BlackBerry has been going downhill for some time now. The two headed CEO leadership just keeps saying everything is alright. We are still “King of the World” like they can’t see what everyone else sees. The near death of a once untouchable market leader. The service interruption might have been the last straw that pushed users and businesses over the edge. The timing could not have been better for other phone manufacturers looking to take a bite out of the enterprise space.
The release of iPhone’s are always a big deal for everyone this time around. Many Telecom, IT and just people who are forced to carry a BlackBerry thought long and hard this time around about making the switch. It seem to have worked. According to a report by iPass you might see an iPhone around the office more than you see a BlackBerry. Truth be told I see more and more of them everyday in the office. Most people where I an issued BlackBerry and a person iPhone on their hips gunslinger style. What the Mobile Workforce Report from research firm iPass is saying is that people are now actually being issued iPhones instead of a Blackberry.
The report states 45% of the enterprise workforce carries an iPhone, up from 31.1% last year. BlackBerry market share has only 32% Android’s market share doubled year over year to surpass Symbian. I tend to take Android numbers with a grain of salt since everyone and their mother makes a phone for the platform. Nevertheless they have 21% share of the enterprise smartphone market. So they soon as next year could pass BlackBerry as well since only 2.3% of workers have plans to buy a BlackBerry next year.
The iPass study also shows that found a number of other compelling tidbits: 40% of mobile workers would feel disoriented if they didn’t have a smartphone for a week. I feel that way if missing my iPhone for an hour. The iPass study was based on a survey of more than 2,300 workers around the world. Feel free to read the report at iPass. Note that it is a PDF.