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Android Gaining in Business World
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November 02, 2010

Android Gaining in Business World

By Lance Whitney, Journalist, IT Consultant, Web Developer


Smartphones running Google’s (News - Alert) Android operating system are increasingly catching on among businesses as well as consumers, according to a recent study from ChangeWave.


Eyeing all mobile OSs, Android has showed the greatest momentum as of late, according to the results of ChangeWave’s recent August survey. Among the 1,600 U.S. corporate IT buyers polled in August, 16 percent of them say their companies provide phones that run Google’s mobile OS.

Though Android is still only the third most popular mobile OS behind Research In Motion’s BlackBerry and Apple’s (News - Alert) iPhone, it’s enjoyed the greatest surge, bringing home a six percentage point gain in market share since ChangeWave’s last survey in May. And over the past nine months, Android hit a fivefold jump in corporate market share.

Looking at the top players, BlackBerry (News - Alert) still retains the dominant share among business customers but has dropped 3 percentage points since May. In second place, the iPhone holds a 31 percent slice of the market and grew by 1 point since May.

Moving forward, 35 percent of the IT folks surveyed say their company will buy smartphones in the next quarter, with HTC (News - Alert) and Motorola devices among the top choices thanks to the growing corporate popularity of Android phones.

Among those polled, 16 percent say they plan to buy an HTC phone, 6 points higher than in May and an all-time high, as seen by ChangeWave. HTC makes such phones as the Droid Incredible and the EVO 4G. And 15 percent will opt for a Motorola phone, 3 points higher than in May. Motorola is showing stronger demand in the corporate world thanks to its Droid 2 and Droid X phones, according to ChangeWave.

The results from ChangeWave for the business market echo those from Gartner (News - Alert), IDC, and several other research firms about the growth of Android in general. Though RIM and Apple continue to claim the top spots among U.S. smartphone buyers, Google’s mobile OS has enjoyed a surge in demand.

But one area where Android is still weak, some say, is in security. A new study just out from software code analyzer Coverity found a significant number of high-risk defects in the core of Google’s mobile OS, which could trigger security holes, loss of data, and other issues.

Coverity has pegged part of the problem on the fact that Android is based on Linux, an open-source OS with thousands of different contributors. Add in the various Android developers at Google and the manufacturers who supply components to all the different Android models, and the lines of accountability become blurred, according to Coverity.

In contrast, Apple and RIM are able to retain a firmer handle on their respective mobile operating systems. RIM, ironically, has actually come under fire from certain foreign countries over the tight, encrypted security used on its BlackBerry network. And though Apple is sometimes criticized for the closed platform it maintains for the iPhone, the company is able to ensure a tighter grip on its OS. Of course, no platform is immune from security holes, and even the iPhone has been hit by a number of security flaws and bugs over the years.

The bottom line is that corporate IT buyers need to look at the overall picture and not just the popularity of a smartphone. Security is paramount for any device that accesses the company’s network and data. As smartphones become more ubiquitous across the corporate landscape, tight security will be even more critical and a factor that should weigh heavily in deciding which devices to deploy to your business users.


Lance Whitney is a journalist, IT consultant, and Web Developer with almost 20 years of experience in the IT world. To read more of Lance's articles, please visit his columnist page

Edited by Tammy Wolf


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