Samsung Galaxy S4: The New BYOD Buddy?

We have always seen how consumers across the globe from United States to China react whenever Apple launches a new iPhone and much of this excitement is attributed to the loyalty that Apple customers show. When Samsung launched its latest flagship device, the Galaxy S4, the consumer response in India was no less. It comes as no surprise that the device sales crossed the 10 million mark within a month of its launch. With the zero percent interest and processing fee on EMIs, Samsung is making sure that the 40 odd thousand rupee device is an object of desire within comfortable reach.

The device sports two quad-core processors (1.6 GHz + 1.2 Ghz), 2 GB RAM, a mammoth 5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) display with 441 pixel density, and a 2600 mAh battery. All this looks great on paper. But the question is, what sets this particular model apart from the handsets that are flooding the markets today? For me, the key difference that Samsung brought with the S4 is the enhanced UI. The new ‘Air Gesture’ feature in S4 allows users to, for example, change the music track they are listening to with a wave of their hand, and ‘Air View’ will enable users to preview photos and emails by hovering over the screen with their finger. All this can tempt any customer but can Samsung win over the enterprises in this current era of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and mobility?

According to Katyayan Gupta, Analyst, Forrester Research, the choice of devices is now in the hands of the employee. And enterprises are left with no option but to start considering the likes of Samsung mainly because they just cannot stop these devices coming onto their network. Gupta further added that Samsung’s price-points are impressive and it attracts a lot of new customers with every new device launch.

With impressive features and affordable pricing, there is no doubt that the S4 will find its way into the enterprise. The only bone of contention that remains is the security aspect, which is where the new Samsung KNOX security platform steps in.

High-level encryption, a VPN feature, and a way to separate personal data from work data are some of the things that Samsung’s KNOX software offers. KNOX comes up with Customizable Secure Boot, TrustZone-based Integrity Measurement Architecture (TIMA), and Security Enhancements (SE) for Android, and the entire portfolio includes Platform security, Application security, Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Theft recovery. According to Samsung, KNOX is a part of the Samsung for enterprise (SAFE) initiative and addresses all major security holes in Android.

The dynamics of the enterprise mobility space, which BlackBerry once dominated, is rapidly changing and Samsung along with a host of other providers are adding BYOD solutions to the marketplace, giving end-users options when it comes to enterprise-approved devices. Recently, Samsung announced that the KNOX-enabled Galaxy S4 has been approved by the Pentagon for government use.

Looking at the broader picture, it seems Samsung recognises the immense potential the MDM market is holds and is trying to leave no stone unturned to cash-in on the demand. With the integration of both security and company policies in the devices, it will be quite interesting to see how Samsung fares in the enterprise mobility space with the new Galaxy S4.