Apple still king of enterprise tablets—but for how long?

The iPad essentially created the tablet market and has been the leading tablet by market share and new activations since. That lead, however, may be eroding in the face of competition from both Android and, perhaps surprisingly, Windows tablets.

According to a report from Good Technology, which measures new activations among its global enterprise customers, 64 percent of all new tablet activations were on an iPad. This sounds good until you realize that this time last year, that number was 81 percent. Android activations comprised 25 percent of all activations, up from 15 percent last year. Perhaps most importantly, Windows tablets, which comprised a lowly 1 percent of activations last year, made up 11 percent of all new activations in Q2 2015.

There were also significant differences by industry. Apple’s tablet held its lead particularly well in the public sector, healthcare and education markets, where the company was responsible for more than 70 percent of all activations. Android tablets made particularly large gains in several notable industries, however. Fifty-three percent of all activations in high-tech industries were Android tablets, with energy and manufacturing also seeing significant gains. It is worth noting that as recently as two quarters ago, Android and Windows activations lagged iOS significantly.

It is important to consider that most future growth projections related to the iPad in particular put the enterprise market as its most important segment. It is not a stretch to say that the iPad will go as far as the enterprise will take it, and if the report is a reliable barometer of enterprise preference, this could be a sign that Android and Windows tablets are going to be a much bigger part of the enterprise than many would have predicted even 6 months ago.