Zebra’s version of Android is always a few versions behind the consumer version. Also, Zebra does not adopt every revision of consumer Android. Enterprise users do not want OS updates every few months. These OS updates must be thoroughly tested before being released to users in the Enterprise space. So, if it seems odd to be talking about a catch in Android 13 rather than Android 15, that is why.
Another way that Enterprise users differ in their needs of Android is staging and provisioning. That is especially true for our technical services group here at EMP. You see, many times a year we are setting up hundreds of devices for a customer. Getting the latest version of Android loaded, settings and applications set up. And we don’t sit and touch every device to accomplish this.
Instead, we use software tools like Zebra’s Stage Now and SOTI MobiControl to accomplish these tasks. But in Android 13, privacy and security acknowledgements that we used to rubber stamp and bypass, now must be physically acknowledged on the device before Android can be provisioned.
Blame it on Europe, the EU mandated these changes to Google for Android. And of course, Google isn’t going to release a special EU only version, they adopted these changes globally.
So, what does this mean for you? Well first if you are having EMP manage your devices through their lifecycle, it is going to take us more time, and effort to do that work for you. If you are provisioning and managing devices yourself, that additional time and effort will be on you.
The big thing is that we stay up on this to both notify you when we learn of these changes and to help you navigate the changes for your operations. Let us know how we can help you manage your mobile computer fleet.