The iPhone and iPad are in danger – CIO.nl

Analysis – Recent improvements to Android and growing frustrations of IT with iOS mean that fewer companies Apple want. devices

As I previously wrote , Apple appears to threaten the Android dominance in the consumer or delay at least. But there are signs that Apple’s iOS are extreme dominance in the workplace now loses both users and IT more and more Android devices over iPhones and iPads prefer.

Bill Olsen, infrastructure services of the utility Nevada Energy, director told in a panel that I moderated this week at the ITEXPO conference, that most users in his company now opt for Android devices rather than iOS devices. The same applied to the question of whether it was’ BYOD users or employees who receive corporate issued devices. (Nevada Energy supports iOS and Android in both cases.) Two years ago, almost all of them wanted an iPhone 4, but now the Samsung Galaxy S series the favorite.

Olsen lamented how difficult it was business apps publishing through the Apple App Store, while it took a few minutes to post. an app in the Android Google Play Store Apple’s review process frustrates developers for a long time, even though it knows this to keep the business. Almost all malware and spyware But inhibits publishing apps the private business part of the App Store.

same process

MDM works actually better on Android

In addition, Olsen noted that, because Apple iOS so closely guarded , the mobile management tools hampers of giving control and visibility over the operating system, which is an MDM tool for Android can. Is not that ironic? iOS is native much safer and more manageable than Android, but Android can be easily modified to be safer and more manageable. The same property that makes Android a big malware target, also ensures that the OS is more controllable; all thanks to the open architecture.

The other two panelists, Louis Carr Nevada Clark County and John Andrews of the Dysart Unified School District, are there for similar reasons, agree that Android faster in their environment implement falls.

Recent data from Good Technology confirmed this as a larger trend. Clients of an MDM provider tend to be because they prefer other needs. Safety and manageability conservative However, from analysis of the device activations show that performing clients of the company increasingly Android activations. This percentage rose last spring by half, from 8 percent to 12 percent compared with a year earlier.

A portion of the upward Android trend in the enterprise market reflects the market share of Android in the consumer market. It also indicates that Apple’s 90% + share of the business market is not sustainable. Only when it comes to really work, it shows market that iOS continues to dominate because there are many more rich productivity apps availability for iOS than Android.

But the fact that iOS IT professionals frustrates business areas where iOS has excelled long , would Apple be scared to be

Is Apple ready to make concessions

It is a difficult juggling act for Apple: Allowing inter-application inspection – so MDM tools to see what the apps.? actually doing (like Android does) – would weggnemen an important basis for iOS security. So would make it possible for apps submitted to appear in the App Store within a few minutes

But things so leave as it is now, drives IT in the arms of Android – anyway. Further away iOS. A secure system that is only used by a few people is meaningless – just ask BlackBerry. Nevada Energy can be an indicator: it went from 1,000 corporate issued BlackBerry’s to just two, because there were iPhones. Now it’s the Galaxy phones that increasingly drive the iPhones.

The upcoming iOS 8 takes some steps in the right direction by controlled opening of inter-application APIs , but there may be more necessary. Submit different assessment rules for business apps in the App Store, where known suppliers are trusted and therefore faster their apps can look back at the store, would be another step may be.

The fact remains that IT is no longer afraid of Android as it once was, thanks to both the security enhancements in Android 4 “Ice Cream Sandwich” as the great improvements in MDM tools. As far as Android malware problem is – the OS is a magnet for viruses and spyware, even in apps that do get Google’s superficial review of the Play Store – it is clear that IT organizations have long ago decided that malware is just part of the cost of doing business. Otherwise Windows PCs would indeed be too long ago replaced by Linux desktops and Macs. The Android malware problem will not have the deterrent effect that perhaps it should have.

Galen Gruman is editor of sister site Infoworld.com