Galaxy S4 enterprise partition delayed: report

Samsung’s just-released Galaxy S4 smartphone will not launch with the enterprise ‘Knox’ feature that puts it in direct rivalry with BlackBerry devices.

Samsung debuted the phone in Australia on Tuesday night. It will go on sale on Saturday for $899 outright from Samsung stores, as well as Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Virgin on a range of plans.

Upon its first unveiling in March, Samsung’s new flagship smartphone promised to take the fight to BlackBerry and its traditional dominance of the enterprise sector via a new feature similar to BlackBerry’s Balance, called Knox.

Knox is a mobile device management system which partitions work and play, isolating data and applications from the user’s personal and work profiles into separate containers to secure the corporate network.

But the feature has been delayed until July, according to the New York Times, despite the company initially announcing it would arrive with the Galaxy S4. 

Samsung reportedly needed more time to test the software internally and with carrier partners.

“All the Knox framework components come standard on the device, with full-feature activation by solution providers and distribution channels to become available at a later date,” Samsung told the NYT.

Samsung Australia did not return request for comment by the time of publication.

Knox runs on Secure Boot, which ensures only verified and authorised software can run on the device, and Security Enhanced Android, which separates data based on confidentiality and integrity requirements.