Not so long ago BlackBerry was a market leader. It was loved by consumers and it was indispensable for businesses, governments and militaries around the world. Things took a turn for the worst half a decade ago and since then the company’s market share has eroded substantially. Consumers have jumped ship, businesses have opted for BYOD setups and even militaries are now backing off. Recently the United States Air Force announced that its replacing 5,000 existing BB devices with iPhones. In a bid jolt the USAF’s memory, BlackBerry has released a statement describing its credentials when it comes to mobile device security.
“There is nothing more secure than a BlackBerry device managed by a BlackBerry Enterprise Server,” says the company, adding that the ongoing threat of cyber attacks requires organizations, particularly those that have highest security requirements, to be on top of their game when it comes to mobile security. It lists its achievements, such as the fact that it has more government certifications than any other vendor, and that its the only vendor awarded “Authority to Operate” certification by the Department of Defense. “Security is built into everything we do, and we’ve been doing it longer and better than anyone else,” BlackBerry says. While it can’t be said for sure if a statement alone will make USAF reverse its decision, in fact it has plans to eventually replace all existing BB phones on its network, it’s certainly hard for the company to lose out on customers that previously won’t even consider a replacement. Nevertheless, there are still 80,000 BB devices on DoD networks, and several other arms of the military and the government rely on its phones, but for how long, remains a mystery.
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