Google's ambition: Android 5.0 aims to enter the enterprise market

Apple has dominated the enterprise mobile market for a long time. According to data released by Good Technology on November 10, iOS system accounts for 69% of the enterprise market. In July 2014, Apple and IBM reached an exclusive cooperation agreement. With the help of IBM's advantages in big data and enterprise software, Apple will sell "customizable" iPhone and iPad to enterprises. However, with the release of the latest Android 5.0 (Lollipop) system by Google, Android will also focus on the enterprise mobile market. The mobile war between Google and Apple will also shift from the consumer market to the enterprise market.

In the new system, Google has not only made a leap forward in system security, but also tightened the shackles of Android openness to combat Android fragmentation. At the same time, Lollipop also shows Google's new vision for the enterprise mobile market: intelligence and automation.

A more secure system mechanism

Everyone knows that the Android system is based on Linux, but not many people know that Lollipop is based on SELinux. SELinux, the full name of which is Security-Enhanced Linux, is the most outstanding new security subsystem in the history of Linux. It will far exceed Linux and Unix in terms of the security of permission control. Google hopes to use this secure system to eliminate people's impression that Android platform is full of malware, so as to meet the requirements of enterprise users for the security of mobile device systems.

Secondly, Google is able to implement a multi-user operating environment for the first time through the Lollipop system, which is extremely important for enterprise users, who need to separate the private applications and data on their phones from the enterprise applications and data. This mechanism has been running on BlackBerry phones for many years, but it is the first time that Google has used it on Android. Considering Android's current market share, BlackBerry should be afraid.

On the other hand, similar to iOS and Windows Phone, Google has added a "kill switch" to Lollipop - the Factory Reset Protection option. After logging into the Google account, when the user's device is unfortunately lost, remote control can be achieved to delete all private information and all usage traces on the phone, protecting the data content from leakage.

Anti-fragmentation attempts

If you want to know how serious Android fragmentation is, you might as well take a look at the data released by Google. In addition to the latest Lollipop, there are currently five different generations of Android systems:

Employees within the enterprise may all be using Android phones, but they are running a variety of different Android systems, which is a disaster for enterprise mobile device managers.

Google has obviously realized this problem. First of all, Google has changed its previous practice of pushing system updates through operators or mobile phone manufacturers. Starting from Lollipop, all important system updates can only be pushed through Google Play Service, in order to ensure the gradual unification of security functions at the Android system level.

Next, Google also showed goodwill to third-party vendors (such as Citrix and MobileIron) that focus on enterprise mobile device management. Previously, Google did not allow these vendors to develop tools and applications for managing enterprise mobile devices for the Android system. These developers could only cooperate with Android phone manufacturers to customize different mobile management applications for different models, which in some ways aggravated the fragmentation of Android management within the enterprise. Now, with the newly opened system-level API, developers do not have to be limited to a certain model or manufacturer, but can focus on developing management applications for the system, greatly saving development costs.

Eye-popping new features

Lollipop provides many new system-level features, which are not only of great significance to individual users, but will also win the favor of more enterprise users:

Default encryption: Lollipop introduces a default encryption mode, and all mobile devices upgraded to the new system can encrypt data. Although data encryption is already very common in the enterprise market, Google obviously hopes that users will realize the importance of encryption from the beginning. In other words, only by being responsible for your own data can you be responsible for corporate data.

Smart Unlock: Smart Unlock creates a new way of security management. Compared with fingerprint recognition on iOS, lillipop's smart unlock provides more options, including not only biometrics such as face recognition, but also "trusted" NFC and Bluetooth devices such as bracelets, mobile phones, tablets, etc. This will bring greater convenience to the mobile security management of enterprise users.

Screen pinning: In short, after turning on this feature, users can "pin" any application running interface. At this time, the phone can only be used in this application, and the Home button and multitasking button will be invalid. To unpin, you must enter a password or smart unlock. This feature is undoubtedly good news for certain industries, such as retail, exhibitions, etc.

The wave of mobileization is still releasing huge industry dividends. From creating experience for individual users to creating value for corporate users, Apple and Google have entered a new enterprise-level battlefield. After Apple released a new generation of large-screen iPhones and formed an alliance with IBM, Google launched this operating system that is quite innovative in both concept and experience, which will make the new round of mobile competition more interesting. What will happen in the field of enterprise mobility next?

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