[promo title=”Can BlackPhone be the Next Mobile Business Security Solution?”][/promo]
Let’s face it, Blackberry is a dying breed. But how will businesses be able to ensure encryption and security on their employees’ phones? Perhaps the solution is BlackPhone. BlackPhone is a new phone built around the premise of security. The question is, will the BlackPhone gain any traction in the mobile business market place, and can it stand up against its own safety guarantees? Let’s take a look at how the BlackPhone is built both hardware and software wise.
For all of the Android obsessed, including myself, let’s take a look at specs. The BlackPhone rocks a 2 GHz quad-core SoC chip along with 2 gigs of RAM. As for screen real estate, the phone hosts a fairly standard 4.7 inch HD IPS display. With 16 gigs of internal storage and the standard GPS and LTE radios, the specs, although nice, aren’t anything to write home about. But specs isn’t what BlackPhone is pushing, it’s security. This is where an exploration of the software is needed. BlackPhone refers to their software as PrivatOS, which is an overlay on top of Android. The table below, taken from blackphone.ch, breaks down the differences between the PrivatOS overlay and the stock Android experience. Essentially the PrivatOS makes all internet actions anonymous, and any type of messaging and calling untraceable.
With all the added security features, will BlackPhone be able to make a splash in the mobile business market place? The answer is… maybe. The first problem to address is price. BlackPhone is available for $629 off contract. Although not bad compared to devices like the Galaxy S5 off contract price, the phone’s spec sheet doesn’t help justify the price. With phones like the Nexus 5 and Moto X hovering around the $300 to $400 price range with similar or better specs, the BlackPhone doesn’t have much ground to stand on. Its only pro to help justify the price is its software suite. All the security that is added would normally cost, according to BlackPhone at least, almost another $1000 dollars. By buying the BlackPhone you save a lot of money that you would normally spend on aftermarket security software. Although enticing, the market for these phones is ultimately businessmen, and is limited. If bigger corporations are going to have to fork out $629 per phone, is the included security software worth it, or will they stick to older and outdated phones like Blackberrys? As we know, changing an entire software infrastructure in a big business is difficult and takes both time and money. Think about how businesses to this day still run Windows XP, or even Windows 2000. In order for BlackPhone to be successful it will need to make sure its security is bullet-proof and that it can offer better pricing and availability for bulk orders. By doing this, the new phone may become something companies might look into as an alternative.