iPad Trumps Android Smartphone Activations in the Enterprise: Good

Apple's iPad share in the enterprise market is greater than Google's Android smartphone market share, according to Good Technology's mobile device data report. Apple iOS is also leading in net new activations.

Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad isn't just the hottest consumer tablet in the market; it's also beating all Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android-based "Honeycomb" tablets and smartphones combined in the nascent enterprise market for mobile devices.

The iPad, which sold more than 28 million units worldwide, accounted for 95 percent of business tablet activations, according to Good Technology's latest data report on mobile devices in the workplace.

Android tablets, such as the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, declined to 3.1 percent of overall tablet activations for the quarter.

Perhaps few people are shocked by this; there are myriad tales of weak Honeycomb tablet sales, with influential blogs such as Daring Fireball reporting that only 1.35 million Honeycomb slates have sold.

However, Good said the number of iPad and iPad 2 activations in the enterprise exceeded the total amount of Android smartphones activated for Q2 by a count of 27.2 percent to 24 percent, respectively. 

Android smartphones represented nearly 33 percent of all smartphone (non-tablet) activations compared with iPhone's 66 percent.

More broadly, Good also said Apple iOS, the platform on which the iPad and iPhone are built, represented 78.7 percent of net new activations, with Android accounting for the remaining 21.3 percent.

By comparison, Good said in April iOS devices represented just under 70 percent of net new activations from Jan. 1 through March 31 this year. That was before the launch of the iPhone 4 on Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZW).

Good surmised that the rise in iOS device representations is partially due to Apple selling the iPad and iPhone through AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon, which began selling the iPhone 4 in February and sold 2.3 million iPhones in its second quarter.

But it's also reflective of the fact that consumers are bringing their iPhones and iPads into the workplace, said Good, which sells software to manage mobile devices to 182 of the Fortune 500 companies.

Regardless of the "why," these are interesting statistics considering that Android is the smartphone market leader with anywhere from 35 percent to 38 percent market share, according to current reports from IDC, Gartner, Nielsen and comScore.

"While Android continues to gain market share overall, Good's enterprise end users are showing clear preference for Apple products," said John Herrema, senior vice president of corporate strategy at Good Technology.

Interestingly, some 46 percent of iPad activations came in the financial services sector. That dispels the notion that risk-averse industries are shunning mobile devices not made by big enterprise brand Research In Motion, whose BlackBerry smartphone and PlayBook tablet sales are waning.

Overall, little about Good's data is encouraging for BlackBerry or Android's enterprise representation. But it's important to remember, Good is just one mobile device management shop and this is just one quarter. The market has way to go before all of the places in the mobile platform race are assured.