Enterprise smartphones a three-way tie - Forrester
The top three smartphone operating systems were in a three-way tie, according to global research from US-based Forrester. In its survey, Android led the market with 27 percent, followed by RIM BlackBerry at 26 percent and Apple's iOS at 24 percent, "as of the fall of 2011". The success of the iPhone 4S could well have changed that slightly, but probably rough equivalence remains.
In a blog post, Smartphone OSes In Three Way Tie Among Global Information Workers, Forrester's Frank Gillett says: "These data show the time lag in installed base users of smartphones used for work versus the story coming out of smartphone shipment trends, which focus on the ongoing competition between Android and Apple’s iOS. So even though Blackberry share of sales has slipped, it’s still the smartphone used for work by 26 percent of information workers across our 17 country sample."
The survey covered 3,982 full time information workers in companies with 20 or more employees that use a PC, tablet, or smartphone for work for an hour or more per day. Results were taken from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, the UK, and the US.
Nokia's Symbian and Microsoft's smartphones were relegated to the "Other" category along with WebOS and so on. Gillett says: "It will take several years for Microsoft's Windows Phone to build a significant installed base presence – Windows Phone is at 4 percent, with the obsolete Windows Mobile at 5 percent."
Windows Phone sounds high at 4 percent, considering it's very new and not exactly finished. However, it may be that not all users are aware of the difference between Windows Mobile and Windows Phone.
