When Android L launches this fall, it'll feature a platform that allows users to easily separate personal from professional. It borrows code directly from Samsung's Knox, meaning it'll offer greater levels of security in the enterprise market. But it goes much deeper than we initially thought.
According to Forbes, Google has taken over Knox development duties altogether, allowing the search giant to more tightly control the platform. I suppose the signs were there when Google introduced the new feature at I/O, but we didn't expect it would go this far. It appears that despite Samsung devices being among the most popular in the world, Knox isn't exactly a widely used feature. With Google in control, the company could have leverage for bringing Android to more businesses.
Samsung phones would still have Knox security features; it would just be more widely available to other Android phones, too. That, in turn, could help increase the adoption of Android new work/play feature. When the feature launches, it'll give companies the option to easily separate personal and professional data—Google says it'll work with Ice Cream Sandwich and above.
Update: Samsung has provided a statement to TechnoBuffalo about the Forbes report.
Samsung is committed to the long term evolution of mobile security and the ongoing development of Samsung KNOX. While Samsung is contributing a part of KNOX technology for the benefit of the entire Android community and enterprise customers, Samsung KNOX remains the most secure Android platform from the hardware to the application level. Samsung will continue to work with our partners to enable KNOX for all of our valued customers. Our list of enterprise and government clients continues to grow rapidly, and is a testament to our commitment to providing highly-desirable, secure mobile devices across all industries. Furthermore, Samsung continues to offer differentiated and highly valuable mobile enterprise services such as KNOX EMM and KNOX Marketplace to provide customers with the most secure and scalable mobility management solution.
