Research suggests business directors more likely to use Apple products at work

Forrester Research recently conducted a survey of close to 10,000 workers in 17 countries to determine which workers are more likely to own and use Apple products. The New York Times has published the results, which show that "business directors" -- in other words, bosses -- are the employee group most likely to own one or more Apple products and use them at work.

Here's a breakdown of the survey results.

Who uses Apple products:

• 43 percent of people earning $150,000 or more per year -- 87 of 200 respondents
• 27 percent of people earning $100,000 - $149,999
• 23 percent of people earning $50,000 - $99,999
• 19 percent of people earning $49,999 or less -- 1300 of 6800 respondents

21 percent of all 9912 respondents in Forrester's survey said they used one or more Apple devices for work.

The New York Times notes that the increasing penetration of Apple products into the workplace, often driven by people bringing in and using their personal devices, is wearing down traditional IT department hostility toward the Mac, iPhone, and iPad. However, as Ars Technica notes, the research also shows that while 50 percent of firms in "mature markets" offer Macs, only 30 percent of respondents said their companies support them, leaving many Mac users to fend for themselves at work.

Coupled with reports like Good Technology's quarterly results on device activations, it seems that the old practice of business and enterprise environments shunning Apple products is shifting quite rapidly. Forrester's claim that "Windows' dominance is at an end" is premature, however; while Microsoft's share of the enterprise pie is no longer as big as it once was, it's still claiming the majority of users in that sphere.