Corporate Google Android Adoption Will Be Slow
With the first Google Android device expected to be announced Tuesday -- the HTC Dream from T-Mobile -- the hype surrounding the open source Linux mobile operating system has reached a fever pitch. And while consumers may be quick to scoop up the first Google phone, despite warnings to wait for the next generation to iron out the wrinkles before buying a mobile device based on Android, corporations are a different story.
So will companies bite the bullet and go Google for their mobile operating system?
A recent study performed by Jack Gold, principal and founder of Northborough, Mass.-based mobility advisory and consulting firm J.Gold Associates, says no.
The study looked into which mobile hardware and software platforms large and small businesses will deploy over the next three years. It polled more than 400 companies in North America and Western Europe. One key question of the study asked companies which primary mobile platforms they support now and which they will support in three years.
Google Android placed low on the list, with only 4.8 percent of survey respondents saying they will support the open source Google mobile operating system in three years.
BlackBerry will remain the dominant mobile platform player by a wide margin, the study found. Currently, 65.5 percent of respondents said they support BlackBerry, and 59.3 percent said they will support the Research In Motion (RIM) Ltd.-made platform come 2011.
The study also found that Microsoft Windows Mobile will gain importance over the next three years, increasing from 22.5 percent of companies currently using the mobile operating system, to 28.6 percent in the next three years.
And Apple's iPhone, which originally caught flack for not being company friendly, will gain acceptance over the coming years, with 16 percent of companies saying the iPhone will be strategic to their mobile environments by 2011.
While Google Android will see a relatively small uptake in small and large businesses, it is expected to hold its own among some other entrenched players.
According to Gold's study, 5.6 percent said they will support Nokia in three years, while 6.1 percent said they would support some other Linux based operating system and 9.1 percent said they would support Palm.