BlackBerry has acquired Movirtu, a provider of virtual SIM technology that enables multiple phone numbers to be active on a single handset.
Movirtu’s Virtual SIM platform is aimed at employees in bring-your-own device (BYOD) and corporate owned, personally enabled (COPE) environments, where workers are required to provide their own work phone or otherwise are given a device that is also enabled for personal use.
The technology enables users to set business and personal profiles on their device depending on intended use and provides an accurate way of splitting the bill between employer and employee, negating the need for multiple phones or SIM cards.
The acquisition builds on BlackBerry’s Secure Work Space and other partitioning technologies, which aim to provide business phone users with added freedom and privacy whilst simultaneously providing the security and management abilities necessary for corporate devices.
John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO of BlackBerry, said: “In a BYOD and COPE world, there remain a number of efficiency and convenience challenges facing enterprises, employees and mobile operators alike.”
“The acquisition of Movirtu complements our core strategy of providing additional value added services, and it will leverage our key assets, including our BES platform, along with our existing global infrastructure which is connected to a large number of mobile operators around the world.”
BlackBerry said it will be offering the Virtual SIM technology through operators for “all major smartphone platforms”, including Android, BlackBerry and iOS.
The former smartphone market leader has been moving away from devices after its BB10 handsets flopped. Earlier this year, it launched a new QNX based Internet of Things platform.
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