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Google is scooping up one of the most interesting BYOD (bring your own device) apps around.
The company announced today that it’s acquiring Divide (formerly known as Enterproid), an app that creates a secure work environment on Android phones and iPhones.
Terms of the deal are out, but Divide’s investors include Google Ventures, which recently led its latest $12 million funding round. The company has raised around $25 million so far — other investors include Comcast Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures.
Divide basically gives your phone a split personality between your work and personal apps. Divide doesn’t affect what you can install on the personal side of your phone, but it gives IT administrators control over the work side. It’s a good compromise between juggling separate personal and work devices.
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The acquisition makes sense for Google, as it would make Android an even stronger choice for enterprises. Divide also offers an iPhone application, but I can’t imagine that will stick around for too long.
In a brief announcement on its website today, Divide noted that it will join Google’s Android team. While Google isn’t shy from offering its apps on other platforms (indeed, its business relies on that), it wouldn’t make much sense for Google to continue work on the Divide iOS app. Google is already losing the enterprise market to iOS devices — taking Divide away from iOS could actually be a blow to Apple.
The acquisition is also yet another troubling sign for BlackBerry, which has seen its hold on the enterprise market destroyed by the rise of the iPhone and Android.
“I think that the enterprises we’re seeing in the market at this point have decide we’re no longer relying on BlackBerry,” Divide CEO Andrew Toy told me last year. “Whatever BlackBerry does will be interesting, but it’ll be no more interesting than what anyone else does at this point. … Before, it was kind of like a religion.”
