Blackberry Enterprise features coming for iOS and Android users

Blackberry Enterprise features coming for iOS and Android users

BlackBerry will offer technology to separate and secure work and personal data on mobile devices powered by Google Inc’s Android platform and Apple Inc’s iOS operating system, the company said on Thursday. The new Secure Work Space feature will be available before the end of June will be managed through BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, the platform that allows BlackBerry’s corporate and government clients to handle devices using different operating systems on their networks.

The move is to encourage large customers to continue to use BlackBerry’s services to manage devices on their networks, even as employees use them for their personal devices, which could create security breaches.

With Secure Work Space, ”we’re extending as many of these (Balance) features as possible to other platforms,” David Smith, BlackBerry’s head of mobile enterprise computing, said in a statement.

“Secure work space also offers the same end-to-end encryption for data in transit as we have offered on BlackBerry for many years, so there is no need for a VPN,” Peter Devenyi, head of enterprise software, said in an interview.

BlackBerry said Secure Work Space meant clients would not need to configure and manage expensive virtual private network (VPN) infrastructures that give the devices access to data and applications that reside behind corporate firewalls.

Blackberry on other platforms – Why?

Blackberry has already lost a large chunk of market share to it’s rivals due to delay in releasing the Blackberry 10 platform. Though the initial numbers brought in by Blackberry Z10 are good, that is still not going to give the company a push they had expected. The new feature could also help stave-off declines in service revenue. That business has long been a cash cow for BlackBerry because of the large clients that pay to utilize its extensive network and security offerings.

Giving its large array of corporate clients the ability to manage BlackBerry devices, along with Android smartphones and iPhones on their networks may encourage corporate and government clients to continue to pay for and use BlackBerry’s device management services.

Last week, Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins said sales of the Z10 had surpassed BlackBerry’s expectations in emerging markets like India, where cheaper entry-level phones are typically popular.

On Wednesday, the company said it had received an order for 1 million BlackBerry 10 smartphones – its largest ever to a single customer, and its shares jumped.

BlackBerry’s volatile stock closed up 8.2 percent at $15.65 on the Nasdaq on Wednesday, while its Toronto-listed shares rose by a similar margin to C$16.04.

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