Android
BlackBerry
iPhone
Palm
Perhaps the most
surprising finding
was that 20%
of advisors
still do not
use a smartphone
for business at all.
must use. It also confirms our suspicion that BlackBerry’s share will fall
further when these corporate contracts expire and the enterprises consider alternatives.
The big winner in this category,
of course, is the iPhone. It does best
among independent RIAs, with
dually registered advisors and CPAs
who do some planning tied for the
second-strongest segments. Again,
this makes sense — after all, these
groups are the least constrained in
their technology decisions. With
the exception of the advisors at
major companies mentioned above,
Android seems to have a consistent
market share of approximately 30%
across the remaining users. And, as
predicted, the Palm has virtually disappeared.
Among tablet owners: Which tablet do you use?
14.7%
80.3%
7.1%
2.6%
0.3%
Android
iPad
Xoom
Windows
tablet
Other
Perhaps the most surprising fact
was that 20% of advisors say they
still do not use a smartphone for
business at all.
Advisors’ attitudes about smartphone ROI were fascinating. Overall,
38% of advisors felt that their smartphones provided above-average
ROI, but the range of responses was
significant. At the high end, 44% of
independent RIAs reported above-average ROI. That makes sense,
because they were free to choose the
devices they wanted, and they primarily chose iPhones and Android
phones.
The shocker came from the CPA
group, which registered only a 19%
above-average ROI rating, the lowest
of any group. Since they also were
free to choose, and since they also
chose primarily iPhones and Android
phones, why the discrepancy? We
have two theories: One is that the
CPAs are simply tougher critics;
they demand more from their purchases. The other (and perhaps more
likely) explanation is that CPAs are
not making full use of their phones’
capabilities.
The big question mark for 2013
is the Windows 8 phone. Currently,
Windows phones have only a 2%
share overall, but our survey closed
just prior to the release of Windows
8 phones. We think Windows 8
could change the fortunes of Windows phones in the advisor space for
three reasons.
• We expect Windows phones
to offer security that meets the
demands of enterprises, which could
mean that they become a viable alternative to BlackBerry devices.
• The early prototypes we have
seen are very well designed from
both a hardware and software point
of view.
• Perhaps most important: Windows 8 phones fit nicely into the new
Windows 8 ecosystem. Since the
