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The trend of personal smartphones infiltrating the workplace is being led by both Apple’s iOS and Android smartphone platforms, according to Good Technology’s second quarterly data report detailing the changing landscape of IT and mobile enterprise technology. In the fourth quarter of 2010, this trend continued to grow, but the iPad “revolutionized” the enterprise mobility landscape by going from zero percent of Good’s activations in March 2010 to 22 percent by the end of the year, the company’s research found.
Good Technology is a provider of secure and managed enterprise mobility for Apple’s iPhone, iPad, Google Android and other smartphone platforms.
The report found iOS devices represented more than 65 percent of net new activations from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, 2010, while the iPad’s share of overall net activations grew from 14 percent to 22 percent over the quarter, and from zero percent to 22 percent for all of 2010. Android devices stayed steady at around 30 percent of all net new activations over the period, but represented more than 40 percent of all smartphone (non-tablet) activations. The company’s research also found Windows Mobile and Symbian devices dropped out of the “Top 10” activated devices in the fourth quarter of 2010.
“If 2010 was all about the consumerization of the enterprise, 2011 will be the year of the tablet,” said Good Technology’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy John Herrema. “The iPad came out of nowhere to define this new category, and already we are seeing very compelling Android tablets entering the space, with more on the horizon.”
Bolstered by the iPad, iOS remained the most-activated platform by Good’s customers in the fourth quarter of 2010, with roughly twice the activations of Android for the full year. However, the report also noted that iOS and Android had “remarkably parallel” growth trajectories from October through December of 2010, and in the smartphone category Android devices represented 42 percent of all smartphones activated, while various iPhone models represented 58 percent.
The Motorola Droid X and the Droid 2 were the most popular Android devices activated in the last quarter of 2010, while the iPhone 4 was the leading device overall. “As Verizon adds the iPhone 4 to its portfolio in 2011, we anticipate even broader adoption of iOS devices, and with a multitude of Android tablets and smartphones coming to market in 2011, we expect to see continuing growth in overall Android activations,” the report concluded. “In all, we believe 2011 will be ‘the year of the tablet’ with the iPad continuing its rapid growth and new Android tablet form factors also taking a larger piece of this growing pie.”
In the final quarter of 2010, there was a continued decline of Windows Mobile activations. However, the report noted the platform is not expected to disappear anytime soon because many organizations in the government and public sector remain heavy users of Windows Mobile. “Symbian continues to be the platform with the least activations, but this is partially influenced by Good’s customer base, which is more concentrated in North America than in Europe and other geographies where Symbian still has significant market share,” the report said.