"The majority of companies in Asia Pacific do not provide mobile devices to their employees so the bring your own device [BYOD] policy is already a reality in the region," Trotter said.

"However, rather than aiming at improving end-user satisfaction this is driven primarily by cost constraints."

She added that business smartphone shipments would rise from 2.5 million at the end of 2011 to 4.5 million by 2016, a CAGR of 12 per cent. BlackBerry would remain the overall leader for the forecast period as its device management and security capabilities made it a "favourite" with IT departments, Trotter said. "However, reflecting trends in the consumer smartphone market, Windows Phone and other operating systems will make significant gains. Ongoing improvements in manageability of these device platforms, and support for more business applications, will begin to make these devices much more appealing to enterprise buyers," she said.

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