This is exactly how the iPad has made traction in the enterprise space.
Depends on the industry. In my industry, security violations expose us to NERC fines of up to a million dollars a day. It makes pushing back absurdly easy.
Governmental bodies (specifically military and the FBI) don’t have to worry about whiny sales staffs either.
We have a split on where policy comes from, after all, IT is there to help drive the business into the space it needs to be to perform. That being said, iPhone/iPad/Android has been pushed -hard- by executive management, as soon as they got their hands on the stuff commercially they have been screaming for IT to catch up. You could attribute some of this to targeted advertising and articles about how they can help businesses, but let’s face it, they are pretty nice to have.
Some more support for what rei proposed, a massive RIM flameout:
See, this is where Apple could literally corner the market if they’d get something to manage an iPhone in the enterprise out.
I COMPLETELY agree with you. Our entire IT staff has been frustrated with that, but we aren’t a customer of Good, which would provide at least some of what we want.
Apple needs to push hard to make new devices of all types easily managed in the enterprise.
What exactly is the problem? When I set up my corporate Exchange account on my iPod touch I had to set up an unlock PIN/password and so on; likewise my Android phone. The actual connection to the server is SSL-encrypted.
Is the security problem related to control over what apps are installed etc.? Remote-wiping?
Remote wiping is one. Disabling features is another (a lot of companies don’t like cameras on phones, although that’s somewhat of an unenforcable rule these days).
Also, the GOOD software can detect rooted and jailbroken phones, and refuse to run when that happens. This is to keep the inbox secure, even if someone who has physical access to the phone hacks into it without knowing the PIN and/or password.
In order of what I’d like to see:
-Remote provisioning
-Remote Wipe
-OTA firmware updates
-Remote app install/maintenance
We have a couple of those already but I would add:
-Number to call for Enterprise support
-Methods of Enterprise hardware replacement
-Method to force code level or app level requirement
Seriously, Apple could make a killing with an Enterprise division.
Here’s an article from the Globe and Mail talking about why there’s a good chance that Google will acquire RIM. The thought had never occurred to me before but I suppose it’s possible, right?
A Torch slider phone with bumped up specs running Android would just be too much awesomeness.
Sounds great -
One key thing that BlackBerry brings to the Android party is a trusted new QNX OS platform that can do a better job than Android in securing against such platform security threats. QNX runs power plants and numerous widgets in the US Department of Defense, among other things.
Some of the most prominent premium car brands put QNX to run automobile systems. The BlackBerry PlayBook recently became the first tablet to obtain the U.S. government’s critical FIPS-140 security certification, which can be a requirement for deployment.
What is the bottom line here? Without QNX and BlackBerry’s trusted (but closed) platform, Google’s ambitions in NFC and related commerce may be for naught. It may have to cede this to Apple’s much more secure iOS platform, which may not be as secure as QNX, but sure is more meaningfully secure than Android.
I just wonder how receptive RIM’s co-CEOs Balsillie and Lazaridis would be to selling. If they even think they need a partner.
Interesting article. If this went down it would seriously shake up the phone market.
In the great QT3 tradition of bumping a years old threads…
So Blackberry has officially stopped supporting its old hardware. I still have my Q10 lying around somewhere, but not active since I switched to Android. Also squirreled away somewhere is a Playbook.
The king is dead, long live the king!
This isn’t actually “news” as we’ve heard rumours before, but it is an official confirmation. So there will be a new BlackBerry - and you know what, I’m fine with that. I want to live in a world where the BlackBerry is around, even if i don’t own one. Perhaps I even will someday, if they release a perfectly acceptable phone.
Tim, have you checked your old Q10 to see if things have really stopped working or not?
Nope. That would mean having to dig around and actually find it, and then charge it up which very likely means looking for charger and cable which I most assuredly stored some place other than where the phone was put.
Someone made a movie for rei.
Blackberry has no fucking clue