Why is mobile VoIP so slow to take off?

19 March 2008

RIM's first handheld BlackBerry wireless e-mail device, launched in 1999, filled an important gap in the market for secure, enterprise-quality mobile web messaging.

The BlackBerry spread like wildfire.

Even though investment in mobile enterprise is growing - an estimate from analysts Frost & Sullivan sees spending on mobile enterprise rising at a compound annual rate of 21.3 per cent between 2007 and 2013 - BlackBerry-type booms are not enjoyed by all new wireless applications for business markets.

Voice over internet protocol, or VoIP, has been gaining ground in the enterprise market, as legacy systems are gradually replaced by their IP-based offspring.