BlackBerry BES: Hey, biz bod, fancy an upgrade on that RIM job... for FREE?

BlackBerry’s Annus horribilis, which has seen the company bombed out of the consumer market has an upside for enterprise users. So keen is the company formerly known as RIM to get its installed BES 5 base onto its new, BYOD-friendly BES 10, it has waived the upgrade fees. Customers who already have a BlackBerry support …

[Afflicted.John]

Let's not forget that without an effective MDM, the likes of Good are being lambasted by the CESG effectively ruling out BYOD on all platforms apart from BB10 in Enterprise Mode. With whitelisting apps on Balance, you can use a BB10 device. CESG seems to say (if I read it right) that all other platforms must not be used fo any personal use at all - no apps or anything.

Not to mention the provisioning process for Android looks horrible...

This market is BB's to lose for sure.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think if you read it more carefully, the .gov.uk advice is that you can use a personal device with Good but a full device profile has to be applied to the device, which isn't great for user take up. I personally wouldn't want an IT Admin to have full device wipe capabilities over my own personal device.

Good are actually the only third party app vendor that has any guidlines issued by .gov.uk for deploying BYOD or corporately issued smartphones/tablets.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/good-for-enterprise-and-good-dynamics-security-guidance

[Andrew Barr]

"I personally wouldn't want an IT Admin to have full device wipe capabilities over my own personal device."

This could be a useful feature, if you lost your phone (including a memory card) that may have embarrassing photos, or personal documents on it. You can then ask IT to wipe the device as a precaution. This can also be a function of an Exchange server with Andoid/iphones utilising activesync to connect to them via OWA.

[asdf]

BYOD only took off at least here in the states because enterprise is so tight fisted in the first place (no hardware for joo peons) and because the only important people who make decisions, the C Suite sociopaths, wanted to be able to bring their bling to work to brag about it. With the executives pushing for it and with the bean counters seeing it actually does often increase worker productivity with no significant up front outlay BlackBerry was doomed. Perhaps they can hang on in some niches for awhile but the lucrative days are long gone.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not CESG but the PSNA particularly that is driving the fight against any personal devices touching Government networks (local, central or military). in any way.

They've ruled out any sort of sandboxing whatsoever including bootable OSs.

MDM on a fully business owned and managed device is fine however. But as far as I'm aware CESG/PSNA have not approved any MDM solutions including BES10.

But never mind it's all about being flexible and innovative isn't it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Other MDM

How does the BES10 stack up to established MDM vendors like MobileIron or Airwatch? Sounds like BES is late to the game, and desperate to keep clients.

[Jaykaykay]

Works well with iOS, not so good with Android. Tried 3 different Android phones, and had differing levels of success with them all. Setup process is not very clean and 2 out 3 did not work. Galaxy S3 was the only one I got working.

Setup for iOS is a breeze

[@app_devl]

An App Developer’s Response to the Blackberry CEO Open Letter

Last week I responded [1] to the CEO's open letter on the future of Blackberry device management. My argument is that the BES10 approach to iOS 7 device management does not consider the role of the app developer in securing the app and consequently the statement that Blackberry through BES10 will handle it all by itself is disingenuous and misleading.

With iOS 7, Apple has provided an MDM API and technical guidelines which app developers and MDM vendors should adopt. I suggested that Blackberry create a "certified iOS MDM app" program and reach out to iOS enterprise developers. With iOS 7 adoption at 74% [2] [3], Blackberry is once again discounting the pace at which iOS is innovating. Other benefits of my approach is that Blackberry can also seed its new Messaging APIs into enterprise apps, etc. This direct link to iOS app developers is perhaps a better allocation of resources rather than investing in porting desktop QT apps to BB10 devices or the deception of Alicia Keys by Blackberry management [4].

So far it seems that the Secure Workspace Container feature as opposed to "real" apps on BYOD from the iTunes App Store or enterprise app stores is the route that Blackberry is attempting to force upon the enterprise.

There has been no reporting on this issue that I have seen which addresses this substantial risk to the Blackberry MDM product line.

[1] http://your-gadget-is-a-gimmick.tumblr.com/post/68904441371/an-app-developers-response-to-the-blackberry-ceo-open

[2] http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/05/ios-7-adoption-official-apple/

[3] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/27/half_of_all_american_fanbois_now_using_ios_7/

[4] upcoming blog post: "How the Blackberry Z10 made Alicia Keys Unbalanced and Sing Off-Key"

[Anonymous Coward]

Fancy an upgrade on that RIM Job..

Okay..

Who's paying for the new monitor? After reading the title I spat my coffee out in laughter.

Thanks for that guys!

[diodesign]

Re: Fancy an upgrade on that RIM Job..

Perhaps these will tickle your fancy, too.

C.