Google says over 19K organizations are testing or using Android For Work; Blackberry will support Android for Work, match Google's patch schedule
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch :
Context & Ripple Effects
Android for Work has been scaling all year: after opening the program to any device running Android 4.0 or higher in April (any device running Android 4.0 or higher) and adding privacy vendor Silent Circle plus eight carriers over the summer (the Silent Circle and carrier partnership), Google now counts more than 19,000 organizations testing or using it. The patch-schedule promise is aimed at the gap between that headline number and IT departments' real concern: whether non-Pixel devices get security fixes fast enough.
For BlackBerry, this lands mid-turnaround. Sources reported in June that it was weighing Android for an upcoming phone while shifting toward software and device management (considering Android while pivoting to software and device management), and its 'last-ditch' Android relaunch was already being dissected days before this announcement. Committing to support Android for Work and match Google's patch cadence turns BlackBerry from Android's historical rival into an enterprise participant inside Google's program.
First-order effects
- The 19,000-organization figure gives enterprise buyers social proof that Android for Work is production-ready, strengthening Google's hand against Apple and Microsoft in mobility-management pitches.
- BlackBerry's device-management business gets a concrete role: by matching Google's patch schedule, it positions itself as a trusted steward of Android deployments rather than a competing ecosystem.
Second-order effects
- Rival handset makers and mobile-management vendors must now answer the same patch-commitment question BlackBerry just preempted, making update speed a competitive line item alongside hardware specs.
- The Silent Circle/carrier alliance from July gains relevance: carriers distributing Android for Work can bundle BlackBerry-style management assurances into enterprise contracts, shifting value toward whoever controls deployment and patching.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward Android's enterprise market organizing around Google's program as the qualification layer, with vendors like BlackBerry surviving as managed-service specialists rather than platform owners — a structure later reflected when Google's enterprise recommendations favored select vendors, including BlackBerry, while omitting Samsung (later enterprise recommendations that included BlackBerry but omitted Samsung).
- If patch cadence becomes the admission ticket to enterprise Android, security-update discipline hardens from best practice into de facto procurement requirement across the device industry.
The trend: Enterprise Android is consolidating around Google's management-and-patching program, converting former platform rivals like BlackBerry into service-layer participants.