In an attempt to bring more focus to its secured mobile infrastructure segment, BlackBerry has announced yet another acquisition. The latest addition to the Canadian smartphone maker’s string of acquisitions is San Mateo, California-based AtHoc which is a provider of secure, networked crisis communications.
The newly acquired company will apparently assist the Ontario based mobile giant to broaden its software offering and generate revenue from its BBM messaging service.
AtHoc is an alerts system, but it also needs richer content and that can be provided by BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), which offers not just text, but voice, picture and video sharing, so we can provide a much richer experience to their clients,
said BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen in an interview.
Though the terms of the deal were not disclosed, it makes a lot of sense for BlackBerry to target a private messaging firm like AtHoc as explained by Chen.
AtHoc’s services help organizations and people share information during business continuity and rescue efforts. The company has already provided services to many important organizations including the U.S. Department of Defense, Homeland Security and a host of blue-chip companies, to provide software that seamlessly allows them to reach staff via their smartphones, or via digital displays, radios, and even sirens, in times of crisis.
Becoming part of BlackBerry will give us the ability to scale more quickly to expand our global reach and introduce new applications for the AtHoc platform,
said AtHoc CEO Guy Miasnik in a statement.
According to Chen, AtHoc’s services are the next piece in the puzzle for BlackBerry’s growth.
The new acquisition is just one of many others which BlackBerry hopes will help them get out better and improved value added-services. More importantly, Blackberry now wants to shift its focus to what t has been primarily known for — providing secured softwares for mobile phone owners at enterprise level.
