BlackBerry has just launched a new smartphone in Australia that offers a wide range of services and applications to suit the needs of business owners.
The BlackBerry Z10 smartphone is a re-designed, re-engineered and re-invented version of the traditional BlackBerry primarily targeting business owners who would benefit from a secure, single-click application that allows access to emails, social media updates and notifications, and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) instant messages.
“We remain the gold stand in both security and reliability, and also manageability … As a brand, as a vendor, as a product, we want that product to be easy to use. We want to make your life easier,” said Matthew Ball, Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand, Blackberry.
Proclaimed to be the most social smartphone yet, the BlackBerry team boast that a majority of social media users are BlackBerry users – implications being that BlackBerry software does social media so well and so unobtrusively that it’s simply become a part of BlackBerry users’ lives, or alternatively, that those who are already social media acolytes prefer the BlackBerry as their preferred device to do social media.
“When we talked to Facebook and Twitter, one of the things they often tell us is the level of engagement of Facebook on BlackBerry users completely outweighs other platforms. People on BlackBerry are much more engaged with social networks and messaging, much higher than other platforms. That shows that the audience that we are after is in complete synergy with what we’re building,” said Vivek Bhardwaj, Head of Software Portfolio, BlackBerry.
A ‘true Personal Digital Assistant’, the BlackBerry Z10 is considered less a phone than an information device, with its prime utility being in maintaining intelligence.
For instance, the new smartphone makes it easier for consumers and business owners to gain contextual social and professional information about other people compared to other platforms such as Android, iOS, and Windows Phone.
“I challenge you with one task – when you go home, take a Z10 and take an Android or iPhone, go into a meeting, could be a private meeting, a dinner with your family, go to people, find all the contacts for the people, find the latest news about that very person and the company that person works for and find all the latest emails, Twitter and Facebook messages that you had with that person, measure the time and measure the number of apps that you will have to access on various systems,” said Thorsten Heins, President & CEO, BlackBerry.
Some of the key features available on the Blackberry Z10 include:
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BlackBerry Hub – a single place to manage all your conversations whether personal or work email, BBM™ messages, social media updates or notifications, and the ability to “peek” into the BlackBerry Hub from anywhere, so you’re always only one swipe away from what matters to you.
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BlackBerry Messenger – allows you to share things with the people that matter to you in an instant. BBM in BlackBerry 10 includes voice calling and video chat, and introduces the ability to share your screen with another BlackBerry 10 contact.
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BlackBerry Balance technology – separates and secures work applications and data from personal content on BlackBerry devices.
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BlackBerry 10 browser – sets the industry benchmark for HTML5 support on smartphones, is incredibly fast. Scrolling or zooming is fluid and responsive. The browser includes many advanced features, supports multiple tabs, lets you browse sites privately, includes a reader mode, and integrates with the platform for easily sharing content.
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BlackBerry Remember – combines memos, tasks and much more into a single experience. It helps you organise and manage information you have on your smartphone around projects or ideas, letting you collect content such as websites, emails, photos, documents, and other files, and then, like a To-Do list, lets you create tasks, assign due dates, and track your progress. If your BlackBerry 10 smartphone is set up with a work account, your Microsoft Outlook Tasks will automatically be wirelessly synced with BlackBerry Remember.
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BlackBerry Safeguard technology – helps protect what is important to you, and the business you work for.
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Built-in support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync – allows your BlackBerry Z10 smartphone to be connected and managed as other ActiveSync devices in a company, or can be enabled with BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 to gain secure access to work email, “behind the firewall” applications and data, and benefit from other security and enterprise mobility management features.
The BlackBerry World storefront now includes 70,000 BlackBerry 10 apps with a variety of local developers working with BlackBerry to deliver apps for leading brands including THE ICONIC, Hotels Combined, Event Cinemas, TripView, goCatch, FoxSports and Virgin Australia.
Until more native BlackBerry apps are available, a majority of the apps available on Android phones can also be used as a placeholder.
Following difficult times, the BlackBerry team are pushing to reclaim market share by redefining mobile computing as service-based.
“Blackberry Z10 is built to suit the need of Australians and Australian businesses. There’s a huge opportunity for us right now – we’ve got the right product, we’ve got the right operating system, and it’s the right time for us to be successful,” said Ball.
The BlackBerry Z10 smartphone will be available through retailers including Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi and Fone Zone, or can be purchased with competitive pricing plans from carrier partners Optus and Telstra from March 25 and 26, respectively.
