Samsung announced their latest devices, the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, at their Unpacked event that took place the Sunday before Mobile World Congress. The event included much excitement not just about their new phones, but also around how they are enhancing the desktop experience for users to be productive from anywhere. We were fortunate to have some time with Jon Wong, Director of Product Marketing at Samsung, to learn more about these announcements and how they will empower mobile workers.
Q: At Unpacked, we learned about some of the great new features of the Galaxy S9. Which ones do you think will have the most impact on business mobility?
When it comes to business, we focused on three things with the Galaxy S9: productivity features for business users to get more done, continuing to evolve our Knox security platform to keep data and apps safe, and tight integration with unified endpoint management solutions like VMware Workspace ONE to make deployments easier for IT.
From a device feature perspective, I’m excited about the evolution of App Pair, which lets you program two apps to launch side-by-side with a single touch. It’s a great way to maximize the devices’ Infinity Displays and multitask more effectively. We also know Galaxy fundamentals like extended battery life, wireless fast-charging and IP68 water resistance are critical to the enterprise user.
But, in terms of the most impact, I’d have to call out Samsung Knox and Samsung DeX, which also happen to be the initiatives I’m most heavily involved in!
Q: How do you see workers using this new device to be more productive?
The smartphone is so central to the future of workforce productivity. Our recent study with GfK found that Americans are spending 33% of their work day using their smartphone. Four in 10 said that their smartphone will replace the need for a traditional computer within a few years.
This is the driving force behind Samsung DeX, our mobile-powered desktop experience. Over the next several years, we see the shift toward true mobile-only computing becoming a reality.
For those who aren’t familiar with the platform, DeX basically lets business users extend their Galaxy smartphone to create a desktop-like experience. You just dock in to DeX and you’re connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse, and you can work without a laptop.
Q: DeX launched one year ago but you’ve just announced some enhancements and a new form-factor at the Unpacked event. Tell us about those.
Building on the concept of the original DeX Station, we’ve introduced the DeX Pad. As the name suggests, DeX Pad sits flat to the desk and allows the smartphone to become your touch pad. We will also add virtual keyboard functionality with a forthcoming update.
We’re also continuing to make enhancements to the user experience and manageability of the DeX platform. We now support additional monitor resolutions, including WQHD. We’ve also taken in feedback from enterprise customers, and now allow admins to apply their own specific IT policies to DeX mode via our Knox APIs.
Q: What are industries or user groups that you see DeX as being the best fit for?
While using your smartphone and DeX probably doesn’t negate the need for a laptop for all business users overnight, a surprising number of businesses and organizations are ready to make the leap to a mobile-only future.
Public safety is one interesting area that we are exploring. Police officers can use a smartphone as their primary computing device outside the vehicle, and then return to their car to dock into DeX to create a full in-vehicle workstation.
We are also seeing a lot of interest in the finance industry, where IT leaders have already adopted thin- and zero-clients. They see a clear benefit around using your phone and DeX to access virtual desktops with solutions like VMware Horizon and Workspace ONE.
Lastly, it’s a great fit businesses who have adopted a hotdesking approach with shared workspaces for employees who are in and out of the office.
Q: Samsung has also recently realigned the Knox security platform in relation to Android enterprise. What does that mean for the enterprise mobility manager?
Over the years, we had started to see overlapping capabilities between Knox and Android work profile. For our recent Knox 3.0 launch, we partnered with Google to better align our APIs to provide customers the best of both frameworks.
Knox isn’t going anywhere. But, instead of having to choose, our customers now get all the benefits of Android enterprise included within the broad set of features that Knox brings. This includes our data separation solution ,Knox Workspace, for customers in regulated industries.
Be sure to check back to our blog for the latest announcements on how Samsung and VMware together empower mobile workers. If you are at MWC, visit the VMware booth (Hall 3, Stand 3K10), located next to Samsung (Hall 3, Stand 3I10).
