad and similar Android-powered devices topped the list, PC Magazine reported. Cearley said that more companies figure to adopt tablets during the next year or so, and they will be tasked with taking on the security and mobile device management challenges they present.

Many such issues will come from the growing bring-your-own-device trend taking hold around the world. Cearley said tablets will only accelerate this movement, which will cause companies to lend support to a number of form factors and mobile operating systems.

Just behind tablets on Gartner's list were mobile-centric applications and interfaces. Mobile apps have certainly proven their abilities for supporting enterprise mobility by extending much of the software the end users enjoy at their desk to the smartphones and tablets in their hand.

"Overall, simple and focused mobile applications will be crucially important not only for consumer applications, but for enterprise applications, as well," PC Magazine's report on the Gartner research said. "As a result, application development will change too, as multiplatform support is inevitable."

That may cause companies to take a closer look at mobile application management practices and solutions.

Finally, the Gartner report said companies are primed to spend a lot of their time deploying and utilizing in-house app marketplaces. Checking in at No. 5 on the research firm's list, app marketplaces give companies better control over the deployment and use of the mobile software.

Global Industry Analysts also recently forecasted big things for enterprise mobility moving forward by taking a closer look at the market for devices, apps and service contracts. According to GIA, companies around the world will combine to spend nearly $174 billion on enterprise mobility by 2017.