You know how the saying goes. Hardware is only half the story. It is the software that always decides the success of a platform. And in enterprises, this usually comes down to custom applications.
Microsoft enjoys strong roots in the business and enterprise sector, always has.
And this notion seems to be carrying over with the company’s newest platforms — Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, at least if we go by this newest survey.
According to a report by CIO, Microsoft’s mobile platforms are set to witness a large amount of growth in the enterprise market as companies look to deploy apps on these platforms in the near future.
The survey by Aberdeen Group looked at 348 organizations in November and December and inquired them about their mobile strategy at that time for the upcoming year. Needless to say Microsoft came through in flying colors as far as apps in development are concerned.
In fact, one in three companies is planning to develop a Windows 8 or Windows RT enterprise app. The figure goes down to one in four for Windows Phone enterprise app development.
As Andrew Berg, a research director at Aberdeen noted:
“The data shows that IT is holding out hope that Microsoft’s mobile strategy will be well-integrated with their overall data center and cloud strategy. You might say IT has been waiting for Microsoft to make its enterprise mobile play.”
And as the chart above shows, companies are slowing down app development for Apple’s iPad and iPhone — several already support the iOS platform, but now the focus shifts towards Microsoft’ mobile operating systems.
Obviously, the ease of developing for Microsoft’s platforms plays a part here, as does the increased adoption rate of devices (smartphones and tablets) like the Surface and Lumia smartphones in the enterprise sector.
