BlackBerry Ltd. unveiled a new high-security tablet on Saturday
as part of its continuing efforts to expand its base with business
and government customers.
The new device, developed with Samsung Electronics Co. and
International Business Machines Corp., should be available as early
as this summer, and will sell for about $2,380, BlackBerry
said.
It marks the second time the Canadian smartphone maker has tried
to enter the tablet market.
In 2011 BlackBerry introduced the PlayBook tablet as part of the
previous management's attempt to compete with Apple Inc., Samsung
and others in the consumer market. The PlayBook stumbled out of the
gate, criticized as lacking core features, and the company ended up
writing down hundreds of millions of dollars in unsold
inventory.
BlackBerry commands little of the global mobile-device market,
but businesses still consider it the gold standard of mobile
security, a feature governments place a priority on to guard
against hackers as they conduct more business over wireless
networks.
BlackBerry's Secusmart unit developed the new SecuTablet, based
on Samsung's Galaxy Tab S 10.5. It incorporates Secusmart's
encryption technology, which is already used by the German and
Canadian governments, among others, to counter eavesdropping. IBM
technology allows the tablet to securely separate work applications
from personal ones on the device.
Hans-Christoph Quelle, Secusmart's chief executive, said the new
device is also easy to use. "Every user familiar with an Android
tablet won't have any problems," he told The Wall Street Journal on
the sidelines of the CeBIT technology fair here, where the device
was introduced.
The new tablet also underscores efforts by BlackBerry's Chief
Executive John Chen, who took the helm in November 2013, to
reignite growth by acquiring new technology through niche
acquisitions and by forming partnerships to gain access to a larger
potential customer base.
BlackBerry bought closely held Secusmart last year for an
undisclosed amount to gain access to its encryption technology and
its relationships with governments.
The new tablet also builds on BlackBerry's partnership with
Samsung.
In November, the companies agreed to sell each other's
mobile-security software. Then earlier this month, BlackBerry said
Samsung would incorporate its anti-eavesdropping mobile-encryption
and mobile billing technologies into Samsung smartphones installed
with the South Korean company's Knox security platform.
Write to Ben Dummett at ben.dummett@wsj.com and Archibald
Preuschat at archibald.preuschat@wsj.com
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