Google's Android to aim at businesses

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Google is planning to include support for business users in its Android platform as soon as this year pitting it against BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, Android developer Andy Rubin said on Friday.

Rubin, vice president of engineering at Google said that as well as adding new features for consumers, future versions of the Android operating system would support businesses who give phones to employees working on the road.

"Today we don't support many enterprise applications but in the future I think enterprise will be a good focus for us," Rubin said in an interview with Reuters.

Rubin said Google would have support for enterprises "as soon as this year" but noted that the timing for Android phones that support businesses would depend on the speed at which manufacturers can add it to their products.

"The best I can do is release a platform with all the goodies inside in it and then the (manufacturers) do their job," Rubin said.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Carol Bishopric)