Smartphones set to squash BlackBerry

European CIOs moving away from RIM's mobile email devices

Smartphones will eventually overtake RIM's BlackBerry as the business device of choice, according to the views of more than 200 chief information officers throughout Europe.

Research from IT consultancy firm Avanade suggests that growth in the use of BlackBerry mobile devices is declining compared to smartphones. 

"European blue chips expect to be using five per cent fewer BlackBerry devices in three years' time, and seven per cent more smartphones," said the report.

The research found that almost all companies use laptops, while 66 per cent use PDAs and 20 per cent Tablet PCs.

When it comes to phones, 43 per cent have BlackBerrys, 36 per cent use smartphones and 25 per cent use 3G phones.

The research was carried out by Coleman Parkes and included CIOs from the top 250 organisations in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands and Nordic countries.