The battle over vertical-specific functionality is heating up in the mobile universe with the announcement of a new partnership between Red Hat Inc. and  Samsung Electronics America, Inc. that will see the development of a series of niche business applications for Android. The move is a response to a similar agreement that IBM Corp. struck with Apple Inc. last year.

But while the two deals may be similar in their objectives, the strategic significance is entirely different owing to the dominance of iOS in the enterprise, where over 70 percent of workers carry iPhones and iPads. That makes Red Hat’s partnership with Samsung somewhat of a compromise, although not quite as big as the one suffered by SAP SE.

The German software giant joined forces with Samsung shortly after the revelation of the IBM-Apple alliance in a bid to lure away business workers with its own vertical-specific features, whereas Red Hat has set its sights on an entirely different audience: developers. In that sense, the forthcoming applications are merely a means to an end.

The lineup, which is set to include services for workforce management, customer care delivery, invoicing and other key departmental functions, will be based the mobile middleware gained through its acquisition of  FeedHenry Ltd. last year. Operationalizing the functionality with pre-built applications gives organizations a strong proof point to start using the software in their own application projects.

From that perspective, having to go with Samsung may not be that big of a compromise for Red Hat after all. Although significantly behind iOS on the corporate network, Android is dominant among consumers – a growing portion of whom are bringing their personal devices to work – and boasts a developer ecosystem to match. The duo will try and make the most out of that lead.

Besides providing the ability to customize the applications in the upcoming lineup and providing integration with common back-end systems, Red Hat and Samsung will also actively work to promote the technology in the development community. The companies will  coordinate their sales efforts as well in an effort to attract corporate buyers.

It’s a solid arrangement for both parties. Red Hat is reinforcing its newly-bought position in the mobile universe while Samsung stands to gain business capabilities that should help its devices gain share against iOS the enterprise.

Photo via Luca L.