Tag: Blackberry phone

The Canadian mobile handset maker is lowering the price tag associated with some of its key devices.

According to recently published reports, BlackBerry smartphones are starting to see some notably lower price tags associated with their purchase, including: BlackBerry Classic, BlackBerry Passport, BlackBerry Z30, and BlackBerry Q5.

The company announced the prices on the official store site, this week, and are effective immediately.

Among the Blackberry smartphones that are raising eyebrows in terms of their newly reduced prices are the Classic and the Passport. This is particularly true because these were released with a great deal of fanfare, only last year. The Passport features a 13 megapixel camera and a uniquely square shaped touch screen. The Classic, on the other hand, has an 8 megapixel camera and a considerable 22 hours of battery life.

The Passport BlackBerry smartphone price has been reduced by a hefty $50, bringing it to $549 from $599.

The $50 reduction in price is also available on the Classic, which is now being sold for $399 instead of $449. The $50 appears to be the standard savings that has been applied to all of the devices that have been included in this price reduction. That said, the Q5 will now be sold for an even better price as it has been given an ultra affordable price of $149 instead of its typical price of $249. Similarly, the Z30 is now going for only $229 when it used to be $349.

Those are the prices that have been listed on the U.S. BlackBerry website, but it appears as though the reduction in cost is being applied to the devices around the world. For example, in the United Kingdom, the Passport used to be priced at £559 but now they are being sold for £529 and the Classic, which used to be £319 is now £349.

The reduction in the price of the BlackBerry smartphones occurred following a Morgan Stanley report that indicated that there has a reduction in the sales of the company’s mobile devices. It has been working to increase their sales, particularly among their premium devices. Enhancing affordability appears to be the latest step in the company’s strategy.

Whether your company has an official policy on bringing your own device or not, employees are increasingly doing work on their own tablets, smartphones, laptops and personal computers. CIOs reported 28 percent of their employees were working on their own devices at least part of the time, According to a recent global survey reported by PWC. Gartner predicts that this number will rise up to 70 percent by 2018.

Security issues, data integrity, MDM (mobile device management) logistical problems, and compliance difficulties all arise from bring your own device. BYOD policies benefit from reducing technology overhead and learning curves, as well as increasing employee satisfaction since they’re using a device they prefer personally. The education sector in particular has been heavily promoting bring your own device, for both students and faculty. According to Ed Tech Magazine, 85 percent allow some form of BYOD. This allows the schools to expand the way students learn, although it does open up major security issues. One way to mitigate a number of the issues that come with this concept is through sandboxing.

What is Sandboxing?

A sandbox, in this context, refers to creating an isolated virtual environment on the smartphone. It doesn’t interact with the operating system, apps or data on the personal device. It limits access to system files and other device resources, making it harder for viruses and other malware to gain a foothold, according to TechHive. One of the leading forms of sandboxing in the mobile environment is Blackberry’s Enterprise Service, which handles mobile device management.

Blackberry Enterprise Service

Blackberry has always had a reputation for solid, enterprise level mobile technology that puts security concerns as the top priority. Blackberry Enterprise Service 10 is a powerful tool for a system administrator who is tired of pulling his hair out over unsecured personal smartphones connecting to company network resources. It supports Blackberry 10, Android and iOS platforms, so you can integrate pretty much anyone’s device who wants to use it on the network.

How it Works

All of the devices are managed through a central control panel, making the IT administrator’s job much easier, as the application is also capable of being run on a single server. The main feature of Blackberry Enterprise Service is the Secure Work Space. This is a sandboxed environment that can be controlled by the administrator to meet any government compliance policies and regulations. It also includes a firewalled connection, so you don’t have to put out any additional funds for a virtual private network to connect your mobile devices with. The Blackberry phone already has a sandboxing feature built in called Blackberry balance. It creates two distinct work spaces, one personal and one business. The work space side of the app is completely encrypted and secured to mitigate potential security issues.

If you’re going to allow or promote bring your own device policies in your workplace, you need to have mobile device management in place ahead of time. Otherwise, you’re going to come into work one way with everyone shouting about a massive customer data breach that’s tanked your stock numbers.

Have you used a form of sandboxing in your workplace before?