As Australia turns to Android, iOS still rules the BYOD roost

A pair of surveys released over the past few weeks has revealed the state of the Australian handset market for consumers and businesses.

The Kantar Smartphone barometer released at the end of last month showed that Android has increased to 64.6 percent of market ownership, up 3.8 percentage points over the past 12 months.

iOS rose only 0.1 precent, to move to 27.6 percent; Windows Phone grew by the same percentage, to own 5.3 percent of the market; and Symbian fell by 1.4 percentage points to close out the 12 months at 1.2 precent.

But in last place was the increasingly embattled BlackBerry, which lost over 77 percent of its market share in the 12-month window to fall from 1.3 percent in June 2012 to a mere 0.3 percent in June 2013.

These results contrast with the findings of a Frost & Sullivan Mobile Device Management (MDM) survey that showed the extent to which Apple is maintaining its grips on corporate Australia.

"Although Apple's iOS based devices account for the majority of devices used by employees as a part of BYOD plans, organisations are experiencing increasing numbers of Google's Android-based devices," said the MDM survey. "Apple iOS has also benefited from being the preferred platform for IT departments to support as a result of its stronger security perceptions.

"As a result of such factors, 41 percent of organisations expect iOS to remain the dominant platform in the next 12 to 18 months. On the other hand, 32 percent of organisations expect the growing popularity of Android OS will make it the preferred platform in the next 12 to 18 months."

The report said that over 60 percent of organisation support iOS devices as part of their BYOD policies, and that businesses are beginning to standardise their mobile ecosystems on iOS.

A majority of Australian businesses (60 percent) support a BYOD policy, with 20 percent opposing such plans and 16 percent moving to introduce one in the future.

On the topic of mobile device management, the report found that 73 percent of organisations, particularly in the government and banking sectors, are choosing an on-premises solution over a cloud-based alternative.

Strong growth is expected in the MDM sector, with the report stating that the MDM market will grow annually by 39 percent between 2013 and 2020.

The incumbent position in the market is currently held by AirWatch. The report put this down to its ability to cater to large deployments, strong channel network, and local datacentre capabilities.