Mountain View, California — Mostly consumers tend to use the free version of Google Apps, but search engine titan Google last week began offering some basic mobile device management features through its paid Google Applications the ability to manage iPhones, Nokia E series and Windows Mobile devices remotely, a feature that may appeal both to business users and consumers and could convert some users to paying customers.
The features, which went live last week, empowers users of Google Apps Premier and Education Edition to take charge of certain functions on handsets like iPhones, Nokia E series devices and Windows Mobile phones and any other device that supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync.
According to a blog post by Google mobile software engineer Bryan Mawhinney, the controls empowers admins to remotely wipe data from lost and stolen devices, lock idle devices after a period of inactivity and set password parameters for handsets — all without needing a dedicated enterprise mobile server. Administrators can start using the features from the Google Apps administration control panel.
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“With this modification, Google Apps Premier and Education Edition administrators will be able to manage their users’ iPhone, Nokia E series, and Windows Mobile devices right from the Google Apps administrative control panel, without distributing any additional software or having to manage dedicated enterprise mobile servers,” wrote Mawhinney, in an announcement posted last week on the company’s blog.
Businesses could begin managing devices as soon as their users start syncing with Google Apps Premier and Education editions, Mawhinney wrote.
Back in September 2009, the search giant rolled out its synchronization tool for iPhone, E-series and Windows Mobile devices, making it possible for Apps users to access and sync their cloud-hosted email, calendar and contacts from their handsets. The tool integrates this personal information with the device’s native email, calendar and contact applications.
Google charges $50 annually for Google Apps Premier Edition accounts, which are designed for corporate needs and includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sites, Google Video, and Google Groups, and comes with 25GB of e-mail storage per employee. The service is inter-operable with BlackBerry and Microsoft Outlook and includes business controls like password strength checks, forced SSL connections, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee SLA. Education Edition is a special version available free to schools.
The new mobile device management capabilities allows administrators to:
- Remotely wipe all data from approved mobile phones that is lost or stolen
- Lock idle devices after a period of inactivity
- Set a device password on each phone
- Set minimum lengths for more secure passwords
- Set strong passwords to include letters, numbers and punctuation
These features are available under the Mobile tab of the Service Settings menu in the Google Apps control panel, to users of Google Apps Premier Edition and Google Apps Education Edition.
These newly released features could help companies that are struggling to handle the increasing number of people who prefer to use their own phones at work, instead of using one that is approved and issued by the IT department. The iPhone has helped grow that segment of mobile business users as workers seek to use their preferred phone, Kitty Weldon, an analyst with Current Analysis said. But those phones are sometimes not supported by enterprise-grade mobile phone management systems.
The devices that Google is supporting all have the options for remote wipe. Google’s remote wipe is triggered when the device synchronizes with the Google cloud, theoretically allowing it to be bypassed and for corporate information to remain on the phone. Thus, it is better for thwarting a casual thief than corporate espionage. Windows Mobile phones and Nokia E Series phones that synch with Exchange server can be remotely wiped. The iPhone also has a remote wipe feature that end users can employ through their MobileMe accounts.
While remote phone management will certainly appeal to businesses, consumers may want in on the action too. Google said users should “stay tuned” for the new features to be offered for Android devices, including the Motorola Droid and Google Nexus One smartphones, but offered no specific timing. BlackBerry devices were not mentioned, but to have the ability to synchronize with the Google cloud.