Gadgets

Category: Gadgets

CEO John Chen unwavering in BlackBerry smartphone profitability goal

Denny | May 22, 2015

He believes that the enterprise security features will set these handsets apart from the competition.

CEO John Chen has revealed that he is still pursuing his goal of returning BlackBerry smartphone sales to profitability, despite the fact that the company has only just managed to escape from the brink of complete disaster.

It is Chen’s belief that the mobile security in the company’s handsets are head and shoulders over other manufacturers.

Chen explained that when it comes to mobile security, there simply isn’t any comparison to a BlackBerry smartphone He said that they offer far greater security features on enterprise devices than is available on any other manufacturer’s gadgets. The CEO also went on to state that the smartphones made by BlackBerry function as a jumping off point for the company to be able to market its other broad range of security options.

While the company can secure Android and iPhone devices, Chen says that there is nothing like a BlackBerry smartphone.

Blackberry Smartphone - Profitability Goal The CEO explained that Android smartphones and iPhones can have their mobile security levels enhanced through BlackBerry technology, but that when it comes down to it, the highest level of protection is available through one of the company’s own handsets. This belief helps to explain why Chen has chosen to adhere to his intentions of moving forward within the device business in order to focus on other components of the mobile industry.

He also explained that the U.S. Army is continuing with “rolling out all BlackBerry,” and he added that if he should “tell them there are no more phones, I lose that account. The question is how do you make phones profitable at the volume those people represent?”

During the most recent quarterly earnings announcement, the handset maker from Windsor, Canada, revealed that it had 1.6 million devices within that span of time. Though this number is certainly only the smallest sliver of the mobile technology market as a whole (Apple’s equivalent figure was 61.2 million), it does help to show that the BlackBerry smartphone does appear to be hanging in there when compared to previous recent quarters.

Wearable technology ban launched in Chinese military

Lucy | May 21, 2015

China has now forbidden the members of its armed forces from using smartwatches and other wearables.

Recently, China put a new regulation into place that has banned the members of its armed forces from being able to use wearable technology in the form of any connected device that can be worn on the body.

This, according to several reports that have been made by official sources in the country.

For example, the official military newspaper in China, the People’s Liberation Army Daily (PLA Daily), explained that after one military recruit received a birthday gift that consisted of a smartwatch, there have been concerns that have been steadily voiced about the security issues that could be linked to the use of this type of wearable technology. Now NBC has reported that its own sources have confirmed that a ban has been created and that it has now been put into place.

The PLA Daily story pointed out that the wearable technology had been used to take pictures, which raised alarm.

wearable technology china smartwatch The military recruit who received the smartwach for his birthday apparently snapped some pictures of his comrades through the use of his wearable tech while he was stationed in Nanjing, a city in the east of the country. Military leaders were alerted about the incident and decided that the restriction on the devices was the appropriate next move. This decision aligns well with the restrictions that have already been in place among the majority of armies when it comes to smartphones and other mobile devices.

In the PLA Daily report, the Chinese national agency responsible for the protection of state secrets also produced a statement about the incident and decreed the following: “The use of wearables with internet access, location information, and voice-calling functions should be considered a violation of confidential regulations when used by military personnel.”

PLA Daily has also reported that the military has already produced teaching materials as well as lists of warning signs that are circulating among military personnel to ensure that they know what they’re looking for in order to spot the use of wearable technology, and what the regulations are in terms of complying with the ban.