Apple surges, Android stalls in enterprise activations

Apple’s iOS devices, including iPhones and iPads, are increasingly being bought for use in companies. They now account for 65 percent of all devices activated for enterprise use after discounting activations of Research in Motion’s BlackBerry enterprise phones, according to a report by Good Technology.

The report’s methodology ignores that little Canadian company called Research in Motion and its line of BlackBerry enterprise mobile phones. If those were included, Apple and Android would be completely dwarfed by Research in Motion’s 55 million plus customers — a large chunk of which are enterprise users who rely on its BlackBerry Messenger and email services. Massive assumptions and fringe cases aside, the numbers definitely show some growth on Apple’s end. The survey was taken across a few thousand companies, including 40 on the Fortune 100 list.

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Android devices held close to 30 percent of enterprise activations. Symbian devices and those running Windows Mobile had an almost negligible number of activations at this point — dropping down from around a 5 percent share in activations each.

The iPhone 4 accounted for nearly 35 percent of all mobile devices activated for enterprise use in December, down from around 40 percent of all devices activated in October. 30 percent of all enterprise devices activated in December were iPads — which accounted for about 15 percent of all enterprise devices activated in September. The iPad now accounts for 22 percent of all enterprise devices activated in the fourth quarter.

Android device activations haven’t grown much since the last report was released. Motorola’s Droid X still accounts for the most enterprise activations with around 5 percent. Android devices accounted for 40 percent of all smartphones activated for enterprise use, but the operating system’s performance on tablets was less than stellar due to the iPad’s dominance in the space.

A majority of activations continue to be in the financial services space — which accounts for around 30 percent of all enterprise activations. That’s no surprise as Apple and other companies have enlisted the likes of JP Morgan and Wells Fargo to either test or deploy iPad, iPhone and Android applications. Usage of iOS and Android devices in health care actually dropped off between September and December, accounting for only around 15 percent of all activations.

Apple’s success in the enterprise space isn’t necessarily a fluke — though it has been rather quiet. Apple’s iPad made a serious push into the enterprise space in the fourth quarter last year, and 80 of the largest companies in the world on the Fortune 100 list are now testing or deploying iPads. The iPhone also increased its presence in the enterprise space, with 88 of the companies on the Fortune 100 list either testing or deploying applications on it. Apple also picked up some former Research in Motion talent to help turn its devices running on the iPhone operating system into viable enterprise tools.