CANADIAN PHONE MAKER Research In Motion (RIM) finally has a reason to celebrate, as Blackberry 7 has been named the best mobile operating system (OS) for enterprise users.
Trend Micro on Wednesday named Research In Motion’s BlackBerry 7 OS as the most secure mobile operating system in a new report titled “Enterprise Readiness of Consumer Mobile Platforms.” The security firm compared four of the top mobile operating systems — Android 2.3, iOS 5, Windows Phone 7.5 and BlackBerry 7 — and found the Waterloo-based company’s platform best met the demands of enterprise users. BlackBerry 7 scored a 2.89 rating, which was based on a number of factors including built-in security, application security, authentication, device wipe, device firewall and virtualization.
RIM was followed by Apple’s iOS 5 with a 1.7 rating, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.5 with a 1.61 rating and Google’s Android 2.3 operating system with a 1.37 rating. Researchers from Trend Micro, Altimeter Group and Bloor Research praised the Blackberry 7 operating system for its corporate grade security and manageability, while the iPhone’s lack of removable storage and Windows Phone 7.5′s for overall performance were applauded. Google’s Android platform received negative comments, however, with researchers claiming the platform’s fragmentation has proven to be a barrier for enterprises.
Raimund Genes, CTO of Trend Micro said, “Against the growing, unstoppable backdrop of consumerisation and BYOD, every mobile device is a risk to business.”
“What is interesting in these results is that, whilst some mobile platforms have evolved very noticeably along enterprise lines, there is still a strong ‘consumer marketing’ legacy in some quarters and this is negating some of the progress made on the enterprise front. Indeed, some of the attributes we have examined in the report are still firmly ‘enterprise-unready’.”
