[Dapper37]

Can RIM's Blackberry 10 bring it back from the brink of obscurity? | ZDNet

Can RIM's Blackberry 10 bring it back from the brink of obscurity?
Summary: In a mobile security challenged world, Blackberry 10 might be just the ticket we've all been waiting for. Could it be that RIM is back in the game? Could be.


By Ken Hess for Consumerization: BYOD | February 21, 2013 -- 23:04 GMT (07:04 SGT)

Go back in time to Summer 2012. I was ready to write off RIM and the Blackberry platform as a part of IT history but not part of IT's future. I was wrong. Yes, there it is; I admit being wrong about Blackberry and RIM. RIM didn't give up and I'm glad that they didn't. I don't own a Blackberry anymore but I'll tell you one important thing about RIM's Blackberry: It's the most secure mobile platform. It's secure enough to gain the US Government's seal of approval.

Is it enough to bring RIM back from the brink of extinction?

I think so, although many industry analysts disagree.

My reasoning goes like this: Security is of utmost concern for businesses. Blackberry devices are the most secure. Therefore, businesses will again adopt Blackberry as the standard mobile phone platform. In fact, I foresee a lot of companies allowing BYOD as long as the "D" that you're bringing into the hallowed corporate halls is Blackberry branded.

Yes, I realize that Blackberry devices only make up about one percent of all mobile devices but that number will grow exponentially when CXOs wake up and smell the sweet aroma of its enhanced security.

Now, you might argue that no one is really hacking Blackberrys since they only have a small market share but think of that market share. Military, government and those who are concerned with security. Great targets for hack attempts, don't you think?

Well, there's a problem. Blackberry comes out of the box more secure than the most hardened version of iPhone or Android that you can produce on your own.

Blackberry Devices have five significant security features that make them the clear choice for anyone who wants or needs a secure mobile platform.

"Blackberry devices only make up about one percent of all mobile devices but that number will grow exponentially when CXOs wake up and smell the sweet aroma of its enhanced security."
Blackberry Password - This is your device password and you set it under*Settings -> Security and Privacy -> Device Password. What makes the Blackberry password significant is that unlike iPhone and Android, you can use letters, numbers, caps and symbols, which makes the password almost impossible to guess. An additional security measure related to this password: If you forget your password, you can reset it but it also wipes your device's data. So, you don't have to worry if your device is lost or stolen. No one can steal your data without your password.
Blackberry ID - Kind of like an Apple ID but better, your Blackberry ID remembers all of your settings and apps so switching devices is easy. The security part of the Blackberry ID is that it allows you to protect the parts of your Blackberry that you want to protect.
Blackberry Protect - In the same realm as Apple's iCloud, Blackberry Protect allows you to locate your Blackberry, lock it, play a sound to locate it and wipe it remotely, if needed. If your device is lost or stolen, the culprit has to enter your Blackberry Password to disable Protect.*
Blackberry Balance - Because RIM knows about BYOD, your new Blackberry OS comes ready to serve your personal and your professional lives. You get two workspaces: personal and work. They're separate and distinct entities. And there's no need to fret about Big Brother watching you. When you're not at work, use your Personal phone for anything you want. At work, switch to your Work phone and let the corporate IT storm troopers have their way with it. Blackberry 10 is BYOD ready and BYOD friendly.
Application Permissions - Application Permissions is a security feature that's built in to Blackberry 10 so that you can intelligently manage what things you allow your apps to "see." Location is one example. What if you don't want a camera app to know your location? You don't have to allow it. It's all about how much you want those pesky apps to know about you.
I don't know about you but I'm convinced that RIM has done a good job--make that a great job of creating a secure and a BYOD ready mobile platform.

To RIM: I am glad you're back. Godspeed.

To CXOs: You should definitely consider the Blackberry as the platform of choice for allowing users to share devices between work and personal use.

To BYODers: You should be happy that there's a mobile device that's made to be secure and allow you to use it at work. You now have a fully separate environment--one to play in and one to work in.

What do you think of RIM's newest release of the Blackberry OS and the new Blackberry device lineup? I have to say that I'm pretty darn impressed.

What improvements or changes would you like to see before you'd give up your Android or iPhone? Talk back and let me know.

[Dapper37]

Lots of positive news out there. Sadly the negative threads tend to steal the show!

[world traveler and former ceo]

Lots of positive news out there. Sadly the negative threads tend to steal the show!

Yes, sensational negative news always gets the headlines... as it is with most things in life such as people gossip ... but the facts will come out with BB Z10 from Blackberry quarterly reports and by enthusiastic Z10 consumers! ....

[Crisdean]

Yes, sensational negative news always gets the headlines... as it is with most things in life such as people gossip ... but the facts will come out with BB Z10 from Blackberry quarterly reports and by enthusiastic Z10 consumers! ....

Yes that's true! I'm sure that we will read a lot more positive articles once the US can have a hands on that phone.

[Dapper37]

Retweet, Retweet, Retweet

[randomroyalty]

I smell a short squeeze a comin' :-)

[Neely2005]

Good read, thanks for posting.


Posted via CB10

[sandman10]

Bump

For a good news thread

[sf49ers]

somebody left one of the most educated comments I have seen lately:

Blackberry is one of the lone companies I've seen that has such polar reactions to it. You either understand their use and like them or spew hatred about them.

We've been using BES 10 and Z10's for about a month or so now. It's coming along but has some rough spots still. The big thing is the things they did right - are things we have spent thousands of dollars and months of work to find adequate solutions for with iOS.

Blackberry Balance and the ability to populate your own enterprise App store are baked into BES 10. This is a lot of work and you likely need 1 or 2 other solutions to achieve this with iOS. Android and Windows Phone don't even approach this usage and are still email and PIM based. They also are both very lacking in device management compared to Blackberry and Apple (who has some great API's now to control iOS)

Blackberry has also made it easy to leverage your old BES investment with free CAL transfer to BES 10. Considering the cost of other MDM CAL this is a huge savings companies can take advantage of.

Last, Blackberry is one of the lone true enterprise grade companies for providing support for their product. Good luck getting any special enterprise level support from Apple, Google doesn't even have a support line. Depending on your support needs Blackberry can help from basic support up to a dedicated TAM for your company.

Now to circle back to the real world. A shift has occured that is half BYOD and half the poor economy. Companies now embrace BYOD (for limited function) as they don't want to pay for devices and wireless plans anymore. During the days of finding costs to trim wireless services were a big target seen as a perk. At the same time employees were excited by iPhone and other platforms that allowed them to do things their old work Blackberry couldn't or was restricted from doing. It didn't help Blackberry they basically took the last 2 years off and didn't provide larger screens, consumer apps and such.

I'm not sure you will see any companies do large scale corporate owned mobile device deployments, so instead of 70% of employees getting a work issued device, maybe it's 40% and the rest are BYOD. So Blackberry would sell to a smaller market (from a corporate liable perspective)

There are things that could impact this:

1. BYOD backlash as employees realize the cost shift dumped on them.

2. BYOD privacy concerns. Employees do not like corporate limiting or tracking their personal usage. The two mobile device model lives on ...

3. Limited corporate usage on BYOD device, not having full access and the ability to use corporate data natively makes a limited mobile usage experience. Allowing corporate email and PIM is only a fraction of what people want to do. The more you try to do on iOS and other platforms the more hard decisions you face as these platforms don't have the hooks and management you likely desire to extend further into your domain.

4. Ongoing security issues with other mobile platforms, Apple's password bypass, recent Exchange logging issue. At the end of the day it doesn't just work - it requires extra work

The upcoming Blackberry World will be key to gauge corporate reaction to BB10 / BES 10 and see what else Blackberry is doing for corporate. They still control this market and all the other MDM companies do not want to see Blackberry get some strength back as they were making inroads during Blackberries reboot.

[phinsphan]

Some good comments at the bottom of the article readers should check out.

[RubberChicken76]

I like that response too. Would like to know about the rough patches as well.

[sxchan]

WOW, this is a great article, thanks for sharing! It's nice to finally read some positive things about BBRY and that they are doing a good job. Now only if more of the public will see that and get a device (if they can) and support BBRY!!

[geoffsdad]

Retweet, Retweet, Retweet

[Dulboy]

Good reads, it's nice to see more positive articles come out as the phone is actually tested and used while not just being speculated about.

Posted via CB10

[Frank Castle]

somebody left one of the most educated comments I have seen lately:

That sounds like one smart guy eh ...

FC / MA

[Dapper37]

Good reads, it's nice to see more positive articles come out as the phone is actually tested and used while not just being speculated about.

Posted via CB10

So true! Clearly people would rather focus on the negative articles though. Better arguments going on in them as the naysayers stay away from whats clearly going on and focus on the FUD! Naysayers have nothing to do with articles like this! they loose their precived advantage of the authors support! Bump

[RussBerry007]

it's obvious that so many people around the world adding apps tweeting this and fb'ing that.....
do not stop and think about mobile security. They don't think about it until it comes around
and bites them where the sun doesn't shine !

[Khanhye East]

TLDR. Either they're trying to generate click views or they're earnest about it. Someone who is not as lazy as I, please give me a summary.

[freeyo]

Great article. About time someone writes a very good article.

Posted via CB10

[Dapper37]

Great article. About time someone writes a very good article.

Posted via CB10

Theres actually quite a few, like I said they loose out to the negative articles because the arguing goes on in the negative articles! as all the naysayers don't touch the positives! in the end the positive articles only get a few posts and move on! Bump, see what I did there .)

[buwee]

It's amazing that when we see a positive write up it is automatically considered to be a great review/article - It seems to me that this writer needs to check his facts because the iPhone can also do passwords with letters, numbers, caps and symbols. Hmmmmm...

[Dapper37]

It's amazing that when we see a positive write up it is automatically considered to be a great review/article - It seems to me that this writer needs to check his facts because the iPhone can also do passwords with letters, numbers, caps and symbols. Hmmmmm...

WOW really, that was the take away for me to. Not!

[THBW]

It's amazing that when we see a positive write up it is automatically considered to be a great review/article - It seems to me that this writer needs to check his facts because the iPhone can also do passwords with letters, numbers, caps and symbols. Hmmmmm...

Security is a huge concern and the iPhone is woefully lacking. Indeed just last week we learned that Apple was once again successfully hacked and that email, contacts and corporate information was stolen from upper management. I believe this was the 3rd or 4th major attack in the last year that they have discovered. Apple is not alone as several Fortune 500 companies have also been compromised. I think it is pretty clear that BYOB policies coupled with some sort of fly by the seat of pants security server doesn't cut the mustard. Who do you want to bet is buying BES10 at the moment?