Android for Enterprise Business
by Toni McQuilken
Apr 18, 2011 9:00 AM –
When Android first launched, there were two major mobile platforms it had to compete against here in the United States: Blackberry and iOS. Blackberry was and remains business-centered, designed for corporate and working users. iOS on the other hand, was designed for the average user, with more of a focus on personal, rather than business use. That’s not to say there wasn’t cross-over, but in general that’s how the two divided the market.
Android, when it first emerged, could have gone either way, but in general, since it’s launch, it has competed more in line with iOS than Blackberry in terms of market share. Google is looking to change that with several new developments announced on their Enterprise blog.
Google Apps Device Policy
The first is the new version of the Google Apps Device Policy application. With it, employees using corporate phones running Android 2.2+ can locate a lost device on a map, ring the device, or even reset the device PIN or password remotely via the new My Devices website. This will give corporations a bit more piece of mind for recovery and/or remotely locking devices in the field that might contain sensitive data. On the same line, Google Apps admins can now also encrypt data on Android tablet devices the same way they can on phones.
Google Apps Lookup
Google also launched a new corporate contacts application, called Google Apps Lookup, that links into the Google Apps directory for an organization. To use it, admins will need to enable “Shared Contacts” in the control panel, but doing so will enable users to find contact information within the organization by name or email address.
Right now, to use the new features requires a Google Apps account, rather than a standard user account. According to Google, there is more on the way for business users looking to have the productivity of Android in a secure environment they can trust.