Windows Phone to close gap on BlackBerry in enterprise smartphone market in Asia-Pacific

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: Windows Phone in Asia-Pacific will increase in the business smartphone market over the next five years, and in 2016 will reach 25 per cent of the market for sales of corporate devices, predicts Ovum.

In a new forecast, the independent telecoms analyst finds that enterprise shipments of Windows Phone smartphones in Asia-Pacific will reach 1.1 million in 2016, a CAGR of 37 per cent from the 236,000 it will reach at the end of this year.

BlackBerry will remain the dominant player, with 25 per cent market share of new device shipments in 2016. Enterprise shipments of BlackBerry devices will grow from 638,000 at the end of this year, to 1.1 million at the end of 2016, a CAGR of 12 per cent. Windows Phone will also comprise of 25 per cent of the enterprise smartphone shipments, playing catch up with Blackberry.

Uptake of iPhones by business users will also increase significantly, driven by the consumerisation effect. Shipments will reach 455,000 in 2016, a CAGR of 19 per cent from the 189,000 it will reach at the end of this year. The majority of companies in Asia-Pacific do not provide mobile devices to their employees. The bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy is already a reality in the region. However, rather than aiming at improving end-user satisfaction this is driven primarily by cost constraints.

Pauline Trotter, Ovum principal analyst, commented: “The business smartphone market in Asia-Pacific will see significant growth over the next five years, with shipments rising from 2.5 million at the end of this year, to 4.5 million in 2016, a CAGR of 12 per cent. The demand is being driven by the need to support business applications on handheld devices, as enterprises adopt more flexible working patterns and continue to support employees away from the workplace.

“BlackBerry will remain the overall leader for the forecast period as its strong device management and security capabilities make it a favourite with IT departments. However, reflecting trends in the consumer smartphone market, Windows Phone and other OS devices will make significant gains. Ongoing improvements in manageability of these device platforms, and support for more business applications, will begin to make these devices much more appealing to enterprise buyers.”