A Case for Bringing Back BlackBerry Unite as a Cross-platform Device Management Tool

A few years ago, BlackBerry launched a secret project with the objective of bringing some features of BES to families. At that point, the iPad did not even exist. The iPhone, though it existed, had pretty limited capabilities and Android had hardly any market share. Then BlackBerry was the undisputed leader in the smartphone arena and there was hardly any reason to go cross-platform. When the rival operating systems like Android and iOS possessed only basic capabilities, BlackBerry didn’t need to emulate them to retain its market share.

BlackBerry Unite allowed families to share contact list, calendar, photos and files among themselves by installing software on a personal computer. Parents could act as system administers and protect children from falling prey to online predators.

BlackBerry Unite had immense potential. The software was nearly flawless; however, BlackBerry failed to market it well. Eventually, the company stopped working on the project.

Now iOS and Android rule the smartphone market. BlackBerry has lost a major chunk of its market share. In a bid to retain its existing customers and woo new customers, the company is now building cross platform products. During the last few months, BlackBerry kept itself busy developing mobile management solutions for devices running Android and iOS in addition to their own to BB 7 and BB 10.

While BlackBerry has shown no interest in bringing back Unite, the company has valid reasons to do so. In this article we will explore the possibilities of Unite.

If BlackBerry is to bring Unite today, the software will have to be cloud-based and cross-platform compatible.

Most families now use a mix of devices. They may have Macs, Windows PCs, iPads, iPhones, Android tablets and smartphones, BlackBerry and even Windows Phones. In this scenario, there is a real need for a system that will be able to control access to your mobile devices. If BlackBerry is to develop such a system, it will have to build the cloud-based software and apps for Android, iOS and Windows Phone. It will also have to build these capabilities into its BB 10 operating system.

Here are certain things we would expect from such a system.

• The software should be able to automatically backup all photos on all of your devices to a shared family album based on the permissions granted by the owner.
• It should also be able to launch a BBM channel for all of your devices.
• The system should support cellular devices as well as pure Wi-Fi devices.
• It should allow family members to share their calendar, contacts, appointment schedules and task lists.
• Parents should have administration capabilities.

Parental controls are particularly important now. For example, most parents don’t want their children to be able to get online after bedtime. Parents may also want to restrict the time their children spend on certain games and apps.

Using the software, family members should be able to keep track of device locations on the basis of privacy settings.

All of these can perhaps be done within BBM. BlackBerry can also charge for providing this capability.

Since there are no dominant players in this market, BlackBerry will definitely benefit from building such a solution. Apple’s iOS software does have some family features, but it is not cross platform and only works with Apple devices.