As you can see by this quote, Apple is performing well right now. Although this may be the case, Cupertino has seen a drop off when compared to last year at this time. Whether or not this trend continues is something to keep an eye on, as the folks at Good Technology allude to:
“The Apple iPhone 5 reigns as the device of choice among business users. This is followed by the iPhone 4S, high-lighting the trend of users wanting the latest and greatest in the palm of their hand.”
Once again, this is good news for Apple. The iPhone 5 is top dog among business users. Even better is the fact that the second most popular device is the iPhone 4S. There may be competition out there, but based on this report Apple is having no trouble taking home top honors.
As a growing number of companies begin to subscribe to the “bring your own device” train of thought, it will be interesting to see if Apple is able to hold onto its spot at the top or if Cupertino begins to lose ground to the competition.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)
In the second study covering BYOD trends, Good Technology also released this graph. On the chart, iOS is compared to Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android for the first three months of 2013. According to Good, the least popular iOS smartphone—the iPhone 3GS—was still nearly twice as popular as the most popular Google Android device—the Samsung Galaxy S3—in the first quarter of the year.
The least popular Google Android devices among business users, meanwhile, were the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the Droid XYBoard, the latter of which is a tablet released by Motorola Mobility. Both of these devices are more than one year old, but still generate less use than the original iPad, which was released in April 2010.
Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) BlackBerry
Obviously, no one has ever thought that Google’s Android platform would dethrone Apple in the business arena; the title of “closest contender” in this space more likely rests in Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) BlackBerry’s corner. At present, BlackBerry’s Z10 and Q10 have not been released to global audiences for a significant amount of time, and thus, cannot be included in broad-range studies like IDC’s discussed above.
Still, one potential bellwether for the private sector is the public sector, more specifically the Department of Defense. We’ve reported on this subject many times throughout the year, but the most recent news out of Washington indicates that BlackBerry bulls may want to hold their tongues.
According to an official DoD spokesman, the Pentagon isn’t relying solely on BlackBerry phones as it has done in the past, due to its previously advantageous security measures. As of last month, the agency said that it is using “approximately 470,000 Blackberries, 41,000 Apple Operating Systems and 8,700 [Google] Android Systems.” In other words, BlackBerry still controls over 75% of the DoD’s mobile budget, but is losing dollars to Apple first and foremost, and Google secondly.
Final thoughts
From an investment standpoint, the iPhone generates over two-thirds of Apple’s profits, and any sign of increased support from Uncle Sam should only aid the company’s long-range outlook going forward. The sell-side expects Apple to experience EPS growth of 20-21% a year over the next half-decade, far above what’s expected of Google (15-16%) and BlackBerry (5-6%).
Obviously, we’ll be watching the business space closely to determine if these estimates are worth tweaking, but it’s worth noting that even at current forecasts, Apple is by far the cheapest of this trio from an EPS growth standpoint; shares sport a PEG of 0.50, 70% cheaper than Google and 83% cheaper than BlackBerry.
That’s what one would call growth at a very reasonable price, and the fact that suits prefer iOS is icing on Cupertino’s proverbial cake.
Disclosure: none
