Indeed, host of manufacturers--including Motorola, Samsung, LG, HTC, Sony Ericsson and Dell--are now moving aggressively to capitalize on the Android, while the Droid will be just the first in a series of Android devices and applications Verizon Wireless will roll out as part of its recently announced partnership with Google. Research firm Gartner now forecasts the OS will overtake Apple's iPhone in worldwide market share by 2012 and take a significant bite out of Symbian's dominant market share.
And the Android platform appears to be a good fit for the mobile worker. The biggest advantage that Android backers tout over the iPhone is its multitasking capability--the ability to run multiple third-party apps at once. The iPhone lacks this background-processing capability.
In version 2.0 of Android, which the Droid uses, several capabilities cater to the mobile enterprise. The OS has built-in support for Microsoft Exchange as well as a unified inbox that puts multiple Exchange, web-based email, POP3 and IMAP accounts into a single interface. Android 2.0 also includes new application programming interfaces (APIs) catering to productivity applications, while the new account manager, synch and contacts APIs are expected to result in applications that can access contact information from numerous sources.
What also garnered attention last week was the integration in Android 2.0 of the free Google Maps Navigator that offers spoken turn-by-turn directions. Verizon Wireless typically charges $10 per month for its VZ Navigator service.
Moreover, Android application development is exploding. Project starts increased 94 percent between September and October, according to mobile in-application analytics provider Flurry. The firm attributes those numbers to the Droid's pending launch.
"Flurry market data shows that Android continues to gain interest from application developers, and that iPhone is no longer the only game in town," said Flurry president and chief officer Simon Khalaf in a prepared statement. "Developers who used to develop only for iPhone are now adding Android applications to their lineup in record numbers."
Some of the weaknesses of the Android center around security, however. And of course, critics point out that Android won't displace
BlackBerry in the enterprise as the official "enterprise" phone. But Android devices will march along the same path as Apple, through the side door. Android devices will play a large role in that consumerization of the enterprise.
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