The VAR Guy

Call it a sign of the times. Intermedia, the hosted Exchange provider, says 50 percent of employees within small and midsize businesses now use smartphones to access email. Intermedia also has some surprising stats that suggest Google Android devices are gaining ground on BlackBerry smartphones within SMBs. Here’s the update.

The Intermedia survey, conducted with Harris Interactive, apparently reveals:

• iPhone users are the most chatty, sending more outgoing messages than BlackBerry or Android users.
• Android users are the “most popular,” receiving more overall messages than BlackBerry or iPhone users.
• Roughly 95 percent of the companies that Intermedia supports have at least one smartphone activated.
• Most users, 75 percent, choose ActiveSync based devices including the iPhone and Android.
• Note: Statistics were determined by measuring Intermedia’s overall network traffic. No specific user or account action/email was reviewed.
  

Of Intermedia’s  customer base, which spans 250,000 users…

• 48.5 percent of those who use mobile devices to access work email use iPhones.
• 12.75 percent use Android-based devices – and it is gaining quickly on BlackBerry
• 25 percent use BlackBerrys
• 13.75 use other mobile devices

Behind the Numbers

I think there needs to be some analysis other than numbers, though, especially with Intermedia’s friendly disclaimer. Here’s what I think about the stats:

• iPhone users being the most chatty is unsurprising. After switching from Android to iPhone, I respond to way more mobile emails than I used to. I’m not sure why, I think it’s the ease of entry and interface of the Mail app.
• Android users being the “most popular” is interesting. Since Intermedia’s traffic was monitored, and not specific mail accounts, I’d chock Android’s ‘popularity’ up to the fact that Android phones typically require you to log in with a GMail address, where after syncing with Google’s cloud, you can then add on all your additional mail accounts, GMail or otherwise. I think this means, on average, Android users have a higher chance of multiple e-mail accounts running at once, hence, more e-mail coming to the phone.
• 95% of companies having at least one smartphone activated is surprising only because it’s not 100%. I’d like to think the remaining 5% of companies have a tech savvy person who is getting his mail on the go in his own way.
• ActiveSync usage at 75% seems interesting, because I have to assume that the 25% remainder are users with Blackberries, since there — as of yet — is no ‘native’ ActiveSync for Blackberry.
• Lastly, since Blackberry has 25% of the usage stats (which seem to correlate with the previous stat), it’s going to be a crazy race with Android against Blackberry. While 12.75%, and growing for Android is healthy, I don’t think it will be overtaking BlackBerry. Probably a tie for the short-term. People really love RIM’s keyboards too much.
• Lastly, our Intermedia source says that while boardroom-types enjoy their Android devices, the SMB really wants the iPhone. No surprises here: SMB wants what’s simple and easy to use with the most compatibility.

We’ll be sure to link you to the press releases as soon as it’s up on Intermedia’s site. In the meanwhile, chime in and tell us what you think about the stats.

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