Android will 'eclipse' Apple iOS devices as primary enterprise mobility tool claims CIO

Julian Bond, head of ICT at Hillarys Blinds, tells Computing's Enterprise Mobility Summit the balance is shifting in favour of Google Android

Android smartphones and tablets will eclipse Apple's iPhones and iPads as the preferred mobility tool for the enterprise, Julian Bond, head of ICT at Hillarys Blinds has claimed.

Bond made the bold prediction while speaking about the British blind firm's mobile strategy during a presentation at Computing's Enterprise Mobility and Application Management Summit 2015.

"Certainly I think Android for Work is going to eclipse iOS in the enterprise. It depends what sort of industries you're in the same room as, but compared with a year ago it's very interesting to see the shift towards Android and a lot of interest in Windows Mobile," he told the audience of IT leaders gathered at Hilton Tower Bridge in central London.

Hillarys Blinds has long been an Android house - it opted to drop Windows mobile in favour of Google's mobile operating system in 2011 - and Bond argued that trends in the industry suggest that many more organisations are going to follow suit.

"I think globally that is certainly happening, partly because of the cost," he said, referencing the much lower price of Android devices when compared with Apple products, adding that in the emerging Asian market "the real penetration is coming from Android."

Bond suggested that the enterprise has been reluctant to deploy Android products "partly because Google itself didn't engage" but described how there could be big business ahead if Google brings as much to enterprise as it has brought to consumer smartphones.

"I think with Google for Work they've finally woken up to the fact that they've got something enterprises might want to use," he said. "If they bring the same focus in terms of what we can use in an enterprise model to what they've done with consumers, I'm confident that they they'll eclipse iOS."

However, Bond was keen to point out that this does not mean the death of iPhones and iPads in the enterprise.

"I'm not saying iOS is going away, I'm not saying dump them, but I think the balance of power is shifting."

Computing research, unveiled during the Enterprise Mobility Summit's opening keynote, showed how the enterprise mobility market is still very much dominated by Apple and Android.

When asked 'Which would be the technology ecosystem(s) you would more likely choose for mobile devices for business use?', 56 per cent said that they would develop for Apple while 50 per cent revealed they'd develop for Android.