AT&T Toggle app looks to combine business and pleasure on a single device

AT&T has introduced Toggle, an Android application that it hopes will increase convenience for users and save dollars for enterprises — which could deploy the application instead of enterprise-sanctioned smartphones or tablets.

Toggle offers users two modes: a personal mode where they can play games, text friends, watch TV and whatnot, and a work mode, where the security of separated corporate documents and emails is assured.

AT&T, announcing the app, cited Forrester Research findings that nearly 60% of companies are allowing employees to use their personal devices for work — data that perhaps explains the choice to launch Toggle in Android, not the first platform that's come to mind when discussing the enterprise, but certainly one popular with consumers.

Carrier agnostic, Toggle will arrive toward the end of the year, be compatible with devices running Android 2.2 and higher, and in 2012 be offered for additional platforms.

"Our research shows that approximately 50 million employees in the U.S. alone could benefit from business mobile applications," AT&T CEO John Stankey said in a statement, adding that AT&T is working to create "valuable solutions" for customers by integrating advancements such as mobility and cloud computing.

The enterprise side of Toggle is a cloud-based management platform (CP: Current Analysis Ranks AT&T Cloud Services Highly in Latest Report) with "no servers to install, providing instant and extensive scalability," spokesperson Jackie Janus told Connected Planet.

Because the data lives in the cloud, IT administrators, via a Web portal, can delete all work-mode emails and data should the device be lost or the employee leave the company, and they can also manage which resources each employee has access to and add, update or delete business applications.

Consumer application use is on the rise — introducing new variables for IT staff to manage — and with it, business application use. According to AT&T, 18,000 of its business customers have recently "adopted mobile applications," up 400% since the first quarter of the year.

While some users may find it a hassle to switch between modes, for those otherwise carrying around two devices, it could be worth the inconvenience.

Toggle will be available for $5.00 per license, plus associated professional service implementation fees. AT&T end users will need to upgrade to an enterprise data plan.

Janus added that the licenses "will be purchased in bulk by the business on a subscription basis and billed as a Monthly Recurring Charge by AT&T. The enterprise will be able to assign the licenses to their employees by following their internal processes."

AT&T hasn't released pricing information for the app, or what the expected affect will be on subscribers' data use — a cost that, with the device split in two, it may be more tricky to decide who should pay for.

Starting next year, AT&T plans to introduce a series of services and features likewise designed, the carrier said, to help "free employees from the constraints of company-owned devices and turn personal handsets into tools for business productivity."