Gartner predicts that in 2013 1.2 billion tablets and smartphones will be sold. This year a total of 821 million of these devices will be sold. That is 70% of all mobile devices. While enterprises normally are lagging behind the consumer market, tablet sales to companies will see strong growth the coming years, says Gartner. Tablet purchases by businesses will reach 13 million units this year, more than tripling to 53 million units in 2016.
“For most businesses smartphones and tablets will not entirely replace PCs, but the ubiquity of smartphones and the increasing popularity of tablets are changing the way businesses look at their device strategies and the way consumers embrace devices”, says Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.
“In 2016, two-thirds of the mobile workforce will own a smartphone, and 40 percent of the workforce will be mobile”, says Ms. Milanesi. Tablets will be the key accelerator to that mobility.
Smartphones have become truly pervasive in every aspect of an employee’s life. Gartner estimates that 56 percent of smartphones purchased by businesses in North America and Europe will be Android devices in 2016, up from 34 percent in 2012 and virtually no penetration in 2010.
“Today the wide range of brands and price points that the Android ecosystem is offering is winning over users. While Apple remains the heartbeat by which the market moves, Google has rapidly become its archrival”, says Ms. Milanesi.
