Two mobile giants joined forces last week as former rivals BlackBerry Ltd. and Samsung announced that they entered a partnership to improve the security for Android tablet and smartphone users.
Last Thursday, the Canadian mobile manufacturer announced during its Enterprise Portfolio Launch in San Francisco that they will combine the power of their latest BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12 (BES12) cross platform solution aimed for the enterprise mobility management (EMM) with the Knox security features offered by the South Korean consumer and electronics company in their Galaxy product lines.
These conjoined services will target the business sector that needs better security in their Android devices.
When smartphones began to dominate the mobile phone market several years back, BlackBerry's hold in the industry started to fade. But when the company started to shift their focus on the enterprise market, BlackBerry has begun to see a new light.
This partnership with Samsung gives them an extra boost.
"This isn't a concession of defeat as much as it's a concession to reality – most people aren't going to choose BlackBerry devices and so BlackBerry needs to find a way to make its management solutions relevant beyond its own devices," analyst Jan Dawson from Jackdaw Research wrote in an email from the BlackBerry presentation after pointing out that this merger is unavoidable. "BlackBerry's handset business is a tiny fraction of what it once was, and that's not going to change whatever happens."
BlackBerry CEO John S. Chen earlier said that he would like to see the company shift its goals to do well in mobile software and service markets. He said that he can stir BlackBerry's software revenue to reach $250 million in 2015.
This will be a game-changer for both companies, as the combination of their softwares could mean that sensitive organizations like the government and corporate headquarters will choose to get their devices from the brands that will give them peace of mind when it comes to their security measures.
BlackBerry and Samsung are planning to release their first collaboration by January 2015.
