IHL Group reports that the share of Apple iOS devices being used for mobile POS in North America decreased significantly in Q1 2014. While the overall market for mobile POS is growing, Apple's share dropped to 56 percent in Q1 2014, down 15.5 percent from its Q4 2013 share of 66 percent.

IHL analyst Greg Buzek offered this analysis:

"As mobile POS becomes more of a staple in larger retailers, issues of interoperability with existing applications becomes a key part of the decision. The single biggest technical trend we are seeing in retail is not mobile, but the desire from retailers to have a single business logic and code base to work from across the various channels that they operate. They are working to merge their e-commerce, mobile commerce, catalog, mobile POS and traditional POS, along with single merchandising systems to better serve customers. Mobile POS is just part of this and that is being reflected as these new devices roll out.

"Our research is showing that 74 percent of larger enterprise retailers are requiring that their current POS application work on their mobile POS devices and other legacy systems. This leans in favor of Windows for many retailers and hence the difference. Apple is by far the leader in shipments, but we expect this share to continue to erode some as the number of mobile POS units more than doubles this year and the mall is transformed."