Enterprise Android, Mass-Market Android

Google isn’t going to be doing any one and done with it’s online Android handset store.  Andy Rubin, the father of Android, stated in an onstage interview with The Wall Street Journal, that Google is looking to expand the online store with a series of Nexus devices, including a phone geared towards Enterprise users and one geared towards the mass-market.  Some people believe the enterprise version would be a Nexus One with MS Outlook sync and built in security enabling secure corporate email.  However, Rubin indicated the enterprise version wouldn’t just be a different version of a Nexus One, it will be a new handset altogether.Rubin admits “The definition of ‘enterprise’ is moving around a bit these days,” and so there is not set in stone idea of what will be in the enterprise version, but it’s speculated that on top of secure email syncing, it would include a physical keyboard and possibly better battery life and the ability to work on cell networks around the world.  This sounds to me like a clone of a Blackberry, which is king in the land of corporate cell phones.

One place the young Android OS has been significantly lacking is in the enterprise region of cell phones.  If Google wishes to have even deeper market share, they will need to focus on having a truly great and seemless integration of corporate email, including security and remote software push/wiping/support.  I feel this won’t happen for a while, as Android is really more or less still an adolescent.  Sure, it’s grown leaps and bounds over the last year, but it’s time for Google to firm down the main OS and look to clean up the interface and add the behind the scenes features for enterprise usage.

I am a little confused on the term mass-market and what that means to Android.  I feel there are a number of devices already fitting into that genre.  Specifically, the myTouch 3G comes to mind.  This phone has been largely advertised and I think it presents a powerful enough phone for the average user.  The problem I see that Google needs to work on, is the market and ensuring phones already sold are supported in a timely fashion for at least 24 months, since that is the average contract length of a cellphone.  Users don’t want to plunk down the money for a phone, only to find out 3 months later their OS is out of date and they can’t use the latest update of their favorite app because the developer updated it and didn’t support the older OS.  To make things worse, their phone won’t get that updated OS so they will either have to purchase a new one or just go without.

Let’s hope over the next year these things are addressed and Android becomes more stable and firm so that it’s easier to ensure all devices are supported and up to date and developers can begin making great apps that they don’t have to fear will be out of date before then can even be released.

ZDnet and All Things Digital

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