The mobile middleware market grew substantially between 2002 and 2003 and is expected to maintain momentum up to 2008.

Research group IDC reported a 27.4% increase from $333 million to $424 million by 2003. Similarly the market is expected to have grown to $1.3 billion by 2008, with a compound annual growth rate of 24.4%. The market is led by iAnywhere, a subsidiary of Sybase, which usurped Research in Motion in 2003.

Email remains the most deployed mobile application, although wireless carriers are only just starting to deliver corporate mobile email on a wide scale. The next two to three years will bring forth broader adoption opportunities for mobile email in the mass market.

The market is maturing as organisations make greater efforts to mobilise their assets to improve employee productivity. Many are starting to mandate mobilisation. Stephen Drake, IDC's program manager for mobile infrastructure software explained: "It is no longer a question of it, but a question of when and how many workers will be mobilised over a period of time."