Recovering Blackberry ponders paradigm shift say report

by Sonny Jones | Technology

BlackBerry is pondering putting Android on a slider phone with a physical keyboard, according to report credited to Reuters.

This is remarkable because it represents a shift from its traditional focus area of hardware to software.

Blackberry Leap.

According to the report, Blackberry had in recent years opened its Device Management and Messaging services to rival platforms.

ZDNet said sources had confirmed to the wire service that Blackberry is using Android on a handset to demonstrate the shift from its historic hardware business to one based on software and mobile device management (MDM).

John Sims, Blackberry Enterprise Chief was quoted as saying: "MDM has become table stakes; it is no longer a meaningful point of differentiation. The differentiation for BlackBerry in the future will be our ability to enable secure, productive mobile communications, collaboration, and other applications,"

As well as handsets, the company has been looking to secure and manage Internet of Things devices.

David Kleidermacher, newly appointed chief of security said: "If you think we have a big security problem with a billion smartphones, think what will happen when we have a trillion autonomous objects."

In March, the company launched a new mid-range 5-inch smartphone called Leap (pictured), which marked a return to BlackBerry creating all-touch devices, as well as a slider handset.

After many years of punishment, the company's financials are starting to look in better shape and in March, BlackBerry posted a fourth-quarter profit of $28m (£18m) on revenue of $660m (£426m).

Read more on this at www.zdnet.com.