The jury is in for the end of 2012 and it looks like Apple is the current leader of the enterprise app space. iOS devices are almost monopolizing the enterprise app space with 77% of all mobile enterprise device activation in the last quarter of 2012. Good Technology’s Device Activation Report shows that the top five positions of their report are all filled with iOS devices. This is broken up by the Samsung Galaxy SIII before reporting three more iOS devices.
Good Technology monitors the activation of mobile devices for all of its enterprise clients including half of the fortune 100 companies. When they surveyed over 4,000 of their clients they not only found that these devices took the spots but that iOS devices but their activations grew 8.5% from 2011 to 2012. Good Technology’s report stated, “This quarter’s report showed a clear preference for iOS devices, which accounted for 77 percent of all activations and captured eight of the top ten spots on the most popular device list this quarter. While Android activations dropped 6.3 percent as compared to Q4 2011, they still accounted for 22.7 percent of all activations for the quarter, which were primarily driven by Android tablets. Windows Phone devices came in a distant third for the quarter, capturing just 0.5 percent of overall activations.”
What may be more interesting are the types of enterprises that are adopting iOS devices. The report found that the financial services industry took the top spot for enterprise device activations followed closely by business and professional services. These two made up more than half of all activations in the 4th quarter of 2012. If Apple’s earning’s conference calls are to be believed these numbers will grow at a more rapid rate in 2013 as they report that “nearly all of the Fortune 500 companies are piloting or deploying the iPhone and iPad for their users.”
These are great numbers for Apple but the truth is that these numbers can literally change in a day. What these numbers are actually showing is the growing interest in mobile enterprise apps. It is a safe bet that more enterprises are choosing to go with Apple right now because of their proven track record and excessive safety measures. As of right now mobile business app developers are more interested in developing for Apple because that is where the money is. The Android operating system is slow to be adopted in the enterprise setting which is making it difficult for them accumulate public mobile business apps. Many factors including Google itself and Samsung are working to reverse Android’s image of being unsafe and when that starts showing through it is almost certain that we will see a large shift in these numbers.
Obviously these numbers are not the only ones out there and they mainly focus on enterprises that issue devices to their employees. On a large scale Apple and Android are in a constant battle for device supremacy. This year will be another filled with highly anticipated devices and new technologies that will shape these numbers over 12 months. It is just as possible that Apple will retain its hold on the market as it is that it will be bumped out of the top 5 altogether.