Apple's iOS Platform Dominated the Enterprise Segment in 2014: Citrix

Apple's iOS mobile platform dominates the enterprise segment with about 64 percent share worldwide in 2014, followed by Android with 27 percent and Windows at 9 percent, a report by virtualisation solutions firm Citrix said Wednesday.

"iOS remains the dominant mobile platform in the enterprise at 64 percent worldwide, Android is gaining popularity in Asia, and Windows is more than twice as popular in EMEA (16 percent) as it is in North America (7 percent)," Citrix mobile analytics report for the first half of 2015 said.

iOS has 67 percent share in the Americas, 57 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and 67 percent in Asia Pacific (APAC) in 2014, the report said.

It added Android is growing in APAC region, rising from 19 percent in 2013 to 33 percent in 2014, possibly due to the large presence of Samsung in the region.

Device diversity is greatest in EMEA, where Windows phones have the greatest presence of 16 percent, it said.

The report said as device management becomes a more critical function, enterprises are seeking less obtrusive ways to maintain security while ensuring an acceptable experience for employees, such as a shift from all-or-nothing device-level policies to more granular app-level policies.

"The line between personal and business mobility continues to blur as people routinely use the same smartphones and tablets across every part of their lives. It's no longer possible to maintain artificial boundaries of personal and business mobility," Citrix Vice President of Mobility Solutions and Alliances Chris Fleck said.

The report also said mobile users that own an iPhone 6 Plus (Review | Pictures) generate the most data volume of all iPhone-owning subscribers. iPhone 6 Plus owners use twice as much data as iPhone 6 (Review | Pictures) and about 10 times as much data of iPhone 3GS.

The report said that the difference is attributable to more video viewing on the larger screen.

"Clearly the phablet-sized iPhone 6 Plus shows data usage patterns more akin to tablet usage. For mobile operators, this increase provides an opportunity to shift subscriber Wi-Fi usage towards mobile networks," the report said.

The report is an analysis of anonymously sourced information encompassing both mobile subscriber and business mobility data drawn from a global cross-section of Citrix customers.