RIM's Lifeline: Bringing BlackBerry Security to iOS and Android

In a move that seems crazy at first glance and really smart at second, RIM will be providing its famous BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) technology to Android and iOS devices. An iPhone/Droid as secure as a BlackBerry? I'm listening.

The new system is called BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, and it gives companies and government customers a way to manage ever-increasing device diversity. In a nut shell:


You can say what you want about BlackBerry hardware having fallen behind the Curve (see what I did there?), but it is still way ahead of iOS and Android in terms of security. You might wonder why RIM is taking its greatest asset and sharing it with others, and while it's not going to help its phones any, as a company this is the smartest move it can make. BlackBerry hardware is getting creamed right now, so RIM is selling what it can to keep them in the game: its server technology. Even if its entire hardware division goes under (and I'm not saying that's imminent or anything) it would still have the server business, and as long as it can avoid any more service outages, RIM should be okay.

RIM will be far from the only player in the Mobile Device Management (MDM) marketplace, but it will have more name-recognition than the others, and it's a name business and government users have been working with for years. It's a major departure for RIM, but it's the first move it has made that really reflects the changing mobile ecosystem, and it might just be a brilliant survival tactic. BlackBerry Mobile Fusion begins a closed beta in January, with general availability expected in March. You can sign up here for more info. [CrackBerry]

Image Credit: Tatiana Popova / Shutterstock
