Google® Android™ Device Management & the Honeywell Approach
Historically the Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) industry has been dominated by Microsoft® Windows® operating systems (OS). End-users and application developers have recently begun looking for viable alternatives. Android™ has emerged as the OS that most businesses and developers are evaluating for device management primarily due to its popularity in the consumer smartphone market and the following several reasons:
- More and more AIDC end-users expect rugged hand-helds to have the same or similar user experience as consumer smartphones. The ease of adoption lowers the training costs associated with deployment, especially among younger workers.
- In general, the Android™ OS is considered more modern and optimized for touch applications
- Enterprises are developing applications that may be provisioned to their employees and offered directly to consumers
- Some developers feel that it is faster to develop applications for Google® Android™
- The Android™ Market Place has hundreds of thousands of applications that may be helpful for end-users in day-to-day activities and also provides a new route to market for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs)
- Some companies are simply frustrated with Microsoft® and don’t see a clear roadmap beyond Windows® Embedded Handheld 6.5
In spite of these motivations, some IT decision-makers have voiced concerns about the security challenges that Google® Android™ presents and those challenges must be addressed before new offerings are widely accepted.
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