Summary: ‘boring’ BlackBerry does everything to be that appeals to both the consumer and wholesale company a business. They are not, however, characteristic phones, but the proprietary software that will keep you alive.
the BlackBerry Z10 presented in January not only his first real touch screen phone. The unit was a symbol of a reborn company finally started to fight back.
Research in Motion (RIM) chose therefore a little surprising new name (BlackBerry) and a recalcitrant operating system (BlackBerry 10). The German outsider Thorsten Heins, who had to turn the tide in his uppie last year stood at the base of the turn that the lurching company had to save from destruction.
Year of the resurrection
BlackBerry Live During 2013, the traditional high mass of the Canadian company in sunny Orlando, radiated Heins that he had succeeded.
in this structure
triumphant-looking CEO announced that the recent financial quarter in the black was placed well, presented casually with a new budget phone and set his brand new top management, including a Frenchman and a Swede.
“Some people told me that last year the last conference would take place for BlackBerry,” said Heins. “They were wrong. Not only are we still, as a company we are going full steam ahead, “said Heins.
But this conference is a glorious resurrection or just the last convulsion of a company that has lost its relevance? BlackBerry has also joined outside the conference walls in Florida?
Lean years the Canadian company ‘mobile in the DNA has sit “as Heins put it, is ugly encountered himself in the past few years.
While stiff insisted on the model which had become big plump smartphones with their QWERTY keyboard and small screen, it was overtaken on all sides by Apple, the Android Brigade and, to make matters worse, now Windows Phone.
was recently announced that Microsoft’s mobile platform first BlackBerry outpaces the smartphone market. Market researcher IDC saw Windows Phone in the first quarter of 2013 by BlackBerry shoot and there the promising launch of BlackBerry 10 provisionally little to change.
All Dominion is over
Also in business, where many companies secure BlackBerrys made compulsory costs, get the phone builder now hard knocks.
Smart Business Strategies recently concluded its own investigation BlackBerry that time had to give 20 percent market share in the Belgian business in two years. A survey in 1500 showed in local businesses take advantage of the downturn.
iPhoneUncertain future
If you add all that together, still it does not look good for the ‘new’ BlackBerry. However, it is indeed a chance to survive in the dominated by Apple and Samsung mobile market.
its BlackBerry devices will temporarily not going to win the fight. During his keynote presentation Heins was remarkably vague about the sales success of the Z10. And with the Q10, the first model with familiar keyboard and BB10, the company will move most existing customers to switch to the new generation of devices.
the Q5, a budget model that BlackBerry Orlando suggested to the world, it will get difficult. The Canadian company had remarkable success in recent years with its cheap Curve models, young people persuaded to a reasonable price for a unit to purchase.
The ability to send instant messages through the popular BlackBerry Messenger did BlackBerry application then a hefty market share in emerging regions such as South America.But a few years later are eager to take over. role of BBM applications like WhatsApp and Viber And these services run or on the cheap Android phones that competitors around the world have penetrated the defensive.
“Someone who required a BlackBerry of the case must have been jealous when his neighbor on a birthday proud Samsung Galaxy S4 shows “, summed up a distributor of a Dutch telecom provider aptly together during the conference. New look, old message
But it’s not the devices, but just keep the underlying software and BlackBerry services go live in the coming years.
“Security is what makes BlackBerry,” said Scott Totzke head of security during an interview with ZDNet. “It is our brand and our customers expect the best mobile security they can get”
Totzke is referring to the fact that BlackBerry in his life not once has cracked an impressive performance in the forgiving with malware technology world.
It also has both software development and hardware almost entirely in private hands, while most competitors their handsets as it were, to deliver to the phone shop.
on cancellation
“You can not separate hardware and software together,” says Totzke.
QNX: the secret weapon
During
BlackBerry Live 2013 was therefore extensively elaborated on what BlackBerry 10 is much safer than other mobile operating systems. And that has everything to do with QNX, an experienced former software company CEO Mike Laziridis took in 2010 in the house.
QNX is at the base of BlackBerry 10 and the secret weapon that the tottering company back on its feet to help.
in the coming years
Building on a solid base the QNX operating system builds for years, but the kind you find in luxury cars, hospitals and nuclear power plants. It has therefore developed a platform that materially differs from eg Windows, Android or BlackBerry OS old.
All the above platforms are examples of so-called monolithic kernel structure, while QNX (as well as Apple’s iOS and Mac OS X), just examples of a microkernel structure.
The difference between the two lies in the way the operating system handles processes. The former family running all important system processes inside the kernel, loaded. At boot all in memory
however
microkernel acts as a kind of traffic. All major functions of the operating system, such as the file system and system drivers are classified as underlying processes, the microkernel along with a process manager distributes tasks.
a monolithic kernel, all system processes so access to the same memory, so the risk is much greater that they are each other’s way and cause system crashes. A microkernel assigns each process a specific piece of memory, allowing crashend process can not derail.
the whole systemMost Windows users know this phenomenon as an ominous bluescreen and an inevitable reboot.
Stable and secure
This new approach should make BlackBerry 10 not only extremely sturdy, but also ensures that it is a lot safer. Maleficent apps can indeed only damage an added piece of territory allocated to them and do not have enough permissions to.
BlackBerry also with confidence the ‘sideload’ Android Apps permit, which means that users their favorite apps from the Google platform can transfer to their BB10 device manually. “Whether you’re a native application or an Android app will load, does not mean you can bypass the built-in security architecture of BlackBerry 10,” says Totzke.
QNX, probably soon to be renamed with the same name as that of the parent company, offers special perspectives. Due to the inherent structure is perfectly capable to run on small and large screens. And although Heins but keeps repeating that he sees nothing “in the tablet, the first device where the new operating system revolved precisely the PlayBook.
During
BlackBerry Live 2013 was remarkably focused on a Bentley Continental with a huge touch screen, on which a modified version of BlackBerry turned 10.
Cautious hug
The provisional crown jewel of this new platform is BlackBerry Balance, a BYOD system with the help of QNX maintains a strict separation between business and personal applications. This allows users with their private apps do more or less what they want, while business information remains under the watchful eye of the system administrator secure.
Under the motto “if you can not beat them, join them” the company also showed at Blackberry Live for the first solution for Balance of other operating systems.
Secure Workspace in action on an Android Live BlackBerry device during 2013.
Mobile Fusion, a secure container system within iOS and Android, has in recent years been available, but Mobile Fusion solution officially integrated into the server under the name Secure Workspace.
with the launch of BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10.1
This allows system administrators a graphical overview see all devices on the corporate network, whether iPhones, Androids or BlackBerrys are. And is it possible to erase jailbroken devices remotely and see what an Android software running.
Users have the opportunity to check their mail to view the business agenda within a secure container and there is even a secured browser available within the app. Both versions are suitable for the operating system. On iOS so you get access via an app, while Android Variant your own startup screen.
BYOD solution
With the continuation of the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) hype bring employees and managers are increasing their own devices to the office. The security department of a company does not have much to say about that private aircraft as an extension of the case.
“I want you to connect my flashy new Android device on the network, but I do not want you any IT policy that you can come up used to make my phone completely useless”, summarizes security specialist Alex Manea the situation together during a session on the BlackBerry security.
“And if you do, I use the device simply et ni.”
Battle for the mobile office
Balance, in conjunction with BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10.1, appears to be a solid solution for this problem. But the number of companies solutions for secure mobile management business is growing rapidly. If the BYOD problem is, Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution, as this new market known.
Old hands as Citrix (XenMobile) and newcomers such as Good Technology and MobileIron now offer all adult MDM management solutions, which with the help of virtualization, encrypted containers and ‘streaming apps try to keep. secure the companyIt must be the employee as little as possible in the way, without the company jeopardized.
BlackBerry has perhaps the most to fear from Samsung, a company that in the past year has shown to get into the business world.
foothold lot of interest
developed before Knox, a security platform for Android, which together with its encrypted safe container for apps and data is a total solution that Android BlackBerry competes on site.
The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced that it, too Galaxy S4 sets with Knox will allow on its secure networks. besides BlackBerry 10 It gave little later Apple also allowed to contribute to the Pentagon.
This means that BlackBerry purveyor no longer a part of the market where secrecy comes first. The American’s Ministry, with its hundreds of thousands of household appliances and traditional culture, is a trendsetter in the business world. If the Pentagon approves, it will also be good enough for my business, many companies will argue.
manufacturer seems little to worry about the supply of the competition.
“BlackBerry Balance is not an app. It is no solution that we have. Afterwards added It is not a function. It is an integral part of the operating system, “says Manea.
Obsessed with apps
If there’s one thing the new BlackBerry still has a problem, it is the obsession of the smartphone user with the mobile app. Users consider a phone only seriously when his favorite apps in house and that area is the Canadian company still far behind the competition.
Heins reported on Live BlackBerry 2013 BlackBerry World appwinkel proud that now has 120,000 apps in house. He also announced the arrival of Skype that users of the Q10 and Z10 from then use for making video calls.
That does not mean that it has yet to miss that many users consider essential, whether Instagram, Vine or Spotify is. too much toppers And if you take into account the fact that Apple’s App Store now has about 800,000 apps, Heins and his still a long way to go.
Users lure back
Perhaps the best indication of BlackBerry’s new strategy is its decision to open up BlackBerry Messenger to Apple iOS and Google Android. BBM, also known affectionately as ‘ping’ called in the Netherlands, was for many years one of the main reasons to get with keyboard.
a black phone in the houseButapplications like WhatsApp, incidentally also present on BlackBerry 10, the role of BBM slowly taken over. Critics say that BlackBerry should have come. Chatapp the much earlier to other platforms Others say again that opening up BBM only lead, allowing BlackBerry throws in its own window.
to declining salesAccording to CEO Heins is opening up BBM just an act of “self-confidence” and let the company show that it is ready for the next step.
is now also clear that competing smartphone makers have been shown to pre-install. BBM on their handsets interest “BBM is a strong platform that offers a different way of communicating,” says COO Kristian Tear that popularity.
new openness BlackBerry can be interpreted as a loss leader for users on other platforms. With solutions like Secure Workspace and BBM seems to say, “this is what we can offer on Android and iOS. But if you (again) come to us, you are better off. And with us your data and your privacy is safe. “
again to restore something of its former glory BlackBerry should have come up with more to come than a touchscreen device, some keyboard models and an outdated tablet. As long as there is enough to go back, smartphone users will also stay away.
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iOS 7 represents Belgian developers for quite a challenge
According to rumors coming from the cherry days of this year a new top model (A10) with larger screen, which should enter into direct competition. But meanwhile the clock is ticking and rage competitors like Samsung, Nokia and Apple continues.
Thorsten Heins is very much aware of. “We have had a wonderful year, but we still have much work to do.”
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