Android Phones to Gain More Traction Among Enterprises

Android (News - Alert) smartphones have been gaining in popularity among the business crowd and stand to grab a quarter of the enterprise market in the next five years, says a report from Ovum (News - Alert).

The latest forecast from Ovum calls for Android to capture 26 percent of all smartphone shipments to corporations in 2016, up from just 18 percent in 2011. Looking at actual numbers, that means a total of 14.2 millon Android phones will ship to the business crowd in five years, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21 percent from the 4.7 milion phones due to ship this year.

Over the same time, the iPhone will also boost its presence in the corporate market, says Ovum. Business shipments of Apple’s (News - Alert) flagship phone will jump to 9.4 million in 2016, a compound annual growth rate of 11.2 percent from the 4.9 million units shipped in 2011.

Though the BlackBerry (News - Alert) has been losing market share to the likes of Apple and Android, RIM’s smartphone will maintain its lead, even in 2016, according to Ovum. But with a projected 27 percent share of shipments to businesses, that lead will be slight. And it will represent a dramatic decline from the 40 percent share enjoyed by RIM among corporations this year.

A recent report from Enterprise Management Associates found that 30 percent of BlackBerry users among enterprises with at least 10,000 employees expect to jump ship to a different mobile platform within the next year.

Despite the drop in market share, enterprise shipments of BlackBerry devices will reach 14.8 million in 2016, a compound annual growth rate of 5.3 percent from the 10.9 million expected to ship this year.

The number of installed BlackBerry devices will remain high over the next five years, according to Ovum, since IT pros still like RIM’s flagship phone for its security, manageability, and affordable pricing. However, Android and iOS devices are getting easier to manage. And their growing support for business apps has been adding to their appeal among corporate buyers.

Overall, demand for smartphones will continue to climb among enterprise users.

“The business smartphone market will see significant growth over the next five years, with shipments rising from 26.8 million at the end of this year to 54 million in 2016, which is a CAGR of 12.4 percent,” said Ovum principal analyst Pauline Trotter. “The demand is being driven by the need to support business applications on handheld devices as enterprises adopt more flexible working patterns and continue to support employees away from the workplace.”

I agree that the BlackBerry’s current allure among both IT and employees will continue over the foreseeable future, keeping it at or near the top of the heap. But RIM has made some missteps that call into question the reliability of its network. The company recently experienced a severe network outage that impacted a significant number of BlackBerry users throughout the world. Further breakdowns like that could convince more corporate decision makers to drop BlackBerry in favor of other platforms.

Plus, the ongoing consumerization of IT continues to put pressure on companies to allow or support the same devices that employees use at home. As Google (News - Alert) and Apple further entrench themselves in the consumer market at the expense of BlackBerry, corporations will increasingly move toward Android and iOS as their official or unofficial platforms.