Boeing Co. (BA) is teaming up with BlackBerry Ltd. (BBRY) on a secretive, self-destructing Smartphone developed for use by U.S. defense and homeland security employees and contractors. The partnership showcases a push by Boeing, the second-largest U.S. defense contractor, into software development as sales slow for its military hardware amid Pentagon budget cuts. BlackBerry gains a new way to hold on to its government base as commercial sales decline.
"We're pleased to announce that Boeing is collaborating with BlackBerry to provide a secure mobile solution for Android devices utilizing our BES12 platform," John Chen, chairman and chief executive officer of Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry, said during an earnings call today. "That by the way is all they allow me to say."
Although Boeing and BlackBerry designed its phone with governments in mind, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect Smartphone makers to try and bring similar "self-destruct" security mechanisms to consumer-level devices.
The Chicago-based aerospace company has been testing its secure Smartphone, known as the Boeing Black, with BlackBerry's main business enterprise server product, known as BES, which provides software that allows large corporations and government departments to keep track of their employees' devices. The server is compatible with Android and iPhone handsets
The phone is being sold to government agencies and defense contractors. It's a sealed device, with epoxy around the casing and tamper-proof screws to prevent it from being opened.
"Any attempt to break open the casing of the device would trigger functions that would delete the data and software contained within the device and make the device inoperable," a lawyer for Boeing wrote in a letter to the FCC along with the filing.
Yes, it's a self-destructing phone.
The letter explained, "The device will be marketed and sold in a manner such that low level technical and operational information about the product will not be provided to the general public. Detailed technical information distributed at trade shows will be limited or protected by non-disclosure agreements."
The companies are "pursuing a number of opportunities" that would pair the Boeing device with BlackBerry's server, Andy Lee, a Boeing spokesman, said in a phone interview.
"Boeing has decades of experience providing defense and security customers with secured communications," Lee said. "We are working with BlackBerry to help them ensure the BES12 operating system is compatible with, and optimized for use by, the ultra-secure mobile devices favored by the defense and security community."
It seems that while Boeing might understand the basics of how to make a phone secure, it needs help to wrap the entire concept into something people would actually want to use.
The device encrypts calls and is aimed at government organizations and others that need to keep communications secure.
