Is Google looking to overtake the enterprise with its Android OS?
By Justin Montgomery
Android will undoubtedly change the mobile landscape, much like the iPhone did, and not to add to the Android-news overload- but questions about Google’s motives surrounding Android hint at the fact that it could become the search engine’s entry ticket to the enterprise.
Rafael Ruffolo over at Computer World raised some excellent points in regards to the overall plans Google has to propel it’s Android OS and the devices it runs on into the enterprise market where no company, OS, or device maker has a monopoly yet. One of the major roadblocks in the potential plan is the fact that Google has recently lost some of the ever-so-vital support of its development community- the community that could potentially build Android’s unique enterprise-level applications.
Rob Enderle, principal analyst at The Enderle Group, is leading the rumors about Android’s high hopes for enterprise. “The Android platform is part of Google’s strategy to eventually move against Microsoft in the enterprise,” Enderle said. “Google is coming in with the phone because it’s not a platform that Microsoft currently controls and no vendor has reached a monopoly in the mobile space yet.” Enderle suggests that in the future, smartphones will replace laptops as the primary means of communication in enterprise environments. “Just like Microsoft rode the change from the mainframe to the PC into the enterprise, Google will look to do the same with the smartphone,” Enderle added.
While Enderle is likely accurate in his assumptions, other industry experts argue that Google should make Android a winner in the eyes of consumers before making the trek into the realm of enterprise. I really don’t think Google would directly focus on enterprise in the early stages, but I definitely think it has merit in the near future. Consumers will embrace Android without question, and knowing Google, they’ll have a well thought out plan for its future progress. This is evident in how long it’s taking to bring the first Android device to market.
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on Saturday, September 20th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
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