Desk phones the way of the Dodo?

A recent post by Ben Patterson, the self-proclaimed “Gadget Hound” writing for Yahoo Tech, posited that the desk phone may be going the way of the dodo bird. To reinforce is point, Ben refers to an article from industry analyst firm Gartner suggesting that enterprises will be supporting more mobile phones than desk phones in 2011.

Interestingly, one of the concerns Ben had about this transition, the ability to get coverage in the office, is addressed with UMA. And the phones Ben referred to for such a service? RIM Blackberries.

At UMA Today, we don’t believe the desk phone will go the way of the dodo (ie, completely disappear off the face of the earth).

We believe the desk phone will be relegated to a position in the office hierarchy similar to a fax machine. It’s still there, it’s still plugged in and ready for use, but employees just don’t use it much at all anymore.