Google Preps Android 2.2 For Its Star Turn

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Flash support, Wi-Fi tethering and faster performance are all part of the mix in the next version of Android, but Google is also angling for a bigger share of the mobile business market.

In its forthcoming Android 2.2 mobile OS update, expected to arrive later this year, Google is adding features and functionality that could give Apple's iPhone a run for its money in the enterprise, where it's been steadily gaining ground. Google has added 20 new enterprise focused features in Android 2.2, code named Froyo.

Microsoft Exchange support is now part of the mix, said Vic Gundotra, vice president of engineering at Google, in a keynote Wednesday at Google's I/O conference in San Francisco. "We've become Microsoft Exchange-friendly, which means auto-discovery, integration with global address book, enforcement of security policies on devices," he said.

Google has built new APIs for Android device administration that allows data to be remotely wiped from devices in the event that they're lost. As was seen in the Gizmodo lost iPhone case, remote wipe is a crucial feature for companies whose businesses depend on protecting trade secrets.

Android 2.2 will also support Google's new Application Data Backup API, which is designed for ISVs. In terms of audience reaction, though, Google's Cloud-To-Device Messaging API was the biggest hit.

The Cloud-To-Device API lets developers deliver Web-based information, such as Google Maps directions, down to a mobile device. It's similar in some ways to iPhone push notifications, but Gundotra downplayed this angle with a thinly veiled dig at Apple and suggested that Google has done a more thorough engineering job.

"This is not push notifications designed to compensate for a lack of basic functionality like multitasking in the OS," he said, triggering a wave of giggling throughout the conference hall.

Wi-Fi tethering is another new Android 2.2 feature that had the crowd at I/O hooting and hollering. Tethering allows a mobile device to serve as a portable hotspot for connecting other devices. The iPhone has supported tethering since iPhone 3.0, but AT&T has dragged its feet in enabling this feature for subscribers.

Android 2.2 supports Adobe's Flash Player 10.1, and Adobe on Thursday unveiled its Flash Player 10.1 pre-beta for Android. Not surprisingly given the recent turmoil between Apple and Adobe over Flash, the audience cheered lustily when Gundotra took another shot at Apple.

"It turns out that on the Internet, people use Flash," Gundotra quipped. "And part of being open means you're inclusive, rather than exclusive, and that you're open to innovation."

NEXT: Android 2.2's Faster Performance ...

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