"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer." Some attribute that quote to Chinese military strategist Sun-tzu, who wrote The Art of War. Others just give credit to Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II. Microsoft is a competitor of Apple in the smartphone market, and yet Apple pays Microsoft a licence so that iPhones work with Microsoft Exchange / Outlook. Google, with its Android operating system, is a competitor of Apple, and yet Google makes great apps for the iPhone and Apple uses Google maps in the built-in Maps app. There had been no similar connection between RIM, who makes the BlackBerry, and Apple's iPhone ... until yesterday.
Yesterday, RIM announced that it was acquiring a German software company called ubitexx to give RIM the tools to create a single BlackBerry Enterprise Solution that will give organizations the same control over iPhones, iPads and Android smartphones and tablets that organizations currently have over BlackBerry devices thanks to the venerable BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES).
The BES has long been touted as a key advantage of BlackBerry phones because of the centralized control it gives to IT departments, control that many equate with better security. With this new software, IT departments could exercise the same type of control over both BlackBerries and iPhones. A RIM press release explains:
“The multi-platform BlackBerry Enterprise Solution is designed to address a growing market and respond to requests from enterprise customers who want a secure multi-platform device management solution from a company that already delivers the gold standard for enterprise mobility,” said Peter Devenyi, Vice President, Communications Platform Group at Research In Motion. “We recognize the opportunity to continue leading in the enterprise market by providing customers with a common platform to help simplify the management of a variety of mobile devices.”
The single web-based console is being designed to provide IT administrators with a simple and efficient way to distribute software and manage policies, inventory, security and services for BlackBerry devices, as well as other mobile devices. IT administrators will be able to manage devices over-the-air, including activating devices, distributing software and applications, locking or wiping devices, enforcing and resetting device passwords, setting IT policies, and managing optional mobile applications for end users.
What motive does RIM have for helping the iPhone? Chris Barth of Forbes offers an explanation which makes some sense to me: "If RIM wants to remain a player in the enterprise market, this type of move is a necessary one. With the smartphone market widening, the iPhone moving to Verizon and sentiment on RIM on a decline, the company will need to make a push to remain relevant."
There will still be some features of the BES that only work with BlackBerries. Curiously, the press release identifies one such feature as "RIM's industry-leading push technology." I find it hard to believe that any RIM solution for the iPhone wouldn't also feature push technology. Nobody will want an e-mail server for the iPhone that doesn't tell you when you get a new e-mail. The ubitexx website says that its Mobile Device Management software — presumably the very software that RIM plans to build upon — provides "[a]utomatic over-the-air installation and configuration of security settings, mobile software and push e-mail simultaneously on an unlimited number of smartphones." This makes me think that push e-mail will indeed be a part of this product, although perhaps there will be some small differences in the way that the BES currently provides push e-mail to BlackBerries.
We'll have to wait to get more details on how all of this will work. RIM did not provide a specific release date, instead merely saying that there would be "general availability later this year." But for those law firms (and lawyers) holding out on supporting the iPhone because of some of the advantages of BlackBerry administration, this new software may be just what the law firm is looking for: a uniform and centralized way to manage all smartphones.
