Smartphones such as iPhone from Apple and Android-based devices from Google are poised to become popular business tools, according to the chief information officer at Ingram Micro.
CIO Mario Leone was quoted by Reuters as saying that consumers are increasingly using Androids and iPhones for business as well as entertainment, thereby posing a threat to Research in Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry, which has been the dominant smartphone for businesses.
The consumer market is flooded with hot-selling Android and iPhones, and with users becoming accustomed to those devices, more people want to use them for work, Leone said.
Leone told Reuters in an interview that the BlackBerry is a key device that companies made "part of their architecture."
"I think you’re seeing the same thing with the iPhone, which has historically been more in the consumer space and less in the pure business environment. And that’s changing — I think the iPhone and soon the Android and all of that — CIOs like myself have to make room for those kinds of devices."
Though RIM reported better-than-expected third-quarter results, the BlackBerry operating system is expected to see its global market share among business users decline to 33% in 2014, compared with 41.5% this year, the news agency reported.
The majority of the drop will come because of Android eating away the market share of Blackberry; it is expected to grab 12.7% in 2014, compared with 5.2% this year, according to IDC report.
RIM’s encryption technology to secure email communications has bolstered BlackBerry, which offers an easier choice for companies worried about losing proprietary information.
However, Leone added businesses will increasingly find solutions to overcome security concerns, giving the example of Microsoft’s SharePoint software that can protect sensitive information.
"I don’t think that over time they can be blocked from the corporate architecture," he concluded.
