New Blackberry 10 gets security nod

OTTAWA, CANADA: Blackberry maker Research in Motion says its new smartphone platform, Blackberry 10, has been certified as secure for use by US government agencies.

"Federal Information Processing Standard certification provides security-conscious organisations, including US and Canadian government agencies, companies in regulated industries and other organisations dealing with sensitive information, that data stored on smartphones running Blackberry 10 can be properly secured and encrypted," said RIM in a statement.

Blackberry's new platform is to launch next year.

Blackberry hopes the new platform will allow it to more successfully compete with Apple and Android devices.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has ended its exclusive deal with RIM to supply its vast workforce with Blackberry smartphones.

Another government agency, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, also said it was dropping Blackberry devices altogether in favour of Apple's iPhone.

The US military and intelligence agencies preferred the Blackberry believing it provided better security than other phones. However, this view has changed and Pentagon officials now say innovative applications available on smartphones could be useful for different departments within government.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge