On the same day a potentially huge security hole was uncovered in Samsung’s mobile enterprise security solution Knox, the South Korean technology giant was ranked the best enterprise smartphone solutions provider in the world. Market research company ABI Research released the results of its Enterprise Smartphone vendor matrix earlier this week and it determined that out of nine smartphone vendors evaluated in 18 categories, Samsung’s handsets and services are the best available for enterprise use. In a bit of an ironic twist, security researchers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev announced on the very same day that they found a massive security vulnerability in Samsung’s Knox enterprise software that allows hackers to “easily intercept” data sent to and from Samsung’s Galaxy S4 and other Galaxy smartphones.
ABI’s rankings took a number of important criteria into account including available workspace management solutions, partnerships, business customer adoption and security. While the report did note that BlackBerry is still the gold standard when it comes to mobile security, Samsung was ranked the best in enough categories to push it into the No. 1 spot.
Apple was ranked No. 2 “due to high iOS smartphone adoption by business users and because its smartphones are the most activated device within EMM/MDM platforms,” and BlackBerry was ranked No. 3 ahead of Nokia.
“There are two sets of OEM battles that need to be watched closely: Apple and Samsung and Nokia and BlackBerry,” ABI analyst Jason McNicol said. “Apple and Samsung are quite interesting considering Apple’s smartphone innovations drove its lead in the enterprise over Samsung. But Samsung has learned quickly and has stolen the innovator role from Apple.”
He continued, “BlackBerry and Nokia are battling for the number three spot in the enterprise mobility market. BlackBerry has more enterprise mobility experience; however, Nokia now has the backing of Microsoft. Couple these advantages with the recent struggles by Apple and Samsung means that opportunity exists for BlackBerry and Nokia to gain market share and subsequently improve their ranking.”
The firm noted that top smartphone vendors like Apple and Samsung will continue to increase their focus on enterprise solutions as the role of mobile devices in the workplace continues to grow more central to companies’ operations.
