Will Banking Fallout Pull Down The Business Mobility Market?

The subprime mortgage crisis is hitting the banking industry hard. As a result, banks are spending less on mobile technology. Cisco has already reported a drop in demand from banks and Wall Street expects similar news from BlackBerry-maker RIM. Could the banking fallout kill the mobile business market?Banking is a key vertical market for business mobility -- especially for RIM whose BlackBerry is the de facto mobile standard for most financial institutions.

Banks are seen by many as bellweathers of IT spending. Since banks can afford to spend a lot on IT, when their demand starts to dry up, other vertical industries start to pay attention.

On the other side of the equation, other key vertical markets, such as health care and field service, are booming and show no signs of slow down. So if one vertical, like banking, is slowing down it doesn't mean the rest of the mobility market will. In fact, health care mobility spending grew even during the last downturn and has only accelerated since then.

What do you think? Is the latest news from the banking industry bad news for the rest of the business mobility market?