Apple’s share in the worldwide smartphone operating system market posted a year-over-year decline during the second quarter of 2013. Meanwhile, Android and Windows Phone both managed slight increases during the same period. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), vendors shipped a total of 236.4 million smartphones in 2Q13 (with Android accounting for 79.3 percent of shipments), up 51.3 percent from the 156.2 million units shipped in 2Q12.

“Last quarter we witnessed Windows Phone shipments surpassing BlackBerry and the trend has continued into the second quarter,” said Ryan Reith, Program Manager with IDC’s Mobility Tracker Programs. “Nokia has clearly been the driving force behind the Windows Phone platform and we expect that to continue. However, as more and more vendors enter the smartphone market using the Android platform, we expect Windows Phone to become a more attractive differentiator in this very competitive market segment.”

Interestingly enough, a recent Building Engines survey showed that Apple’s iPhone usage still dominates the CRE market at 48 percent, followed by Android (37 percent), and Blackberry (14 percent). The remaining 1 percent falls in the “other” category. But as worldwide trends evolve, so could these.

This is precisely why we encourage building owners and managers to implement a property management system compatible with all devices. As smartphone usage changes and companies can no longer rely on a “one size fits all” approach to mobility, the addition of BYOD – or Bring Your Own Device – policies is growing.

Currently 44 percent of CRE businesses operate on a mixed platform of devices, with 49 percent of employees using a personal device for work. By 2017, 50 percent of companies are projected to demand employees BYOD, Gartner reported.

The reality is, whether your organization has a BYOD policy or not, employees are using their smartphone for work – posing a huge security risk. Almost half of employees use personal devices that are not password-protected and access unsecured WiFi networks. If a security risk were to arise, most organizations are not set up to
remotely wipe device data.

As we’ve said before, every organization may have a different approach and policy regarding mobile devices, but there is one fail-safe rule you should abide by: Select a real estate operations platform and mobile application that is supported on all devices and operating systems!