iPhones, BlackBerrys still on the corporate shopping list

On Thursday, ChangeWave released the results of a survey predicting a tough time ahead for corporate IT spending. But the news was good for those in the smartphone business.

Smartphone shipments to US corporations are expected to grow even as overall IT spending falls. And Apple's iPhone is seeing the bulk of the growth, according to ChangeWave. Companies still love RIM's BlackBerry but the iPhone is picking up ground. Seventy-eight per cent of respondents said they planned to buy BlackBerrys for their employees in the next quarter, compared with 22 per cent who plan on buying iPhones. This compares to just five per cent planning on buying a Palm product. In August results had RIM 79 per cent, Apple stood at 17 per cent and Palm at six per cent. The results indicate that some companies are buying smartphones from more than one vendor.

The survey fails to break out results by operating system, which shafts Windows Mobile to some degree. Microsoft has been losing share to the iPhone overall but smartphones that use Windows Mobile are still the second-most widely used phones inside corporations, according to J Gold Associates. However, since that operating system is spread across so many different handset makers, no one handset maker is outpacing the three mentioned in the survey.

Palm has been trying to make a comeback with products like the Centro and Treo Pro, but Centro is a consumer-oriented product and the Treo Pro doesn't seem to have set the world afire.

In February 2007, Palm was on the shopping lists of 22 per cent of companies surveyed by ChangeWave.

Original article: Palm losing out as iPhone gains corporate fans from CNET News.com