Google has been working over the past year to make Google Apps, its bundle of productivity applications like Gmail, work better with smartphones. Now it’s announcing several new features that may be crucial to winning over enterprise IT administrators.
Most of Google Apps’ previous smartphone features were focused on convenience and ease of use, such as synchronization with the iPhone and Windows Mobile. Those are the kinds of things that make an employee want to use Google Apps, but don’t do much to alleviate IT concerns about control and security.
That’s where these new features come in. With the remote wipe, for example, if an employee loses their phone, the company could erase all of their work emails, from the same dashboard that administrators use to manage the rest of their Google Apps accounts. I don’t think any of the features announced today are being unique to Google, but they’re definitely something users have been asking for.
The new management features should go live tomorrow for premier and educational users. For now, they work on iPhones, Nokia E phones, and Windows Mobile devices, but I’d be surprised if Google doesn’t add support for Android and BlackBerry devices as well.
Here’s the full list of features:
- Remotely wipe all data from lost or stolen mobile devices
- Lock idle devices after a period of inactivity
- Require a device password on each phone
- Set minimum lengths for more secure passwords
- Require passwords to include letters, numbers and punctuation
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