Q1 BYOD Smartphone Sales Surge in North America and Asia but Western Europe Fights Growing Trend

BOSTON, June 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The number of BYOD smartphones entering enterprises through the outlay of employees aiming to boost their own productivity was more than double the volume purchased as corporate assets by enterprises in Q1 2013, according to Strategy Analytics' latest business smartphone quarterly tracker Global Business Smartphone Quarterly Tracking, Q1 2013. In total, more than 62 million smartphones were purchased in Q1 either by business users, or for business users, accounting for nearly 30 percent of global smartphone sales.

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The promise of increased worker productivity, potential cost savings and the chance to demonstrate a progressive attitude to workers wishing to use their mobile device of choice is pushing BYOD policies forward in many companies. But BYOD is not an unstoppable trend in every region of the world.

North America and Asia Pacific regions have been the most liberal in their approach but are still at different stages of tolerance. North America's BYOD volume increased 18 percent year-over-year in Q1 compared to a whopping 77 percent increase in Asia Pacific. But how extensive BYOD actually is in these regions is better understood when measuring BYOD volume against total smartphone sales. More than 44 percent of North America's smartphone sales in Q1 are used in BYOD, compared to less than 19 percent in Asia Pacific.

Western European attitudes towards BYOD are far less liberal and showed a surprising drop in a quarter that normally favors BYOD.  For reasons ranging from costly roaming tariffs that keep opposition high among users, to the inability of operators to offer split-billing on data charges, to high resistance from enterprises wanting to protect their volume rate plans and question whether the security risks and complexity of managing so many devices and platforms will outweigh any benefit, Western Europe is already scaling back a trend it barely recognized. It saw a 15 percent year-over-year reduction in Q1 BYOD devices, and a 43 percent increase in corporate liable smartphone sales.

"Globally, the BYOD trend entered 2013 with more momentum than it ever had in 2012, which was a tremendous year for the movement with close to 100 percent growth," says Kevin Burden, Director of Mobility at Strategy Analytics. "A nearly 40 percent increase in the first quarter shows enterprises continue to embrace BYOD and downsides such as increasing internal support costs or losing operator support services from abandoning corporate-liable contracts has had little impact on the growing trend."

About Strategy Analytics

Strategy Analytics, Inc. provides the competitive edge with advisory services, consulting and actionable market intelligence for emerging technology, mobile and wireless, digital consumer and automotive electronics companies. With offices in North America, Europe and Asia, Strategy Analytics delivers insights for enterprise success. www.StrategyAnalytics.com 

US Contact: Kevin Burden, +1 617 614 0750, [email protected]

European Contact: Andrew Brown, +44(0) 1908 423 630, [email protected]

SOURCE Strategy Analytics