IT research and advisory firm Gartner said that organisations will need to gain proficiency in handling two dimensions of mobility amid growing convergence of devices, bots, things and people.
The firm said in a report that CIOs and IT managers will have to do better at mainstream mobility and to prepare for the post-app era.
Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst David Willis said: “The future of mobile will provide ubiquitous services delivered anywhere, by any person or thing, to any person or thing.
“While users are constantly looking for new and compelling app experiences, the importance of apps in delivering services will diminish and the emergence of virtual personal assistants (VPAs) and bots will replace some of the functions performed by apps today.
“Alternative approaches to interaction and service delivery will arise, and code will move from traditional mobile devices and apps to the cloud.”
It estimates the shipment devices such as PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones to reach 2.37 billion in 2016, with sales of wearables touching 293 million.
Willis said: “The proliferation of mobile devices means that phones, tablets, laptops and wearables are now omnipresent within the business environment, reinventing the way people interact and work.”
The report said that users demand better features and experiences as they have become tech savvy.
The traditional form of bring your own device and bring your own application may become a norm for a significant number of organisations.
The firm noted that a major part of innovation taking place in the mobile space is not happening inside the smartphones themselves but in the things that interact with them.
Gartner predicts that 25% of new mobile apps will communicate with Internet of Things (IoT) devices by 2018.
Willis said: “Moreover, the arrival of wearables and bring your own “thing” (such as smart kettles, smart power sockets or smart light bulbs) in the workplace will introduce new interaction techniques and new platforms, diluting the need for specific mobile app experiences.”
It said that most IoT devices that interact with smartphones will do it so through an app or the browser.
The dominance of apps will face challenges by several trends together, which Gartner calls it as the “post-app era”.
Wills added: “The post-app era means that there will be more data and code in the cloud and less on the device, thanks to the continuous improvement of cellular network performance.”
In a recent report, Gartner said that PC manufacturers must revamp their businesses or leave the market by 2020.
