RIM (Research in Motion) has been losing its standing in the smartphone market for some time now following the rise of the iPhone and Android, but has always been able to count on government agencies and companies for their reliance on Blackberry devices as their official business phone. However, it seems that their grip on the corporate section of their global customer base may be slipping as the iPhone is slowly encroaching into its territory.
Many have claimed that this was not unexpected and that there are a lot of factors contributing to the gradual abandoning of BlackBerrys in favour of iPhones. A report by the IDC (International Data Corporation) posits that iPhone shipments will substantially exceed the number of BlackBerry shipments, owing to the popularity of the iPhone amongst company officials and corporates. Last year the IDC predicted that by 2016, nearly 22.4 million corporate-liable BlackBerry devices would be shipped. They have now determined that 68.9 million iPhone shipments will be made by 2016, dwarfing the expected number for RIM. To add to this, a lot of companies have begun incorporating ‘Bring Your Own Device’ policies by allowing employees to use the same device for personal as well as professional use.
It has been suspected that the crossovers between platforms started earlier than imagined. Companies without BYOD policies issue their employees company mobile phones, either as to enable easier back-end control of company devices or simply to encourage fraternity amongst employees through mobile phone commonality. What was not accounted for, however, was the number of employees who simply leave their corporate-issued BlackBerrys at home, while covertly using their personal iPhones or Android-run devices for work.
Additionally, even companies that haven’t incorporated BYOD policies have started to look into making the switch to Apple’s iPhones as the expiration/renewal date of their contracts with RIM comes steadily closer. As a recent example, tech distributor Ingram Micro had a RIM contract up for renewal last summer and chose to end the contract. In its place, it modified its optional BYOD policy to a mandatory BYOD policy, insisting that its employers were responsible for bringing their own mobile phone devices for work. VMware, another tech distributor that deals with offering its consumers a range of operating systems to run on their PCs, made a near-identical move. Over the course of six years, the iPhone has displaced BlackBerry as the top corporate preference, putting RIM in a precarious position.
