BlackBerry And UAE’s TRA Partner On App Development

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BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) Middle East has entered into an agreement with UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), under which the company would assist in mGovernment initiatives introduced by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and ruler if Dubai.

UAE to benefit from BlackBerry expertise

UAE government is focusing on creating a ‘Smarter government’ by offering e-government services accessible through the mobile devices. The Canadian smartphone maker will offer the support and expert services to develop a Mobile Center of Excellence, says a report from Zawya.

H.E Hamad Obeid Al Mansoori, the UAE mGovernment’s Director General, said that the Lab is one of its kind regional projects that will help the country to establish leadership in the field of mGovernment. The executive added that BlackBerry is a valued partner, as well as, has immense expertise in the enterprise mobility, security and developing secure applications to take the project forward.

BlackBerry stated that the development lab within the TRA will be an exclusive lab in the Arab region, which will be concerned with verifying the security and quality of the mGovernment mobile apps. The vendor stated that it would provide the support in designing apps for BlackBerry 10 platform along with providing support and training to the government executives.

Lot many areas to receive attention

Dave Pryce, vice president of government relations at BlackBerry EMEA said, “As strong supporters of the UAE mGovernment’s vision, our legacy in mobile communications and technology can play a pivotal role in making the vision a reality.”

BlackBerry said that under the agreement it will offer TRA with know-how, industry knowledge and the best practices prevailing in the organization. Blackberry, also, said that the knowledge of the company through deep heritage in security, development, enterprise mobility and interface design through the experience in 165 countries, will also be shared under the agreement.

The Waterloo Ontario-based company said that required assistance will be offered to TRA in developing application labs at UAE based universities, to instill expertise in the students and government employees, who want to develop the application. Pryce said that collaboration and imparting knowledge to the students and universities about the application development will establish the skills.

Just a few days back, BlackBerry received a U.S. defense agency clearance which allows users in various U.S. defense departments to use BlackBerry Enterprise service.

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