Interop reporter’s notebook

NEW YORK — Some interesting tidbits picked up while covering the consumerization of IT at Interop this week:

• From Chris Hazelton, research director with the 451 Group: It took 20 years to sell the first 100 million PCs. It took six years to sell the first 100 million smartphones. It will take 20 months to sell the first 100 million tablets.
• Android didn’t get much love at the show. Mark Lowenstein, managing director of Mobile Ecosystem, said Google’s OS is six to 12 months behind Apple iOS in terms of enterprise management and application delivery capabilities. And several attendees mentioned security problems with Android, which are limiting enterprise support for those devices.
• From Andrew Borg, senior research analyst with the Aberdeen Group: “Although people are looking at the Amazon Kindle Fire as a consumer play, many people said the same thing about the iPad. Enterprises beware.”
• And there were some differing opinions on the cost of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives. Craig Mathias, principal with Farpoint Group, said, “It costs more to have a mobile worker than a non-mobile worker.” And Brian Katz, director of mobility with pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis, said, “If you think BYOD is about saving money, it’s not. It saves you CapEx. It does not save you OpEx.” But Sean Ginevan, solutions architect with management vendor Mobile Iron, argued that BYOD can reduce OpEx, because users have ownership of their devices and take the initiative to solve problems themselves.