The quarterly Mobile Workforce Report from iPass claims that the iPhone now claims 45% market share among mobile employees, unseating the BlackBerry, a device so ubiquitous in business circles it was once nicknamed the "CrackBerry".
Apple’s iPhone was at 31% this time last year, while Research in Motion’s BlackBerry has dropped from 35% market share to 32% today. Systems using Google’s Android has doubled year on year to 21% to hold third spot, bypassing Nokia’s Symbian.
BlackBerry owner Research in Motion has struggled in the last year with the failure of its Storm and Playbook (touch screen devices designed to compete with the iPhone and iPad respectively). A massive network outage saw as many as 52% of those surveyed by CBR admit to considering, or being in the process of changing systems.
Apple has been spreading its focus from prosumers to enterprise, and the wider market as a whole.
More and more workplaces are becoming mobile, especially in the hotdesk age. The ability to receive email anywhere, anytime means that today 95% of mobile employees have smartphones, up from 85 percent in 2010. Of these, 91% use their smartphone for work – a 26% rise compared to 2010, according to the iPass report.
Overall smartphone sales reached 115 million units in the third quarter of 2011, up 42% from this time last year. Smartphone sales account for 26% of all mobile phone sales, according to a report by Gartner.
Tablet ownership has similarly risen, with 44% of mobile employees now utilising the tool, up from 33% last quarter. The iPad remains the dominant tablet with 59% of tablet users owning an iPad and 47% owning the iPad 2. Trailing in third with 9% was the Samsung Galaxy.
However, these remain mostly a novelty rather than a work device. While 75% of tablet owners use their tablet for some occasional work, only 4% are considered dedicated work devices. 77% are paid for by employees.
A complete copy of the iPass Quarterly Mobile Workforce Report can be downloaded here.
