Android for Work: Google Partners with EMM Providers

By Jim Lundy

Google changed the game for Android in the Enterprise this week with their announcement of  Android for Work. It gives Enterprises more control over users and their apps and content, a much needed change. While we are publishing an Aragon Research First Cut on Google’s Announcement, part of the announcement was about their EMM Partnerships. This blog is about Android for Work and Enterprise Mobile Management.

Android for Work and EMM

Google announced a number of partnerships with some of the major Enterprise Mobile Management  (EMM) providers, including Airwatch, Blackberry, Citrix, IBM, MobileIron, SAP and SOTI. Of course, all of the EMM Providers focus on the core capabilities of EMM: Mobile Device Management, Mobile App Management and Mobile Content Management (MCM). Having a close relationship between EMM Providers and Mobile Operating System providers is critical. Apple has done this very effectively and now Google is too.

Good and Symantec Missing in Action

Not all of the EMM providers are part of the Android for Work initiative. Two major EMM providers, Good and Symantec, were missing. While the official Google position is that other Partners will be added over time, we wonder if there is a correlation between the fact that Good and Symantec, who both focus on Mobile Security, were left out or chose not to participate. While we expect that they will should be in the second round of EMM partners, we will be monitoring this, partly because Google, like Microsoft, tries to consolidate capabilities into its Technology Stack. It is clear from this announcement that Google is taking Mobile Security much more seriously.

Google and MWC15

With Mobile World Congress ( #MWC15 ) kicking off next week, Google’s timing is on the money. Android for Work is of the top stories that will emerge from MWC15. Of course, we do our annual wrap-up on that Event. Join us for our Mobile World Congress Webinar Recap on Friday, March 13th, to hear our complete analysis of all of the announcements from MWC15.