Partner Article

EE predicts big surge in small business phablet demand

• 21% of small businesses in Britain plan to use big screen devices at work, like the iPhone 6 Plus or Samsung Galaxy Note 4
• SMEs say they could carry out all of their day-to-day work activities on a large screen device alone
• EE expects rise in adoption and predicts increase in business apps usage as small businesses use big screen devices to increase efficiencies

The recent availability of new big screen devices (e.g. smartphones such as the iPhone 6 Plus, 5.7 inch Samsung Galaxy Note 4, and Nokia Lumia 1520) has triggered a surge in demand from small businesses. More than a fifth (21%) of small business employees are planning to acquire a device with a 5.5 inch screen or bigger for work purposes, according to research by EE, the UK’s most advanced digital communications company.

The online survey of over 1,000 UK SMEs found top uses for larger screen devices include managing work email plus viewing and editing PDFs, documents and spreadsheets. In fact, as many as one in ten (10%) small business employees said they could conduct all of their day-to-day work tasks on a big screen device alone, suggesting a reduced dependence on laptops and fixed computers.

Mike Tomlinson, Director of Small Business at EE, said: “Until now, big screen devices have been seen as a fairly niche product category. However, with Apple launching the iPhone 6 Plus and Samsung unveiling its new Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Edge, they are on the verge of becoming an indispensable business tool.

“In response to increased demand from our small business customers, we continue to build on our range of larger smartphones and are expecting to see a huge uptick in the adoption into 2015.”

As well as increasing the number of big screen devices on offer, EE has launched Business Apps, a curated range of apps for small businesses to help boost productivity.

“With the larger screen size of these devices, we also predict a rise in business-specific apps in small firms,” said Mike Tomlinson. “The ability to not only view, but create and edit documents but also conduct specific business tasks like finances, expenses, payroll and CRM while on the move is easier with a bigger screen, so it is inevitable the two will go hand-in-hand for businesses looking to drive workplace efficiencies.

“With business apps and 4G on the UK’s biggest and fastest network, small businesses will be able to get more out of their day, regardless of where they are, enabling them to concentrate on the things that really matter.”

Small businesses can browse, trial and buy these business apps from EE at www.ee.co.uk/businessapps.

EE was recently awarded the Best Network for Business for the second year running at the 2014 Mobile Industry Awards. 4G from EE now covers 75% of the population, 263 major towns and cities, and over 2,500 villages and small towns.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by EE .