According analysts at ABI Research, Android smartphone OEMs are taking advantage of a solid presence among consumers and mobile business users to drive more business entity smartphone purchases and expand use in the enterprise.
ABI Research predicts that shipment revenues from Android smartphones used by mobile business customers will grow from $54 billion in 2013 to over $92 billion globally by the end of 2018.
ABI Research analyzed Android OEM enterprise features and market presence to provide mobile business customer adoption forecasts for six OEMs including HTC, Huawei, LG, Motorola Mobility, Samsung and ZTE.
“Despite a significant presence among employees in the workplace, businesses have not allowed or have limited the access of Android devices to enterprise applications and systems,” comments senior analyst, Jason McNicol. “Fearing loss of this large, high-margin market segment, Android OEMs have taken it upon themselves to close these security threats by making Android devices more enterprise ready.”
A mobile device is considered enterprise ready when OS embedded features such as device encryption and VPN connectivity can be enabled by enterprise mobility vendors. An example includes Samsung KNOX which comes pre-installed on Galaxy S4 smartphones, but requires an enterprise mobility vendor such as Citrix or AirWatch to turn the features on.
“Despite the shortcomings associated with Android, OEMs are leveraging the open platform and using key partnerships to provide not only enhanced security features, but a valuable user experience in enterprise ready devices. Samsung is the clear leader but other OEMs, like LG and its GATE solution, have made great advances in their strategies to capture share of the enterprise device market,” adds practice director Dan Shey.
