It appears Research In Motion is fighting the market share war on multiple fronts, having already lost substantial ground among the general public, the corporate market looks primed to follow. A new research report from IDC, suggests that the Canadian manufacturer is projected to lose its number one position as “corporate-liable operating system device” to Apple by the end of 2012.
The report does not make for easy reading as far as BlackBerry is concerned, who have not been able to gain much traction amid the release of new iOS and Android devices. This has consequently led to the current trend among corporations adopting a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy, allowing employees to use a device of their choice.
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Many cases have seen employees opting for an iPhone, Nexus or Samsung Galaxy device over BlackBerry’s offerings. The IDC report stated:
While corporate customers will continue to offer Blackberry as a corporate-liable device, they are also now much more open to offering iOS as well and giving end users a choice of devices.
The Pentagon for example, has decided to accept bids from rival RIM competitors according to Reuters, perhaps fearing the company may not be as financially stable as it once was.
This report only serves to emphasise the importance of RIM’s BlackBerry 10 event which will showcase the company’s newly developed OS as well as two new smartphones. RIM is ultimately hedging its bets on BlackBerry 10’s success. Speaking to All Things D, RIM gave the following statement:
Our infrastructure is trusted by some of the most security conscious organisations in the US and over 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies. We’ve been meeting with many of our top enterprise customers and they are excited about BlackBerry 10 and its potential.
With the shift within big business to BYOD, it would be in RIM’s interest to re-position itself as company with a solid lineup of devices supported by an intuitive and developer friendly OS. Only then can BlackBerry escape its trapped state of parity, if not, it could soon find itself in relative obscurity.
