Smartphones to kill off landlines within five years

The majority of UK CIOs believe the work landline will be redundant within the next five years due to the rise in adoption of the smartphone.

The figure was revealed in research from Virgin Media Business, which saw 500 CIOs questioned by Vanson Bourne on its behalf.

A significant 65% of respondents believed landlines would no longer be an everyday tool in corporate environments by 2017, while the vast majority (87%) said smartphones would live on through technology changes in that timeframe.

“The pace of change with technology is having a transformative effect on the way we work,” said Tony Grace, chief operating officer of Virgin Media Business. “A decade ago it would have been unthinkable to suggest an office without telephones. Now it’s hard to imagine being separated from our smartphones.

“Mobile connections to the internet are getting better by the day, and almost everywhere we go we’re able to check-in at the office, social networking sites, or simply contact friends and family. Because of this, businesses have recognised the importance of the mini-computers that smartphones have essentially become. This is leading us to rely increasingly on our smartphones and less on our landlines.”

Despite mobile devices being a key business tool, the rise of the tablet still has some doubters in the corporate world.

Just under a quarter of respondents to the survey (24%) claimed the likes of the iPad would “fall out of fashion” in the next five years, despite 62% of the CIOs believing the PC would follow the landline in becoming redundant, leaving a space for something to take its place.

“The sophistication of mobile technology is also having an impact on the PC,” said Grace. “It’s never been easier to work on the move, making stationary PCs significantly less useful than laptop counterparts.

“However, tablet technology still has a long way to go to justify itself and sit alongside smartphones as essential business equipment.”