Motorola Aims to Make Android Secure, Attract More Enterprise Users
For all the recent popularity Android has seen, the team behind its development has done surprisingly little to increase the security of the platform and make it more appealing to the enterprise market. On-device encryption has just shown up in Android 3.0 Honeycomb (and will most likely feature in future smartphone iterations of the OS), but businesses still don’t see the same level of security in Android that they already get with RIM and their BlackBerry lineup. Instead of waiting around for Google to make the changes themselves, Motorola is taking it upon themselves to dive headfirst into device security.
With the help of recent mobile security acquisition 3LM, Moto plans to develop a series of APIs for the Android platform that will enable the security features enterprise users desire. The APIs function at the OS level and allow for remote management using popular tools already in the market, with plans for Motorola’s own suite of corporate-level software to roll out this summer.
In an effort to make sure they succeed, Motorola will step aside and allow 3LM to operate as their own subsidiary. This means the APIs developed will be made available to other hardware manufacturers if they choose to use them. The hope is this will open the door for Android devices in the business place in the same way that Apple moved into that realm when they moved forward in securing their devices.
While we always prefer for such things to be implemented at the OS level for the sake of uniformity, any step toward a wider range of use for Android is a good one for the platform. Now companies just need to take notice.
[via InfoWorld]