iOS slips to 64% global enterprise share in Q2 2015, Android hits 32%, and Windows stays flat at 4%
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat :
Context & Ripple Effects
Enterprise mobile share has been drifting for three straight quarters: after iOS peaked at 73% and Android dropped to 25% in Q4 2014, Q1 saw iOS slip to 72% with Android at 26%. The Q2 numbers accelerate that drift — a nine-point swing to Android since the December quarter — while Windows holds a flat 4%.
The wrinkle is that this runs against the money story from earlier in the year, when Apple took a record 88.7% of smartphone profits while Android fell to 11.3%. Enterprises are adopting more Android devices even where Apple still captures most of the industry's profit pool.
First-order effects
- Apple's enterprise lead shrinks for a second consecutive quarter, cutting its cushion over Android from 47 points in Q4 2014 to 32 points in Q2 2015.
Second-order effects
- Mobile device management vendors and enterprise app teams face pressure to treat Android as a first-class platform rather than an iOS afterthought, as nearly one in three corporate devices now ships with it.
Third-order effects
- If the quarterly pattern holds, enterprise fleets converge on the same Android-iOS duopoly IDC recorded across the broader smartphone market, leaving Microsoft's flat single-digit share structurally marginal in both segments.
The trend: Enterprise device fleets are consolidating around the same Android-iOS duopoly that already dominates the consumer smartphone market, squeezing Windows out of a second segment.