Report: Most SMBs Opt for iOS over Android

Google’s Android mobile operating system may dominate overall, but small businesses clearly prefer Apple’s iOS. A new survey by Intermedia found that 68.2 percent of new SMB smartphones purchases and 92.6 percent of new SMB tablet purchases are Apple devices.

According to the Intermedia press release, “For the last three months of available data (September through November 2012), Apple’s iOS operating system was the clear leader in new device activations among Intermedia SMBs with 68.2 percent of all mobile device activations. Google’s Android operating system followed Apple with 25.1 percent, while BlackBerry ranked third with 4.1 percent, and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system ranked fourth with 2.6 percent.”

Dave Courbanou from Channelnomics added, “In the tablet space, Intermedia found more of the same: Apple dominated with the iPad at 92.6 percent of all activations. The BlackBerry Playbook followed behind at 5.4 percent and Microsoft’s Windows 8 Surface tablet saw 2.1 percent of all activations.”

FierceMobileIT quoted Intermedia’s Luis Curet, who said, “Apple dominates the SMB sector for the same reason they dominated across the industry–their innovation.” He added, “Apple has made a push in the consumer space with the iPhone and iPad and that in turn has worked its way into the corporate world.”

Nathan Eddy from eWeek observed, “Apple’s dominance of the SMB market comes on the heels of a report from Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu, which raised their iPhone forecast to 47.5 million units (from 47.3 million). However, Wu said the company would reducing sales of iPad units to 23.5 million from 25 million, in part due to supply chain issues affecting the iPad mini, which are limiting Apple’s ability to meet demand for the device, and the cannibalization of iPad sales by the iPad mini.”