Despite Android’s strong overall growth, enterprises appear to continue to be wary of the mobile operating system, according to data released by Good Technology.
Apple’s iOS operating system is so much more popular than Android among Good’s enterprise customers, that in the second quarter there were more activations among Good customers of just the iPad than all Android smart phones and tablets combined.
Good offers a system that includes phone software, server software and a network operations centre that allows phone and tablet users to securely access corporate data. It periodically releases reports about its customers’ use of mobile devices. The reports do not include information about BlackBerry phones, since Research In Motion secures those devices, or Windows Phone and webOS, which Good does not yet support.
Overall, iPad and iPad 2 activations made up 27.2 per cent of all new devices on Good’s system during the quarter, compared to 24 per cent for Android phones, Good reported. Android tablets made up just 3.1 per cent of overall tablet activations, a decline compared to the first quarter, Good said. In addition, customers activated double the number of iPhones compared to Android smart phones, Good found. IPhones represented 66 percent of all smart phone activations while Android had 33 per cent of all smart phone activations.
Because sales of Android phones have surpassed iPhone sales in the overall market, the report indicates that enterprises are reluctant to allow employees to use Android phones. According to comScore, as of May, 38 per cent of U.S. smart phone subscribers used Android compared to 27 per cent who used iPhones. RIM trailed with 25 per cent.
While Android includes Active Sync, so users can receive corporate e-mail on the phones, it does not allow for all of the security features that Active Sync enables. Many enterprises worry that the phones aren’t secure enough to be permitted to access corporate information.
Apple’s dominance of the enterprise market comes as a surprise to Good, which had previously predicted that Android smart phones would surpass iPhone activations this year. “We no longer predict that will happen this year, given Apple’s recent and planned product releases,” Good wrote in its report.
Good found that financial services companies began adopting mobile devices in a big way during the second quarter. The segment accounted for 40 per cent of all activations for Good during the quarter. Business and professional services came in second in terms of activations, with 17 per cent, Good reported.
Financial services workers showed particular interest in the iPad during the quarter. Of the industries Good tracks, financial services accounted for 47 per cent of iPad activations in the quarter, which was more than double the percentage of activations in any other industry.
