Certainly not what RIM executives want to see, and just another moment in the ongoing Blackberry decline. According to a report from Tech Republic by Nick Heath, “IT leaders and industry experts believe that Apple now roughly matches RIM on mobile security, removing BlackBerry’s last remaining advantage over the iPhone in enterprise.”
As I wrote about last October, one of the biggest reasons (aside from the physical keyboard) people allow themselves to suffer with miniture screen sizes and a sore lack of functionality via apps is the security a Blackberry environment can provide. Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) has always provided superior management, tracking, policy enforcement, and central management for a fleet of Blackberry devices. Now through many efforts of companies like Afaria, MobileIron, and Maas360 the Mobile Device Management (MDM) options for organizations allow for fleets of iOS, Android, and other devices to be managed just the same as a BES can – and without the hefty price tag RIM charges.
IT directors are seeing that there are no longer any reasons to limit employees to a Blackberry. Organizations ranging in fields from accounting shops with 2,500 employees to government agencies with over 12,000 employees are simply ditching Blackberry for something better and just as manageable.
With the iPhone 5 coming out this week, iPhone 4S is dropping to $99 and iPhone 4 can be found for free on some carriers. So now even the price of a device is on par, even better, than Blackberry.
A RIM spokesperson said the company was “unable to provide a comment” (unable or unwilling?) Oh well…at least RIM showed off…ERRRR, leaked the new Blackberry 10 recently…
