Thorsten Heins, CEO of Blackberry, has recently been taking swings at Apple and Samsung after the launch of the new Z10 and the Blackberry 10 platform. Whether this outspokenness will hurt or help Blackberry in the long run remains to be seen, but the impacts can already be felt as tension grows between the companies.
Heins stated that Samsung will always fall short of offering "top-notch platinum" security due to the nature of Google's Android operating system. His remarks concerning Android are "you don’t know how many keys you’ve given to the main door of your house because it’s open software…So what are you trying to do? You’re locking the windows" in reference to the fact that the Android platform is developed as open source, meaning many people can work together to improve it. He consequently states that Blackberry has none of these flaws, as it has been designed with security in mind from the ground up.
Samsung had naturally responded to these claims when their VP of Enterprise Sales, Tim Wagner, said, "We are committed, and investing significantly, to ensure our devices can be used securely for both work and play.” Their new solution called SAFE (Samsung Approved for Enterprise) has, however, gotten recognition from Heins for its potential to provide security to businesses that have a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy in place.
Heins also quipped that "Apple's iPhone is outdated," in the way that lack of innovation at Apple has led to their user interface only allowing one app to be open at a time. Unlike the development in multitasking on the Blackberry Z10, he says that Apple's iOS “[is] still the same. It’s a sequential way to work and that’s not what people want today anymore. They want multitasking.”
Despite the sequential system, Heins has also complimented Apple on their product's design and its significant impact on the smart phone industry, saying: “…They did a fantastic job with the user interface, they are a design icon. There is a reason why they were so successful, and we actually have to admit this and respect that.”
Do you think these comments seem to contradict themselves, or is the CEO of Blackberry finally saying what everyone else doesn't want to?
