During the past 24 months, the industry has seen an explosion of activity and development on the new generation of Android and Apple mobile phones and most recently tablets. In the report 'Mobile App Internet Recasts The Software And Services Landscape' Forrester estimates that the revenue from paid applications on smartphones and tablets was $2.2 billion worldwide for 2010.

With all this activity and excitement, enterprises are jumping on the app bandwagon to reach customers and bolster the brand. Forrester’s Forrsights Software Survey, Q4 2010 shows that IT is stepping up its mobile app plans. Forty-one percent of the 2,124 North American and European software decision-makers surveyed in October 2010 said that increasing the number of mobile applications for employees, customers, and business partners was a high or critical software priority:

 

However, this will not come easy to IT departments. One of the issues Forrester sees is support: Given the rate of innovation at both the application and device/operating system levels, IT likely has to support three to four releases per year. This rate of change will tax a whole range of IT processes from project management to release management and testing. IT organizations should look for external help to build a platform to support their companies’ mobile plans.