IT Pros Anxiously Await Google's Android

For mobile applications developers, second-tier U.S. wireless carriers, some handset makers, and most consumers, the announcement of a Google mobile platform and a new coalition to promote open standards for mobile devices and applications is a welcome relief from current lock-in products and services.

For enterprise IT managers, the response is a bit more qualified.

With the Google platform, called Android "becoming the major open-standard open-source platform for mobile devices, that's ultimately a good thing for enterprises, even though it's still very early," said Mike McClaskey, CIO of Perot Systems. "If it can deliver higher functionality, reduced costs, and address all the issues around privacy and security as well as integration with back-office systems, that's great -- but we've got to wait and see if that comes to fruition."

Those, of course, are big "ifs," even for a coalition as broad as the Open Handset Alliance, which includes U.S. carriers T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel, handset makers HTC, Motorola, and Samsung, chipmakers Broadcom and Qualcomm, and a broad range of tech and telecom leaders. The Android platform -- which comprises a Linux-based operating system for mobile devices plus a set of open APIs on which developers can build applications -- is specifically geared for the consumer market, as Google CEO Eric Schmidt and other participants on the conference call announcing the new system made clear.

Still, many view Google's long-awaited debut on the mobile stage as an industry-changing development that will inevitably alter the landscape for enterprise IT managers as well as the employees whose mobile devices they support.

"If you're a CIO projecting a five-year road map, and you want to understand where your mobile strategy needs to be within that overall road map, this changes things significantly for you," said Carmi Levy, senior VP of strategic consulting at Toronto-based consultancy AR Communications. "You will have to make allowance for this new entrant, which is not only going to do something that hasn't existed before, but will influence the incumbent players to reinvent themselves in the process."

In a word, Android and the Open Handset Alliance will bring a new openness to enterprise mobility. If the ecosystem of third-party developers that Google envisions grows up around Android, they will develop not only consumer-oriented programs such as games, but enterprise-targeted apps as well. What's more, because Android is open source, companies will be free to adapt it to their own needs, and develop customized in-house applications of their own.

That's a great thing. To be sure, though, the shift to devices with open-source operating systems and fully powered Web browsers raises many questions for enterprise IT departments.

"Corporate IT departments will need to be concerned with mobile security features and monthly costs," said Michelle Warren, senior analyst at Info-Tech Research Group, in an e-mail. "Especially if Google generates revenue from advertisements -- the big questions are how can IT departments block advertisements (increased advertisement data usage might boost monthly costs) and limit the network exposure?"

One thing is sure: the open handsets are coming, and IT managers will have to adapt their policies to deal with them.

"The companies will figure this out," said McClaskey, "and the software providers are watching with interest to see how this announcement will impact their own mobile plans."