Samsung Said to Partner SAP to Push Corporate Use of Android

Wolfgang von Brauchitsch/Bloomberg
Signs bearing the company logo are displayed at the headquarters of SAP AG in Walldorf, Germany.
Signs bearing the company logo are displayed at the headquarters of SAP AG in Walldorf, Germany. Photographer: Wolfgang von Brauchitsch/Bloomberg
SAP Said to Partner Samsung to Push Corporate Use of Android

Jerome Favre/Bloomberg
Samsung, which was the second-biggest smartphone manufacturer behind Apple in the fourth quarter, is aiming to sell more handsets to corporate clients after the Android platform became the most popular operating system for smartphones.
Samsung, which was the second-biggest smartphone manufacturer behind Apple in the fourth quarter, is aiming to sell more handsets to corporate clients after the Android platform became the most popular operating system for smartphones. Photographer: Jerome Favre/Bloomberg
SAP AG (SAP) and Samsung Electronics Co. (005930)
are teaming up to make mobile devices running Google Inc. (GOOG)’s
Android operating system safer to use as corporate tools,
according to people familiar with the matter.
SAP, the largest maker of enterprise-management software,
and Suwon, Korea-based Samsung will present their plans next
week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, said the people,
who declined to be named because the details aren’t public. The
cooperation will include e-mail encryption as well as making
handsets compatible with device-management systems that remotely
update software and can operate phone functions such as
switching the camera on and off, one of the people said.
The partnership is SAP’s first deal of this kind with a
maker of Android phones and follows agreements with Research in
Motion Ltd. for the BlackBerry platform and Apple Inc. (AAPL) for
iPhone and iPad devices. Samsung, which was the second-biggest
smartphone manufacturer behind Apple in the fourth quarter, is
aiming to sell more handsets to corporate clients after the
Android platform became the most popular operating system for
smartphones. The company’s mobile-device portfolio includes the
Galaxy Nexus smartphone and the Galaxy Tab 10.1N.
“Companies need more pre-configured tablets and
smartphones which comply with their advanced security
requirements,” said Ulrich Trabert, a software analyst at
Bankhaus Metzler in Frankfurt who has a “sell” recommendation
on SAP. “Naturally, SAP is looking for a partner who is
dominant on the Android platform.”
Pick Your Device
Samsung spokesman Jason Kim confirmed that the two
companies will make a joint announcement in Barcelona, but
declined to give details. A spokesman for Walldorf, Germany-
based SAP declined to comment.
Samsung rose 1.4 percent to 1,197,000 won in Seoul trading
today. SAP shares declined 0.8 percent to 49.25 euros as of
10:13 a.m. in Frankfurt.
Handset manufacturers benefit from the so-called
consumerization of information technology, in which people use
technology gadgets for both personal and work tasks, and as more
companies allow employees to pick their mobile device of choice.
SAP added technology to help bring its software onto
smartphones and tablets by acquiring Sybase Inc. in 2010 for
$5.8 billion. Growth in revenue from mobile applications is part
of the German company’s strategy to exceed 20 billion euros
($26.5 billion) in annual revenue in 2015.
Apple passed Samsung to become the world’s biggest
smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter on surging sales of its
iPhone, researcher Gartner Inc. said this month. Google’s
Android software ran on more than half of all smartphones sold.
Global sales of such handsets that can handle business e-
mail and streaming video increased 47 percent to 149 million
units, according to Gartner.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Cornelius Rahn in Frankfurt at
crahn2@bloomberg.net;
Jonathan Browning in London at
jbrowning9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kenneth Wong at
kwong11@bloomberg.net
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Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-21/samsung-said-to-partner-sap-to-push-corporate-use-of-android.html


