Tag: blackberry

The greatly struggling smartphone manufacturer has now unveiled its BBM for iPhone and Android users.

As the company had been indicating for some time, BlackBerry has now announced that its dedicated BBM messenger service apps are now available to Android and iPhone users very soon.

The BlackBerry Messenger service have now become available for sale on the Apple App Store and on Google Play.

This means that the apps for BlackBerry Messenger will no longer be exclusively available to users of the devices from that manufacturer. They are now available for free for the devices based on the operating systems of the leaders of the smartphone market, Android and iOS.

These free apps becoming available for Android and iPhone are only one of many recent announcements from the company.

The unveiling of the apps for other smartphones came directly after the company launched yet another smartphone device into the marketplace. It also revealed that it would be laying off 4,500 employees, as the company flounders in losses from a lack of sales.

These messenger apps allow smartphone users to be able to share information and chat with up to 30 different users within a single conversation. It also uses a unique PIN to ensure that the users’ privacy will remain secure. That number is not just a password for signing into the program. Instead, it can be used to boost security when deciding whether or not contact information and other data should be shared with the other people who are involved within the conversations.

As BlackBerry takes these steps into the iOS and Android marketplaces, it is leading many people to speculate with regards to whether or not this is a last ditch effort from the company to attempt to compete in yet another marketplace. The messenger service apps market is already swamped with competition, with leaders that have already established themselves, including WeChat, WhatsApp, and Line.

The BBM apps became available to Android smartphones over Google Play download as of September 21, and iPhone users started downloading from the App Store starting on September 22. The number of downloaders and users has yet to be seen.

Mobile security continues to be high priority in government

As the world becomes more mobile, the adoption of mobile technology on the government level is becoming more prolific. In the U.S., the federal government has been reviewing the quality of mobile devices based on the Android operating system. For several years, Blackberry mobile devices have been the standard for government workers, largely due to their mobile security features and the fact that these devices can be locked down relatively easily in the event of a serious threat. While Blackberry has long been a favorite for the federal government, that is likely to change due to the favor of the Department of Defense.

Samsung Knox wins approval from DoD

Late last week, Samsung announced that its mobile security suite known as Knox has received the approval of the Department of Defense. This approval had initially been restricted to the Blackberry operating system, which the Department of Defense had considered the most secure mobile operating system available. According to the federal agency, Samsung’s Knox mobile security software is on par with the security that can be found on the Blackberry operating system. As such, Android devices may soon become readily available to government workers.

Blackberry may soon see strong competition

Mobile security has become a major concerning for the federal government. Mobile devices traffic a significant amount of sensitive information, all of which is highly valuable to hackers and malicious groups that would be interested in exploiting this information. With mobile security having a high priority in the federal government, diversity in mobile devices has been somewhat sparse on the government level.

Approval from agency may boost enterprise performance of Samsung Galaxy S 4

Samsung is making a major push into the enterprise market with its Galaxy S 4, which will equipped with the company’s formidable Knox mobile security system. The enterprise market has, for several years, been dominated by the Blackberry. Whether Android devices can succeed in this realm is unknown, but their performance in the market is likely to see a significant boost from the approval of the Department of Defense.