Gartner: BlackBerry's pain is Windows 8's gain

Microsoft OS is a strong contender for enterprise users says analyst

A report by analyst firm Gartner has found that BlackBerry's share of the global smartphone market has slipped from 5.2 per cent in Q3 2012 to just 1.8 per cent in Q3 2013. At the same time, Microsoft's slice of the market has grown from 2.3 per cent in Q3 2012 to 3.6 per cent at the same time in 2013.

This is no coincidence, says Gartner analyst Anshul Gupta.

"I think a lot of businesses are actually evaluating the Windows Phone as an alternative to BlackBerry, as an option for enterprise use," Gupta told Computing today.

"I think it's a very mature platform to be adopted in the enterprise section."

Gupta described the Windows 8 platform as "a secure one, compared to Android".

"Although Android has come a long way, and 4.2 has been recommended for enterprise use, Windows 8 is definitely a much better platform in terms of security than Windows 7.5. Windows 8 is definitely recommended for enterprise use."

As for struggling Canadian phone maker BlackBerry, which has just appointed a new CEO, Gupta sees a bleak road ahead.

"BlackBerry is facing challenges on all fronts," he told Computing, "and we're not seeing a very bright future. We're expecting them to drop under 0.5 per cent [global market share] in the coming years. The BB10 ecosystem has been very challenging for them to break back into the consumer market, as consumers didn't find it exciting enough. In the enterprise, there are concerns about BlackBerry going forward in terms of how they'll be investing in infrastructure, or launching more devices, so people are really concerned about putting money into it."

As for Apple, Gupta said its market share was likely to decline - albeit slowly.

"Share is not growing," said Gupta. "Apple doesn't have a great play in the emerging market, so we're still calling it a niche player. So I think the share might be declining, but I don't see their absolute numbers going down."