Apple is king of the hill when it comes to enterprise mobile security; however, Samsung is catching up through the strength of its KNOX platform among others, according to a new research report released by Tech Pro Research – a joint venture between TechRepublic and ZDNet.
The report found 84% of respondents saw Apple smartphone security as at least “good” with 37% opting for “very good” and 14% “excellent,” For tablets, the scores were similar; 82% of the more than 250 respondents opted for at least “good,” with 33% and 13% for “very good” and “excellent.”
Samsung ranked second in terms of smartphones, with BlackBerry, Microsoft and Google completing the two five. For tablets Microsoft took second place, ahead of Samsung, Google, and Dell. The survey also found that 61% of respondents view mobile devices as less secure than fixed devices, such as desktop computers.
Apple is the ‘safe choice’ for many enterprises. “Apple’s real halo effect is how enterprises view the company’s devices on security,” says Larry Dignan of ZDNet. “Apple is viewed as a safe device choice, and that’s allowing it to gain enterprise share. BYOD efforts got the Apple ball rolling within corporations, but security is what may be keeping the lead.”
The security rankings carried over for wearables with Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft being players. However, few enterprises are using the devices for actual business. When it came to laptops, Apple was also viewed as the security leader, followed by Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo, and HP.
“Apple’s real halo effect is how enterprises view the company’s devices on security,” says Dignan. “Apple is viewed as a safe device choice, and that’s allowing it to gain enterprise share. BYOD efforts got the Apple ball rolling within corporations, but security is what may be keeping the lead.”
The research stats back up other reports around enterprise mobile device usage. The most recent figures from Citrix showed iOS being preferred by 69% of respondents, compared to 21% for Android and 9% for Windows. A survey from JAMF Software (an Apple partner) in April also found an overwhelming preference for iOS from employees.
