Samsung to integrate BlackBerry technologies into its Knox security platform

BlackBerry, Samsung Expand Partnership

Samsung to integrate BlackBerry technologies into its Knox security platform

By Ben Dummett at ben.dummett@wsj.com

TORONTO— BlackBerry Ltd. said Sunday that a partnership with South Korean phone giant Samsung Electronics Co. to win more enterprise customers is expanding to include Samsung’s integration of BlackBerry encryption and mobile-billing technologies into its Knox security platform.

The BlackBerry software enables a user to have both a work and personal phone number on the same phone. The combined offering will make it easier for companies to ensure they pay only for an employee’s work-related calls, text and data usage on Samsung phones installed with Knox.

BlackBerry also said Samsung will incorporate BlackBerry’s anti-eavesdropping mobile-encryption technology into Knox-enabled phones.

The plan builds on a deal last November which saw the two companies agree to sell each other’s mobile-security technology. The deal with Samsung is a key part of BlackBerry’s target of doubling software sales to $500 million in its next fiscal year.

BlackBerry’s share of the global smartphone market has fallen below 1%, and much of its turnaround effort is pegged to the success of its new mobile-security software, dubbed BES12.

By partnering with Samsung, BlackBerry gains access to a larger customer base for BES12. Companies use BES12 to remotely manage employee devices on the corporate network and it works across operating systems, including Google Inc. ’s Android and Apple Inc. ’s iOS.

BlackBerry’s future is based on offering security and other types of mobile software that work across devices, Chief Executive John Chen said ahead of Sunday’s announcement. The company plans to launch new software packages later this year for security, editing and monitoring documents and messages and holding work meetings across different types of mobile devices.

Historically, BlackBerry’s software was designed to boost sales of its own devices. But that strategy is no longer feasible given its dwindling share of the smartphone market.

Now, “I think there is a much bigger opportunity to make our software and package it correctly to make available across operating platforms,” Mr. Chen said.

BlackBerry launched BES12 in November but so far has declined to provide sales figures for the technology. Samsung, meanwhile, stands to benefit from BlackBerry’s stronger reputation for mobile security. That could help it accelerate its efforts to expand in the enterprise market, where it has struggled to gain traction.

Still, the partnership with BlackBerry is one of several that Samsung has signed to help it sell its mobile-security software. It has also partnered with Citrix Systems Inc., Good Technology Inc., MobileIron Inc. and VMware Inc. ’s AirWatch, all of which compete with BlackBerry in the mobile device management software space.

Write to Ben Dummett at ben.dummett@wsj.com