BlackBerry Acquires Movirtu, Eynvisions A BBM Smartwatch
Canadian BlackBerry Ltd said on Thursday it has acquired Movirtu, a provider of virtual identity solutions, as part of its move to offer more services to corporate and government clients. Movirtu's virtual SIM technology allows an individual to have both a personal and business number on a single mobile device, with separate billing for voice, data and messaging usage on each number. This allows employees to switch between work and personal profiles easily without carrying multiple devices or SIM cards.
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Blackberry has lost the smartphone battle and has been trying to stabilize itself by selling non-core assets, partnering to make its manufacturing and supply chain more efficient.
The company has been making small acquisitions in the last few months as it looks to build out its offerings for enterprise clients.
BlackBerry said the acquisition of Movirtu complements its Secure Work Space, BlackBerry Balance and other offerings, which allows employees t ouse their own mobile devices for both business and personal use.
In related news, everyone seems to have been waiting for the announcement of Apple's watch and Apple's debut into the market of wearable devices in order to announce plans for a smartwatch.
Taiwanese HTC has a "secret" Android -wear device in the works, and BlackBerry seems is also developing a smartwatch, accoriding to John Sims, president of BlackBerry enterprise solutions.
"We're doing internal research on different wearables," said Sims in an interview with reporters at Super Mobility Week in Las Vegas.
The wearables research at BlackBerry includes smartwatches and even smart glasses.