In a report released today, the Aberdeen Group states that revenues for the mobile middleware market will reach $1.5 billion by 2006, up from an estimated $552 million in 2002 thanks to steadily increasing adoption by enterprises across a range of vertical markets and horizontal applications. This research is a product of Aberdeen's Mobile Computing practice, which covers emerging and established suppliers of mobile middleware solutions while analyzing marketing, technology, and business trends.

"Users have long been promised that enterprise applications would be delivered to `any device at any time.' However, a confluence of market inhibitors has prevented this vision from becoming a reality for many users and some have lost faith in the market for mobile enterprise applications, " says report author Isaac Ro. "Nevertheless, deployment of enterprise applications in a mobile wireless environment continues to make sound business sense for the right use-case scenario. To that end, there exist numerous success stories that prove the value and the opportunity for mobile middleware suppliers remains strong."

The report, entitled "Mobile Middleware: Adding Business Value to Handheld Devices," provides IT managers, corporate executives, and relevant network, enterprise application, and device suppliers with the following insights:

-- A framework for understanding the mobile middleware marketplace;
-- The benefits and challenges of deploying mobile middleware solutions;
-- Identification of key industry trends, enabling technologies, and barriers to adoption;z
-- Analysis of market evolution and consolidation dynamics moving forward;
-- Snapshots of 21 key hardware and platform suppliers; and
-- Forecasts for market size and market segment growth from 2002-2006

Profiled suppliers include: 724 Solutions; Aether Systems; Air2Web; AvantGo; Extended Systems; FusionOne; Good Technology; Infowave; JP Mobile; Microsoft; Neomar; Notify; Palm; Pumatech; Research in Motion; Synchrologic; SEVEN; Visto; Wireless Knowledge; Xcellenet; and Xora.