BlackBerry maker Research In Motion's ownership of the enterprise market has just been challenged.
Deutsche Bank on Monday released a report saying that Apple's iPhone is gaining acceptance among IT departments and is on track to make gains in enterprise usage, likely at the expense of RIM's popular smart phone.
"We expect it (iPhone) to gain considerable share in the enterprise over the next several years, possibly driving upside to our unit estimates," Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore wrote in a report.
Those gains would likely put a dent in sales of of RIM- and Windows-based phones in corporations. RIM, the report said, has over 60 percent of the enterprise market for smart phones while Microsoft has over 20 percent.
Shares of RIM plummeted $4.24, or 7 percent, at $54.50 in afternoon trading.
Deutsche Bank said it expects to see about 2 million iPhones in the enterprise market for 2009, taking roughly 7 percent of the corporate smart phone market. The analyst firm says that's up from 2 percent of the market in 2008 for Apple. What's driving the increase, in part, is the belief that it is not true that physical keyboards are a necessity in corporate use.
Also, the analyst report said Apple's enormous gains in the apps market show the "accelerating utility of the platform." Microsoft and RIM, on the other hand, are "years behind Apple" and are losing out in developer support and application development.
Deutsche Bank, which makes a market in Apple securities, reiterated its "buy" rating and $250 price target on Apple. Apple shares edged upward $0.71 to $189.21 in late trading.