Long-standing Apple specialist Jamf will start offering mobile management services (MDM) for Android in July. It has been a long time coming: while iPhones have been secured by Jamf (then Casper Suite) since 2010, Android is only following suit 15 years later.
Given that countless companies use more than just Apple devices, Jamf’s move is significant. With the inclusion of Android support, it is now possible to consolidate to Jamf alone for MDM. This is also the view of Michael Covington, VP of Product Strategy at Jamf, speaking to Bloomberg.
Mixed device environments
Jamf says it is taking a pragmatic approach to implementation. The company will leverage the expertise of a white-label partner for the onboarding of Android devices. It is not known who this is. Jamf hopes this will help it regain ground lost to competitors such as Microsoft.
The timing could be seen as fortuitous. With current trade tensions putting pressure on organizations not to rely solely on American products, Apple’s position is being challenged. After all, significant price increases are possible if tariff barriers prove to be permanent.
“It wasn’t intended as a diversification strategy,” Covington told Bloomberg. “But given the current circumstances, the timing is certainly favorable.”
NinjaOne also enabled MDM support on both Android and Apple systems in the middle of last year. It is obviously a competitive advantage if your competitor does not offer this, so it is actually surprising that Jamf has not done so for so long. In any case, from July onwards, it will be possible to choose between Apple and Android support.