Research In Motion Limited (TSE:RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM) won a security certification from the U.S. government for its new BlackBerry 10 operating system. The new smartphone platform is about to make its debut and is expected to revive sales.
Achieving FIPS certification for an entirely new platform in a very short period of time, and before launch, is quite remarkable and a testament to the dedication of our security team,” David MacFarlane, Director, Security Certifications at Research In Motion Limited (TSE:RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM), said in a statement. “BlackBerry 10 will deliver security, a superior user experience, the ability to separately manage corporate and personal data on the same device, and ease of manageability for IT managers in an enterprise or government environment.”
Michael Brown, Research In Motion Limited (TSE:RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)’s vice president for security product management, said that BlackBerry 10 handsets and tablet computers have been approved for secure communications known as FIPS 140-2 by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The approval is the first of its kind for BlackBerry before their commercial debut.
Research In Motion Limited (TSE:RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM) has been losing its U.S. consumers to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPhone and devices running Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Android software. Therefore to gain the lost market share, RIM plans to launch an operating system in the next year’s first quarter, and the approval will help to gather support among U.S. government agencies that have been among its biggest and loyal clients. In another threat, the Defense Department announced last month, plans to hire a contractor to build a system that will manage and secure at least 162,500 Android devices and Apple devices.
“‘The FIPS announcement helps our customers understand that we’re going to continue on that path,” Brown said in a telephone interview yesterday. “The benefit there for customers is they have that secure platform to build solutions that allows them to be successful.”
In the biggest decline since June 29, Research In Motion Limited (TSE:RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM) shares fell 9.1 percent to $8.24 yesterday in New York, after a report from Pacific Crest Securities that BlackBerry 10 will struggle to attract buyers. Yesterday’s decline was the first loss in six trading days, as the company revealed last week that more than 50 carriers have started lab-testing the new smartphones.
The U.K. government is yet to grant a similar approval to BlackBerry 10, but passed BlackBerry 7 for use with sensitive material earlier this year
