Google Says Over 19K Organizations Are Now Testing Or Using Android For Work

Google today announced that over 19,000 organizations are now either testing, deploying or using its Android for Work service.

Android for Work makes it easier and safer for businesses to allow their employees to bring their own Android devices to work. It separates business apps from personal apps. Thanks to this, the IT department still retains control of its data and apps, while the employee can still play Angry Birds on the device, too. This program, which Google first previewed at its I/O developer conference in 2014, officially launched in February of this year.

Of the 19,000 organizations Google says are working with Android for Work, it is unclear how many are just testing the service and how many have actually deployed it. Large enterprises don’t move fast, so my guess is there are far more businesses trialling Android for Work than actually using it, but this is still a pretty good number either way.

The company also announced today it is making it easier for IT admins to issue certificates, and they can now apply more granular permissions. New users can now also be provisioned using NFC.

Google says it is working with over 80 partners. One of these is BlackBerry, which will support Android for Work and match Google’s Android patch schedule for its PRIV device through monthly scheduled updates. Other partners include the likes of Citrix, Cisco, F5 and SAP, as well as a number of device manufacturers and carriers.