By Daniel Eran Dilger

Published: 07:05 PM EST (04:05 PM PST)

Enterprise mobile services vendor Good Technology reported that iPad accounted for 96 percent of tablets and iPhone 53 percent of smartphones activated by the more than 2,000 companies using its services in the fourth quarter, giving iOS a 71 percent share of all mobile devices.

Good provides push messaging, device management and security products for corporate mobile users, serving as an alternative to RIM's BlackBerry Enterprise Server. As such, Good supports mobile platforms outside of RIM's own, including Microsoft's Windows Mobile, Symbian, iOS and Android.

Good reported that of the top ten devices it saw activated in the last quarter, Apple's five iOS models accounted for the top five slots. The new iPhone 4S took the lead, quickly jumping to 31 percent of all activations in the quarter.

iPhone 4 was next, followed by iPad 2, the original iPad, and iPhone 3GS. The top Android device was Samsung's Galaxy S II, which placed sixth. Windows Mobile/Windows Phone 7 and Symbian were pushed out of Good's top ten devices a year ago by iOS or Android, just one year after Good added support for the new mobile platforms.

Good said Android activations had initially gained some ground in October but "trailed off as activations of the iPhone 4S rapidly ramped up." Overall, iOS took 71 percent share of all mobile activations in the winter quarter, up from a 65 percent share in the year ago quarter.



Good's customer base of enterprise users includes half of the Fortune 100. The company said just over a third of all mobile device activations are made by the financial services industry.

The company also pointed out that businesses representing Life Sciences "witnessed the highest rate of growth" and an increase in iPad deployments, which it said "fits with anecdotal data around iPads begin deployed proactively to sales forces in that industry, notably among Pharmaceutical companies."

Across all of 2011, Good reported that Apple's initial launch of iPhone 4 on Verizon gave Apple a boost in the first quarter, while the launch of iPad 2 increased iOS' showing in the second quarter. After gaining some ground in the third quarter, Android fell back in the fourth quarter during the blockbuster launch of iPhone 4S.



Apple enjoys a higher market share among enterprise users because its integrated products are easier to support and cover a variety of features, ranging from Exchange Server to IPSec VPN clients, that Android-based devices do not consistently support. Android's open ecosystem of devices and their manufacturers' and carriers' various proprietary software layers also add security issues and complexity barriers to making them usable by enterprises.