Google plans to include support for business users in its Android operating system as soon as this year.

Andy Rubin, Google's top Android executive, said the plan will see Google taking on RIM's Blackberry and expanding consumer features like social networking and gaming. Rubin said that at the moment Android does not support many enterprise applications but in the future, he thought the  enterprise will be a good focus.

By the end of the year Google hopes to see 15 to 20 Android phone models on the market. He did not say when manufacturers would release models with the new business software, but seemed to think more business stuff will be available by the end of the year. Taking on Rim's BlackBerry is hard work, not even the iPhone has managed to get into that area, despite Apple's  best efforts.

Rubin said Google can compete by incorporating Android with existing Google apps like email, documents and calendars. Corporations could cut costs on hardware for data storage if they give workers Android phones that support business applications connected to Google's data centres, he said.