Apple’s iOS devices continue to dominate the enterprise mobility landscape, even as more companies are warming up to Android-based smartphones and tablets.
According to a new report from Good Technology, iOS still accounts for the majority of mobile device activations. The operating system’s share of activations, however, slipped from 79.9 percent during the first quarter of 2012 to 70.8 in the second quarter.
The enterprise mobility vendor analysed mobile device activations among thousands of corporate and government organisations with at least five activated devices each, to track trends in mobile operating system usage within enterprises.
Usage of Android smartphones within the enterprise nearly doubled during the second quarter of 2012, led by the Samsung Galaxy SII, which ranked fifth in the top 10 list of devices this quarter at 4.6 percent, and 6th placed Motorola Droid Razr at 3.2 percent.
iOS devices claimed the top four spots, led by the iPhone 4S and iPad 3 aka the new iPad.
Samsung’s Galaxy Note, which was rolled out in East Asia, Europe, and India in December 2011, and North America last quarter, closed out the top 10 with 0.9 percent of total activations, just behind the Galaxy Nexus.
At end of the second quarter, Samsung has shipped over seven million Galaxy Notes worldwide, so Good Technology predicts that more activations of this device are likely in the third quarter.
Android now accounts for 36.9 percent of overall smartphone activations, compared with 61.9 percent for iOS devices.
Activations of RIM devices are not included in the report as Good Technology does not have insights into BlackBerry handset activations.
Additionally, while tablet adoption by the enterprise continued to grow — dominated by the iPad that accounted for 94.5 percent overall tablet activations — smartphone usage still outnumbered tablet usage by a ratio of three to one, accounting for 73 percent of total mobile device activations.
Interest in Android tablets is also growing. The devices now account for 5.5 percent of total tablet activations, up from 0.07 percent last quarter.
For the first time, Windows Phone activations were included in the report. While the devices only account for 1.2 percent of overall activations so far, Good Technology said this number may grow with the launch of Windows 8 and new Windows Phone devices.
The report also noted an increase in adoption of enterprise mobility within the government, as well as companies in retail and manufacturing.
Compared to the first quarter, government activations grew from about 5 percent to 8 percent, manufacturing activations rose from 4 to 7 percent while retail activations increased from 3 percent to 5 percent.
With lower handset prices and more powerful devices, more enterprises are looking at ways to improve customer service and employee productivity through enterprise mobility.
According to IDC, the mobile workforce in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan is expected to swell to 734.5 million in 2013 from 546.4 million in 2008. By the end of 2013, 62 percent of the world’s mobile workforce will be based in this region.
