BlackBerry acquires Good Technology to improve enterprise mobility offering

$425m deal comes despite previous dismissive comments about BlackBerry from Good Technology CEO Chrissy Wyatt

Canadian smartphone manufacturer BlackBerry has moved to improve its enterprise mobility portfolio with the acquisition of mobile device management software firm Good Technology.

Good CEO Christy Wyatt previously told Computing that it is software not hardware that will secure mobility and suggested that BlackBerry wasn't going to succeed in this area. Now the two firms are teaming up in order to provide enterprise mobility.

The deal, worth $425m in cash, is an attempt by BlackBerry to expand its user base across different smartphone operating systems; 64 per cent of Good Technology activations are on Apple iPhones and other iOS devices, while the firm also has customers using the Android and Windows mobile operating system.

BlackBerry's acquisition of Good - which recently won a Computing Vendor Excellence Award - also provides it with the Good Dynamics platform, which provides app-level encryption, data loss prevention and secure communication between applications.

The move will see Good integrate with BlackBerry's enterprise portfolio and BlackBerry will gain over 6,200 customers including government organisations, healthcare providers, defence firms and a number of Fortune 100 companies.

"By acquiring Good, BlackBerry will better solve one of the biggest struggles for CIOs today, especially those in regulated industries: securely managing devices across any platform," said John Chen, BlackBerry executive chairman and CEO

"By providing even stronger cross-platform capabilities our customers will not have to compromise on their choice of operating systems, deployment models or any level of privacy and security," he continued.

"Like BlackBerry, Good has a very strong presence in enterprises and governments around the world and, with this transaction, BlackBerry will enhance its sales and distribution capabilities and further grow its enterprise software revenue stream," Chen added.

Christy Wyatt, Good Chairman and CEO, also welcomed the deal with BlackBerry and explained it would help both firms going forward.

"Enterprise customers today demand stringent security and the most flexible platform across all mobility strategies," she said.

"We are excited to join BlackBerry, where together we will be the most comprehensive mobile platform in the market. Good has worked hard to deliver the highest levels of security across operating systems and applications. Our trusted Good solutions will also help BlackBerry to accelerate its Internet of Things platform for managing endpoints beyond mobile devices," she concluded.

BlackBerry expects the transaction to be completed toward the end of the company's 2016 fiscal third quarter. BlackBerry shares rose by four per cent following the announcement of the deal.

Download the Computing Enterprise Mobility Review for free here