Samsung targets business with Microsoft tools integration

Samsung has pre-installed Microsoft OneNote, OneDrive and Skype on the new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, as it expands its smartphone reach into the enterprise.

The smartphone maker said that businesses that purchase devices through Samsung's business-to-business sales channels will have access to three versions of Office 365 – Business, Business Premium and Enterprise – coupled with Samsung’s Knox security.

The bundle also includes a set-up service from Samsung to help businesses get up and running with products and provides ongoing support.

The offer means business users of Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge devices will have 100GB of additional free cloud storage for two years through Microsoft OneDrive.

Executive vice-president of the strategic marketing office in Samsung Electronics' IT and mobile division, Sang Chul Lee, said: "We believe our suite of premium mobile products coupled with Microsoft’s productivity services will offer users the mobility they need in both their personal and business life."

The company has been working on developing its Knox enterprise mobile security product to meet government and regulated industry requirements. 

In November 2014, Samsung announced a partnership with BlackBerry, where Knox would be integrated with Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES). This will allow IT departments to use BES to manage Samsung devices.

Knox Workspace is Samsung’s on-device mobile security, which it claims has been designed to separate enterprise and personal data, and is secure enough to run on government-grade networks.

Earlier in 2015, Microsoft released a preview version of Office for Android, almost 10 months after the iPad version was released.

Samsung is expected to pre-install the final shipping version of this product later this year. This will give business users access to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype on select Samsung Android tablets.