iOS still destroying Android on mobile devices

27 Feb 2015

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (right) and the Apple iPhone 6. Image via Karlis Dambrans on Flickr

New figures show the iOS operating system is firming its stranglehold on the mobile market, rising to 73pc of activisations during the fourth quarter of 2014.

According to Good Technology’s Mobility Report  – which looked at a survey of its customer base – Android device activisations were the direct losers, dropping the four percentage points that iOS gained, falling to 25pc as Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus launches played significant parts in the findings.

Microsoft, in case you were wondering, held 1pc.

What’s interesting is Good Technology broke it down by industry, with Android performing slightly better in some (high tech saw 45pc Android activisations) than others (legal saw 95pc iOS activisations, public sector, saw 82pc and financial services saw 81pc).

Indeed this is fairly reflective of Apple’s overwhelming domination of profit share in the smartphone industry. We recently reported on Apple’s truly exceptional final quarter of last year, in which the company gained 93pc of all profits made by all major makers.

Overall in 2014, Apple enjoyed 79pc of all profits, with Samsung the only other smartphone maker enjoying any form of financial success.

Good Technology’s findings also show that smaller devices are proving most popular.

“On both the iOS and Android platforms,” reads the report, “top share went to the smaller model of phones, with the iPhone 6 and Samsung S4 Mini topping larger models.”

Meanwhile, app adoption skyrocketed up 65pc for the quarter, and 300pc for the year, driven largely by a thirst for secure browsing and secure IM.

Secure browser increased by 197pc quarter-over-quarter and was up by more than tenfold year-over-year. Secure IM followed close behind, with an increase of 131pc quarter-over-quarter and a ninefold year-over-year increase.

iOSvAndroid

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com