Android continues moving into Enterprise
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010 Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
In a recent poll that we conducted on our website, we asked, “Are you planning to move to an Android phone?” Although admittedly biased towards our readers (both mobile employees and IT Admins), in light of recent news, the answers were not too surprising:
- No: 43%
- Yes, within 12 months: 38%
- Undecided: 13%
- Yes, later than 12 months from now: 5%
In a recent Forrester report titled, “Insights for CIOs: Make Mobility Standard Business Practice,” the Android platform is beginning to make inroads into businesses, with 13 percent of organizations supporting this operating system. Michele Pelino, with Forrester, also noted this earlier, when commenting that more of these devices are entering the enterprise:
“We are also seeing increased adoption of devices using the iPhone and Android operating systems. During the next few years, we expect most enterprises will support two or three operating systems to address a variety of enterprise user application requirements and geographic network specifications.”
However, “Will Android Smash the iPhone?” isn’t so much about Android taking over, but showing the market share strengths of both Android and the iPhone. Al Sacco’s article, Why I Switched from BlackBerry to Android: Conclusions, discusses Blackberry vs. Android, with the conclusion of his preference for the Android, but that Blackberry provides other benefits. That’s IT’s homework – to figure out the user scenarios and balance the features and benefits (along with user preference). Since there are a mix of mobile employees, a mix of devices can support the diverse enterprise mobility needs. Many users prefer the multimedia and access to Google apps provided by Android devices.
Our poll showed us higher than expected responses of people moving to Android. For some user scenarios, where security is not a priority, or can be managed, an Android can be added to the mix.
Each enterprise will need to decide what works best for their workforce. But the writing is clear (and the comments voluminous), that variety will be the new norm.
Tags: Android
