BB 10: ‘Baked-In’ MDM and Dual Persona vs. Third-Party Software and Services

Kathryn Weldon

Summary Bullets:

• BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (the new version of ‘BES’) offers ‘baked-in’ dual persona and multi-OS device management, provided by the device OEM rather than a third-party software or services provider.
• Does this dilute the managed mobility propositions of third-party MDM software vendors, let alone carriers or IT services companies that are key channel partners of BlackBerry and other OEMs?

BlackBerry (née RIM) has always been different from other mobile device vendors, as it is and always has been both a device OEM and a software provider.  In addition, its new BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 software is positioned to address BYOD, as every new BB device can support dual persona (e.g., BlackBerry Balance) and multi-OS MDM.  It is clear that BlackBerry cannot claim to handle either of these functions as well for Android and iPhone devices as it can for its own devices, but that is not necessarily a problem in itself.  What is a possible problem is that in the last couple of years, while RIM’s smartphone market share shrank from over 60% to less than 5%, the ecosystem of third-party MDM vendors, dual persona and ‘container’ vendors, and the IT service providers and mobile operators that offer managed mobility solutions powered by these vendors’ solutions has evolved considerably.  Multi-OS (and multi-carrier) MDM has become a check list item for carrier and systems integrator-delivered managed mobility services.  In addition, the offerings of service providers are much broader than MDM, as they also include: TEM and logistics; containerization and dual persona solutions; and increasingly, mobile application development, delivery, and management; enterprise app store enablement; and mobile security.