Last week we announced some strategic developments for our Mobility Solutions business. BlackBerry is no longer just about the smartphone, but the smart in the phone. That means that we will be focused on developing and licensing our secure device software and the BlackBerry brand. We will discontinue handset hardware development and fully leverage third parties to develop hardware and distribute and support the BlackBerry handset brand. Through this strategy, there will continue to be BlackBerry-branded devices in the market; when you see our logo it means security, from our class-leading enterprise software to devices secured by BlackBerry software.
Licensing the BlackBerry device software experience allows us to leverage our core strengths to provide secure, connected, and inherently mobile solutions. It also allows us to expand the mobility choices available to our customers by bringing BlackBerry security and productivity applications to a wider audience across multiple platforms and devices.
Although we are no longer focused on internal device hardware development, our strategy seeks to expand the mobility choices available to our customers by bringing BlackBerry security and productivity software to a wider audience across multiple platforms and devices. Fundamentally, our announcement represents a change in our approach to the mobile device supply chain, with associated market expansion for our software offerings. Our class-leading enterprise software is unaffected by today’s announcement. Recently we were proud to announce that BlackBerry ranks the highest in all six categories of Gartner’s High-Security Mobility Management Study.
This is not a new direction for BlackBerry, but a continuation of our strategy. For example, we recently made the BlackBerry Hub, Calendar, and Password Keeper applications available on the Google Play Store for use on a wide range of Android smartphones. We also integrated our smartphone software in conjunction with a hardware platform partner to release DTEK50. And, we announced a partnership with a joint venture in Indonesia, PT BB Merah Putih, to license BlackBerry secure Android software and services for devices in the Indonesia market. But we’re not stopping there: A key element of our strategy is continual development of our Mobility Solutions software products and services roadmap, including the upcoming BB 10.3.3 release, continued commitment to rapid software updates and feature development for our secure Android software platform, and continued repairs and support of in-market BlackBerry devices.
BlackBerry software remains the most secure and comprehensive way to connect people, devices, processes, and systems for today’s enterprise of things, and we’re excited to further extend our offerings in secure mobility through our licensing strategy.
