It's really no surprise that BlackBerry made a number of platform announcements with no handset news at the Mobile World Congress. BlackBerry has been moving to its Internet of Things as well as providing industry-wide security solutions and partnering with Samsung on enterprise-grade security offerings.
Announcements at Mobile World Congress include how the BlackBerry Experience is being made cross-platform, updates to their KNOX partnership with frenemy Samsung, and a suite of new BBM customization options.
“Flexibility without compromise is what current and former BlackBerry users tell us time and again they want from their mobile device. They want BlackBerry’s legendary security and core productivity and collaboration capabilities while still being able to choose a device that matches their lifestyle and personality," said BlackBerry CEO and Executive Chairman John Chen. Hit jump for specifics.
BlackBerry Experience Suite: New software and services vision to infuse BlackBerry’s unmatched power of productivity, communication, collaboration and security across all smartphone and tablets running iOS, Android, and Windows operating systems. The Suite will include 3 bundles to give users an unprecedented ability to work securely across any device.
BlackBerry’s Partnership with Samsung: We continue to extend our partnership with Samsung with integration of Samsung KNOX and two new BlackBerry enterprise services: WorkLife by BlackBerry® and SecuSUITE.
New Customization Features for BBM for Android, iOS and BlackBerry 10: The new features give users even more control over the BBM experience by adding new personalization and privacy options including Android Wear support, custom BBM PINs, Password Protection for iOS users and more.