Google’s Android has its eyes set on Enterprise and RIM’s marketshare
August 18th, 2009 | by Jhananthi Janakiraman |
The Android phone market seems to be sprucing up. What with the economy looking better and better each day, companies are vying to get into the pockets of consumers.
Soon you will find enterprise-focused features on Google’s Android phones. This is an attempt to face competitor RIM and their line of BlackBerry smartphones. BlackBerry phones are a staple for any enterprise and most companies and organizations give their employees one to improve connectivity and collaboration.
Google does not offer enterprise applications for now but has plans to do so in order to target the enterprise segment, which is huge compared to the consumer market segment. You can expect the Android office phones within a year, although handset manufacturers might have a different say in this, depending on their R&D.
Google has been focusing largely on consumers and has only recently announced that its myTouch 3G will support Microsoft Exchange email. The “Going Google” ad campaign from Google is a step in that direction and is aimed at enterprise users. You can expect at least 18 Android phones by Christmas by the way. Let’s see how many of them actually turn up!
The “Google Experience” Android smartphones will feature deep integration with Google’s Web services like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Apps. Google’s marketing efforts are towards attracting businesses to use its Apps vying for its niche in the corporate arena.
Research in Motion is a front runner in the enterprise market owing to its BlackBerry Enterprise Server infrastructure, push email, and secure features. RIM is not going to take this onslaught from Google lying low. The Canadian-based company has already started making phones for consumers with the introduction of the touch screen sensation, the BlackBerry Storm, as well as the popular Curve series, and has already experienced good sales among non-enterprise users. Android will take several years to dent the enterprise market that RIM has cornered.
