Contact: Scott Denne
In BlackBerry’s first purchase in more than two years, the struggling smartphone maker buys voice encryption vendor Secusmart, reflecting the importance of security in its turnaround strategy.
Secusmart develops technology for encrypted voice and data communications. The company’s German roots should appeal to BlackBerry’s customers in the region (Europe and the surrounding areas accounted for almost half of BlackBerry’s revenue and is declining at a faster rate than North American sales), where security, especially anti-eavesdropping security, is growing in importance.
Security was a key part of BlackBerry’s rise – its secure email servers helped it become the go-to device for mobile email. This acquisition, along with its CEO’s public statements (he said the words ‘secure’ or ‘security’ 20 times on the company’s last earnings call), demonstrate that BlackBerry is looking to build off of that reputation to recapture enterprise sales of its phones and mobility management software.
BlackBerry still has a foothold in the enterprise segment, but time is limited. According to ChangeWave Research, a service of 451 Research, BlackBerry phones are far more popular among IT buyers than the general public, with 20% of IT departments reporting that they plan to purchase BlackBerry phones in the next 90 days, down from 33% in the same survey a year earlier. A separate survey by ChangeWave shows that BlackBerry still remains a leader in MDM installations, but no buyers reported planned installations or evaluations of BlackBerry’s MDM products in the near future.
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