Android Slips as Apple Gains Enterprise Market Share in Q3 2014

Reversing a trend of quarterly declines, Apple's iOS mobile operating system gained market share this past quarter as it continued to dominate in the enterprise market. Apple's expansion came at Android's expense, which lost ground, according to Good Technology's latest Mobility Index Report (via VentureBeat).


In Q3 2014, iOS device activations in the enterprise sector grew two percentage points, expanding from 67 to 69 percent. Android, concomitantly, slipped 2 percent, accounting for 29 percent of net device activations. Windows Phone remained a very distant third with only 1 percent of activations, a figure that has remained flat for the past six quarters.


Much of Apple's quarterly gain can be attributed to the launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which caused a surge in iOS device activations in September.

Good Technology says “The release of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus accounted for all of this gain.” More specifically, iOS was down to 66 percent of activations in July and August, but comprised 73 percent of September activations thanks to sales of the new devices.

In the tablet enterprise market, Apple also remained the dominant tablet manufacturer with its iPad models, but faced an increasing challenge from Android tablets. In the just-ended quarter, Android increased its market share, climbing slightly to grab 11 percent of tablet device activations as compared to the iPad's 89 percent share.

Apple increasingly has been focused on the mobile enterprise market, updating its enterprise-level mobile device management tools earlier this year and recently partnering with IBM to develop new business apps and services for Apple's iOS devices. As part of the Apple-IBM collaboration, IBM will provide iOS-optimized cloud services, develop industry-specific apps, and begin selling iOS devices to its corporate clients.