Appleinsider is reporting that Halliburton is switching 4,500 employees from Blackberry to iOS. It would seem that apps are a major reason why this is happening:
Approximately 4,500 Halliburton employees currently have BlackBerrys," a spokeswoman for the company confirmed to AppleInsider. "We are making this transition in order to better support our mobile applications initiatives."
Indeed, if you're a developer one of worst things about Blackberry is that it's not easy to develop for. Major OS changes can break compatibility (more so than on other platforms) plus there are too many screen resolution sizes.
One of the advantages of a proprietary OS should be that there is less fragmentation. However, one RIM the move to OS 6.0 caused many programs to not be compatible plus the move to OS 7.0 didn't change things. The current batch of OS 7.0 berries have 480x360 (Curve 9360, 9380, Bold 9790), 640x480 (Bold 9900) and 800x480 (Torch 9810, 9860).
While it's true smartphones have had business apps for years - A pocket PC with a bar code scanner comes to mind. This is a sign that Smartphones have reached a point where they're powerful enough that a large company would consider deploying apps across a large number of employees.
I think they jumped ship too soon. The new OS should make development a lot easier accross the board. One thing Blackberry still has going for it that wont change when it goes to the new OS, security. It is still the most secure device and the centralized control for large corporate clients is something that no other smart phone vendor can come close to yet.
Apparently Apple and Halliburton worked together for a few years to make this transition happen. So while I hope things work out for RIM I question whether businesses will have new apps ready for it anytime soon since the new OS isn't even out yet.
Originally Posted by ddooley
I think they jumped ship too soon. The new OS should make development a lot easier accross the board. One thing Blackberry still has going for it that wont change when it goes to the new OS, security. It is still the most secure device and the centralized control for large corporate clients is something that no other smart phone vendor can come close to yet.
I think they jumped ship too soon. The new OS should make development a lot easier accross the board. One thing Blackberry still has going for it that wont change when it goes to the new OS, security. It is still the most secure device and the centralized control for large corporate clients is something that no other smart phone vendor can come close to yet.
hmm. centralized control for large corporate clients? lol. Sorry but you have NOT researched this at all.
Trellia, MobileIron, Good Technology, Maas360, and about 15 other solutions - of which most are on the Gartner Magic Quadrant (full comparison against BES), can manage specifics that match BES, or even very close and MUCH more efficiently than what a BES with 500 CALS can do with BB's.
* I can wipe an iOS/Android device - even with a cloud MDM solution - roughly 4mins faster than a BB.
* upon deployment I can restrict backup to iTunes and iCloud (iOS5+) and not worry about scripts/BES Policy's etc to be done wasting time.
* I can send SMS/Emails/Documents to both Android/iOS from a cloud or server installation.
** You DO realize that RIM is NOT the only solution with a NOC - not to mention the ONLY patent holder for such a NOC; GoodTechnology licensed for a LOT cheaper the VERY SAME NOC patent from NTP a few years back.
There is a LOT you're not aware of. ONLY security can RIM hold up ... but it doesn't matter anymore, secure enough is the coined phrase since productivity is not hampered by "security".
It seems Prom1 knows a lot about all the backend stuff. But what I don't understand is this: if an iOS device, fresh out from factory, before updates were available, (4.3.3), allows arbitrary code to be run due to a PDF related hole via the Mobile Safari browser (including the method to jailbreak it, but can do more), how is this a secured platform? Why is this not heard of on the Blackberry platform?
Don't get me wrong. I really like the iOS platform, and the iDevices, it's my personal number 1 choice. I have only recently started with Blackberry OS 6 and immediately not like it already. But I am very curious if anybody claims that iOS is as secured, if not better, than BB platform. So many holes have been found on iOS, and also once broken into, the underlying system is not secured or encrypted, at least not as much as BB has.
I've very limited knowledge of BB OS, but that's what I have heard and read. One thing about BB is that if you have physical access of a BB that doesn't belong to you, let's say you have cut off SIM card and any wireless comm so a wipe cannot be performed, and you even have chip level access (like a memory dump method via a direct chip access), you still cannot obtain user content data, because it's encrypted. Am I mistaken about this? Isn't this unique to BB compared to other mobile platforms and thus the key to higher security?
BB is THE MOST SECURE mobile OS platform - short of anything I'm unaware of running Unix; hence their choice for a microkernel system like QNX. Since BB OS is a subset of CLDC/J2ME by inherent design its secure to an extent. their chips support triple DES encryption along with AES (iOS/Android does on the latter as well 256-bit level).
When a third party MDM solution has an app that encrypts an sets up profiles - it can detect and block Jailbreaking methods (before attempting). and also can encrypt data through the browser or device. However direct device access could have holes if not properly looked for by Apple. I'm still digging more on this as its my project at work that I'm working with my manager and another on so researching this is paramount; not conclusive. I do stand by what features from an administrator stand-point can do is very close to what is averagely seen for BB's on BES. The key point is this:
How is the security improving your work?
How is the security hampering your developers to create powerful or effective applications that effectively increase productivity?
How does this security protect YOU?
- Banking, of course; but I've yet to read security issues with pure banking iOS/Android (APK) applications, not browser based apps.
Other than allowing you peace of mind - how does this help YOU as a user?
Security with BB is NOT just the device but ultimately for data transmission rely's on the NOC and the provider's data gateway firewalls/servers.
- NOBODY outside of a provider or an engineer has been able to make a data connection/call using the provider IP of 1 smartphone directly to another smartphone on the SAME network (tower or cross country). I'd LOVE to know the techy details to explain how this is setup and what direction one would need to acheive this and IF its possible from Steve Punter though. (I'd swear years ago he'd have a search algorhythm that alerted him whenever someone typed his hofo name in full. He'd reply in a 24hrs time period; uncanny).
Many holes have been found on iOS and Android and this will continue but both houses make updates and patches. I DO recall an SMS exploit on BB being valid by a private security team less than 12mths ago that engaged to alert RIM. Nothing further was stated about it nor the entire full details; just a press alert/release by this firm stating the possibilities and an explanation in brief how it was attained. I wish I had that link to substantiate my claim though. Unfortunately enough ... secure enough is good enough for most corporations and financial institutions to deploy other platforms than BB OS.
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Originally Posted by ddooley
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