BlackBerry, the well-known brand in one of the first mobile communication smartphones that the world saw, has been recently biting the dust. With rival brands developing strongly into the Android, iOS and Windows Phone arena, BlackBerry was almost on the verge of extinction.
However, the tech giant did not look back. Struggling to make its presence in the smartphone marathon, BlackBerry stood by the simple word—security. Maintaining the secure backend, BlackBerry’s encrypted communication, be it voice, chat or email, marks its strong security, and hence you will still see the US high commands still opting on services and devices from BlackBerry over other operating systems.
The world is taken up with BlackBerry’s plans to still keep their fans happy by retaining the physical QWERTY keyboard amongst the flagships. With the simplest Classic to the latest Passport and the rumoured Visa, BlackBerry is strongly maintaining its stand with the physical keyboard rather than an all-touch large display. BlackBerry ensures that the QWERTY keyboard will be here to stay.
Deccan Chronicle interviewed Sunil Lalvani, Managing director for BlackBerry India on what the company has in store for the future. Here is what he has to say.
Deccan Chronicle: What is BlackBerry’s roadmap with respect to forthcoming products? What are your plans for new devices in 2015? What is BlackBerry’s focus on the Market?
Sunil Lalvani: Contrary to popular perception, BlackBerry as a brand has never been a ‘device only’ company. Unlike other players who have a device centric approach, we are a smartphone (++plus) company and core to this we have devised a strategy that focuses on 4 pillars of our growth viz- Devices, Enterprise Software, Unified Communications and Collaboration and QNX.
For us, we do not want to be everything to everyone and so our focus has been keenly on the young working and ambitious professionals or the power pros as we like to refer to, when it comes to the enterprise market. Our strengths lie in creating cutting edge devices that offer superior user experience coupled with great security and we will not dilute that proposition. We will continue to launch BlackBerry 10 smartphones that enable mid-to-high end mobile professionals to be productive and collaborative even while on the go. In terms of innovation, the recently launched BlackBerry Passport is our 4.5’ inch square device and comes with the brand new 10.3 OS platform. With some out-of-the box hardware as well as incremental software upgrades, this device has been widely accepted as a major contender in the Indian market for products in the premium category. Shortly we also intend to launch the BlackBerry Classic - a device purpose-built for productivity-driven individuals and BlackBerry loyalists who perhaps have wanted to upgrade to a smartphone that has a familiar design inclusive of the beloved classic navigation keys and physical keyboard of BlackBerry OS 7 platform, but the speed and powerful performance of BlackBerry 10.
Sunil Lalvani, Managing Director, BlackBerry India
DC: What is the BlackBerry presently working on? Any thing you would like to share with our readers about an upcoming product or service?
SL: Further to our association with Foxconn last year, we expect to roll out further more devices from our stable sTechnology, Latest, Mobiles and tabs, BlackBerryuch as BlackBerry Classic. The Classic design is return to our BlackBerry heritage of QWERTY keyboards and trackpads, and is an answer to all of our loyal customers who have been wanting to upgrade to a device that has a familiar design inclusive of the beloved classic navigation keys and physical keyboard of BlackBerry OS 7 platform, but the speed and powerful performance of BlackBerry 10.
DC: Is BlackBerry working on any new technology breakthrough(s) for the year 2015? Is India in focus on anything special?
SL: Recently, BlackBerry announced new partnerships, enterprise solutions and value-added services which will further improve productivity, communication and collaboration for enterprises and further expand BlackBerry’s enterprise portfolio spanning Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), Identity & Access, and Communications & Collaboration. BES12: a cross-platform EMM solution by BlackBerry serves as the company’s foundation to control access, data and applications across all mission-critical endpoints and devices, supporting all major enterprise platforms. As part of the company’s strategy, we will continue to broaden our solutions and services to enable customers to fully embrace the true potential of enterprise mobility with new initiatives and acquisitions.
In India, we will continue to focus on security, collaboration and productivity aspects. The power of Enterprise Mobility can be harnessed through these VAS offerings to drive enhanced employee collaboration and increase productivity. BlackBerry’s security strengths help leverage these VAS offerings even on employee owned devices across various platforms and operating systems.
DC: How is BlackBerry planning to cater to the masses in India? We mean with respect to prices, budgets and services from the brand.
SL: BlackBerry has a rich portfolio of devices today that straddles a price point of Rs. 9,000 to Rs. 49,990. We have seen fantastic response to our recent launches like The BlackBerry Z3 and the BlackBerry Passport. We will continue to listen to our customers and the next exciting launch will be the BlackBerry Classic. We believe we have a steady and healthy pipeline of devices that will continue to address the needs of the power user, the professional consumer and the youth at large.
DC: Does BlackBerry have any plans to collaborate with other companies for any type of additional product or services line-ups, or even in the field of technology updates? Any acquisitions so far?
SL: BlackBerry has made a spate of acquisitions in the enterprise and product space as part of its revamped business strategy in 2014. The company’s strategy is to broaden its solutions and services to enable the customers to fully embrace the true potential of enterprise mobility with new initiatives and acquisitions.
Earlier in the year, we unveiled a series of initiatives, codenamed Project Ion, to help businesses easily connect people, devices and machines, and derive value from these connections. Project Ion is a cornerstone of BlackBerry’s vision to offer end-to-end solutions for the Internet of Things. As part of our goal to remain number one in the enterprise mobility management (EMM) segment, we have enabled mobile device management (MDM) companies to directly manage devices with the BlackBerry 10 operating system. AirWatch, Citrix and IBM have expressed their intent to be the first companies to work with BlackBerry to enable a more open mobility ecosystem.
BlackBerry acquired Secusmart GmbH earlier this year, a leader in high-security voice and data encryption and anti-eavesdropping solutions for government organizations, enterprises and telecommunications service providers. Recently, BlackBerry acquired Movirtu, a provider of multiple identity solutions for mobile operators, including a Virtual SIM platform that allows more than one number to be active on a single device. We also launched BBM Protected, the first solution in the eBBM Suite for enterprise-class messaging. BBM Protected is the only secure mobile instant messaging app that uses a FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic library, thereby allowing colleagues to exchange private and confidential enterprise data via mobile messaging.
Further strengthening our enterprise services would be our recent strategic partnership with Samsung Electronics, Co, Ltd, to provide a highly secure mobility solution for Android. As a result, early next year, enterprise customers will have a new choice: a tightly integrated, end-to-end secure solution that brings together our BES12 on Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets that are embedded with Samsung KNOX.
