This article was published on March 2, 2015

BlackBerry is betting big on its upcoming cross-platform business apps


BlackBerry is betting big on its upcoming cross-platform business apps

BlackBerry is focusing on software this year more than ever. The smartphone maker is working hard to ship a bevy of cross-platform apps for mobile devices and desktops for business users.

The company will release three bundles of apps, collectively called the BlackBerry Experience Suite, that users will be able to buy individually or together, covering productivity, communication, collaboration and security tools.

The new range of apps will allow users to manage work and personal messages, collaborate on documents, make voice and video calls, and encrypt their data for use across mobile computing environments.

BlackBerry suites apps

The company’s BBM messaging service and Blend app for syncing mobile media and correspondence are already available on other platforms. You’ll also see BlackBerry Hub — a unified inbox for texts, social updates and email — and the BlackBerry software keyboard make an appearance in the upcoming line of products.

BlackBerry intends to bring in $500 million in revenue from software sales this year, and believes that making its apps available across other brands’ mobile devices is the way to reach that target.

Said CEO and executive chairman John Chen, “We will continue to look for opportunities to broaden our software footprint in the market. Our goal is to be wherever our users need and want us, with our software suites, whether that’s on an iPhone or a BlackBerry Classic.”

All three suites will be available on BlackBerry, Android, iOS and Windows platforms later this year.

BlackBerry Experience Suite

Read next: BlackBerry OS update brings Android apps to older devices

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with