Guess who's the newest kid on the BYOD block

Almost all newsprint these days seems to be discussing the galactic IP court battle between Apple and Samsung.  As if the entire world is divided into two opposing camps.  Amidst all the madness, I thought it'd make sense to shift gears and focus on a topic that surprisingly seems more 'docile' these days but one which stands to get impacted big time later this year - BYOD.  I'm also going to try and keep this one short (umm, reasonably short), reason being simple - I have "far more serious things to do" and also that fact that saying this is fashionable these days.   

Each time Apple has an event, it almost-certainly never forgets to mention about the amazing response it is getting from enterprise customers.  What I am alluding to here is the whole argument of "consumerization of IT" and the fact that employees want to bring in devices of their preference within the walls of corporate IT.  These devices, more often than not, are aimed at mainstream consumer consumption and may not necessarily be designed to suit IT needs.  

Anyhow, back to Apple's success at making in-roads in the BYOD trend through the iPad.  I don't intend to spend time (and real estate) on the statistics, so you can go knock yourself out with the numbers here, here, here and here.  

All cynicism around the potential of 'large-screen iPod' in corporate board rooms should be put to rest.  

iPhone's similar march to enterprisedom is well documented in the annals of mobile computing history, so I'll avoid going there as well.  As Apple continues to iron out it's enterprise device strategy, Google has been watching this very carefully on the sidelines.  If my memory serves me right, they have started looking at this space pretty seriously ICS onward (Exchange ActiveSync, IPSec VPN support, easier authentication modules, etc. introduced with ICS).  

Let's look at a macro view of the industry stakes for a moment.  Blackberry may still be the gold standard when it comes to enterprise adoption strategy (though their installed base is under severe attack).  Apple and Android are making incremental steps to reach there, which they eventually will.  If by this time you haven't figured out where I am going with all this (hint: read the post title, duh!!!), consider asking yourself if you were recently in the 'high' company of Apple lawyers.  Long story short, Windows 8 is suspiciously missing from the list of usual suspects, isn't it?  

Never in his dreams would Bob Dylan have realized the profundity of his iconic song "The times they are a-changin"

Indeed, changed they have, and how!!!  No more than 3-5years ago, one would've been subjected to endless ridicule on counting Microsoft out when it came to enterprise use case.  I remember how seamlessly Windows Mobile OS (not to be confused with Windows Phone OS) used to integrate into the corporate IT firewalls and work like magic (pause, think, nod in agreement).  What's more, I'll go out on a limb and claim that of all mobile OS till date, Windows Mobile did a better job when it came to accessing Exchange/Calendar/PIM/etc. services.  This was Redmond's secret sauce when it came to ruling the corporate mind share.    

An uncharted Microsoft territory rife with suspicion and no proven model of success - definition of Windows 8

This is where the irony begins.  When Windows 8 debuts on October 26, it will enter the enterprise domain not as a heavyweight but as a newbie who's seen by everyone with a suspecting eye.  Enterprise customers are notorious for skipping Windows versions - most XP enterprise customers did not bite Vista and migrated / will migrate to 7.  It's fair to assume similar treatment for 8 and adoption of 9 (by that time, all the jangling nerves around 'new user interface' would've settled down).  By that logic, one wonders if Windows 8 may eventually turn out to be a non-issue for enterprise customers.  And as there's more demand for adopting more smartphones and tablets in the enterprise environment, this very let's-wait-out-Windows8 perception in the mind of an IT manager about Windows 8 may end up ceding ground for further iOS and Android proliferation.  Disclaimer: I am only referring to the mobility side of PCs here - traditional desktops and server installations aren't going anywhere else but to Microsoft.   

As counter-intuitive as it may sound, Windows 8 may end up accelerating the growth of iOS and Android in the enterprise BYOD space.  

Microsoft probably understand this but may not be too worried since it doesn't matter to them what Windows versions their corporate customers buy as long as they buy it from Microsoft (deferred revenue is better than no revenue).  I believe the situation becomes a bit more complex once you start talking about the impact of this phenomenon on PC OEMs - suddenly having an Android mobility portfolio starts making sense!!!   

To be fair to an IT manager, Microsoft has made some really significant moves with it's next-gen desktop and mobile OS - moves such as complete overhaul of the legacy Windows code, dual-platform strategy with x86 and ARM, stringent app development for the RT environment, etc.  Combine this with the fact that the core mission is to 're-imagine Windows' and we've got ourselves quite a debate on how the new OS will play in what is mostly 'legacy Windows' environment.  For the first time in many years, Windows is not at the enterprise vanguard, but the newest kid on the block.  And your IT guy may not like it.  

It's a brave new world, after all.

Image credit: http://www.savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us/schools/wfhs/PublishingImages/byod.jpg