BlackBerry will enable mobile device management (MDM) companies such as AirWatch, Citrix and IBM to directly manage devices with the BlackBerry 10 operating system.
The decision to be part of the open mobility ecosystem will assist BlackBerry, which is trying to find new revenue streams, to expand market opportunities.
The Canadian smartphone vendor in a statement said that AirWatch, Citrix and IBM have already expressed their intent to be the first companies to work with BlackBerry to benefit from the open mobility ecosystem.
Kevin Keith, director of Business Development, AirWatch by VMware, said: “The integration of the BlackBerry 10 operating system into the comprehensive AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management Platform will empower our customers and partners to fully manage any device in their mobile fleet from a single console.”
The main benefit is that BlackBerry can provide enterprises with more options to embrace multi-operating system mobile environments by enabling other MDM companies to manage BlackBerry 10 devices.
Ron Louks, president of Devices and Emerging Solutions, BlackBerry, said: “This is a natural next step in our enterprise strategy as we seek to provide our customers with maximum choice in how they will meet the full array of employee mobility needs.”
BlackBerry will continue to offer its multi-platform EMM solution BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES10), which manages and secures corporate-owned and BYOD BlackBerry, iOS and Android devices.
BlackBerry intends to launch BES12 in late 2014, adding Windows Phone 8 support.
