Android, iOS, Windows Phone: What's Best For BYOD?

Microsoft and Google were unable to gain significant mobile enterprise marketshare from Apple during the first three months of the year. Google's Android platform stole just one percentage point from Apple's iOS as businesses continue to favor the iPhone for employee devices.

The BYOD movement has been a boon for Apple, according to Good Technology's Mobility Index Report. Good found Apple's iPhone accounted for 72% of all enterprise smartphone activations during the first quarter. That's down just one percentage point over the year-ago period. Google's Android platform moved up from 25% of all enterprise smartphone activations to 26%. Microsoft's Windows Phone platform remained steady at just 1%.

Good's report doesn't track BlackBerry activations, but they are sure to be low.

Employees who supply their own iPhone are also likely to use a personal tablet for work purposes, according to Good. The Apple iPad accounted for 81% of all enterprise tablet activations during the first quarter, but that's down significantly from 92% during the year-ago period. Android grew to 15% of the enterprise tablet base. Microsoft grew to 4%.

Apple's early lead in the tablet space is showing signs of weakness as stronger options arrive from competitors.

[Read about mobility and the Internet of Things.]

Good's report provides some curious insight about mobile platform adoption across various industries. Heavily-regulated industries favor iOS by a wide margin. Five out of six devices used in education are iPhones, as are four out of five devices in the public sector, and three out of four devices in the financial services.

Less-regulated industries were more apt to show wider Android adoption. About one of two devices in the high-tech and energy industries were Android, rather than iOS.

Windows-based tablets made some headway in retail, reaching 5% of device activations for the quarter. Windows Phone made gains in the entertainment and media industries, where it climbed to 7%. Microsoft's gains during the first quarter are laudable, considering the company's protracted Windows 10 pitch. Microsoft is prepared to release Windows 10 over the summer, but has offered the operating system in preview form since last fall. Windows 10 will work equally well on PCs, tablets, and smartphones, claims Microsoft.

Good says more than 1,600 apps have been built on its Good Dynamics Secure Mobility Platform, which is how it gathered its data. It says businesses are rolling out custom mobile apps at an aggressive pace. The total number of app activations grew 160% year-over-year.

For example, 34% of all apps used in the insurance industry are custom built. The financial industry is keen on secure messaging platforms, which represented 27% of all apps activated in the sector. Mobilizing documents is also popular, since 64% of all apps activated by professional services pertained to secure document access. Secure browsers made up 47% of all apps activated in the manufacturing market.

The fourth quarter of 2015 will be interesting to watch unfold. By then, Windows 10 devices will be widely available. They could have a significant impact on enterprise device purchasing.

[Did you miss any of the InformationWeek Conference in Las Vegas last month? Don't worry: We have you covered. Check out what our speakers had to say and see tweets from the show. Let's keep the conversation going.]