Competitors may chip away at RIMs smartphone market share, but the Blackberry will be the number one smartphone in 2015, claims a new report.
According to enterprise and practice director, Dan Shey, at ABI Research, a highly competitive smartphone war is about to erupt defined by the operating system, with the key determinants being security, applications and device management capabilities.
The ABI Research’s Enterprise Mobility Research Service report says global smartphone shipments to mobile business customers are forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15 percent. The mobile business market will exceed 30 percent worldwide; and by more than 65 percent in North America.
“Security, applications, and device management capabilities will be key determinants of success for each platform – but not necessarily in that order,” he said.
“With the iPhone and now Android, business customers simply have more choices. While each region will have a different set of competitive dynamics… regional installed base market shares of 50percent+ will be a thing of the past,” said Shey.
Worldwide statistics, according to the analysts, show that Blackberry will maintain its leadership position in North America, but Apple and Android will gain a solid presence.
 Click to enlarge |
In western Europe, Android’s share will grow the most as Windows slips.
In Latin America, the installed base share will shift from a customer base using mainly Windows to one shared nearly equally by Windows, Symbian and BlackBerry.
In the Asia Pacific region, although Symbian’s market share will drop significantly the operating system will still maintain its lead with Android following in second place.
ABI Research’s “Enterprise Smartphones” study provides an in-depth view of the smartphone ecosystem driving growth of these devices among mobile business customers. The analysis reviews the features most valuable to business customers on a platform-by-platform basis, and is quantified at the regional level providing a market share analysis of shipments and installed base for enterprise customers.
Shipments and installed base are also determined for industry verticals and for four sizes of business for the Asia Pacific, North American and Western European markets.
