iPhones will have Knox by Samsung, reports say

Apple is reported to be including Samsung Electronics’ Knox security platform on its iPhones.

The Knox platform has been offered only on smart devices with the Android operating system, so this decision will be an important validation for the technology.

Analysts say Apple is trying to hold onto business users of its smartphones as low-end devices start eating away at market share from it and Samsung Electronics.

Apple has its own security system for iOS 7, but some consumers have raised concerns that it’s not secure enough - especially for corporate apps.

Knox is a security platform with two separate interfaces for personal use and for work. Corporate security managers can monitor activities of each smartphone in an Internet-based cloud environment so there is no worry of data leaks. The interfaces use various encryption methods including passcodes mandated by a company or a government. The second generation of Knox also features fingerprint authentication.

First released last October, Knox was specifically designed for the business-to-business market (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) market. Samsung released Knox 2.0 in February.

The U.S. Department of Defense was one of its earliest boosters, followed by the British government and the New Zealand telecom industry.

In the Korean market, the Credit Finance Association became Samsung’s first corporate client last month when it purchased 3,000 units of Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet PCs loaded with Knox.

According to the IT analytics firm IDC, Samsung stole the No. 1 position from Apple last year in the global B2B smartphone market.

Apple maintained its lead until 2012 when it had a 33.6 percent share of the B2B smartphone market compared to Samsung’s 30 percent share.

Samsung Electronics yesterday denied any plan to supply Knox to Apple’s iOS.

BY kim ji-yoon [jiyoon.kim@joongang.co.kr]