BlackBerry acquiring Good Technology for $425m

BlackBerry is acquiring Good Technology for $425 million in cash. The acquisition is aligned with BlackBerry’s strategy to offer customers the “most complete end-to-end solution that secures the entire mobile enterprise across all platforms”, said the struggling smartphone maker.

Aided by Good, BlackBerry will expand its ability to offer a unified, secure mobility platform with applications for any mobile device on any operating system. Good will bring complementary capabilities and technologies to BlackBerry, including secure applications and data containerisation that protects end user privacy.

Good has expertise in multi-OS management with 64 percent of activations related to iOS devices, followed by a broad Android and Windows customer base. The Good Dynamics platform provides app-level encryption, advanced data loss prevention and secure communication between applications.

With the number of BlackBerry devices in the market in free fall, having Good under its wing with long-held security expertise in other OS protection may be a good marketing move by BlackBerry, as it moves away from relying on gadget sales to generate new revenue.

With Good, BlackBerry says it will improve its cross-platform EMM (enterprise mobility management) solutions across varying deployment models, such as bring-your-own-device (BYOD), corporate owned, personally enabled (COPE), as well as environments with multiple user interfaces and operating systems.

“By acquiring Good, BlackBerry will better solve one of the biggest struggles for CIOs today, especially those in regulated industries: securely managing devices across any platform. By providing even stronger cross-platform capabilities our customers will not have to compromise on their choice of operating systems, deployment models or any level of privacy and security,” said John Chen, BlackBerry CEO.

“Like BlackBerry, Good has a very strong presence in enterprises and governments around the world and, with this transaction, BlackBerry will enhance its sales and distribution capabilities and further grow its enterprise software revenue stream.”

Christy Wyatt, Good CEO, said: “Together we will be the most comprehensive mobile platform in the market. Good has worked hard to deliver the highest levels of security across operating systems and applications. Our trusted Good solutions will also help BlackBerry to accelerate its Internet of Things platform for managing endpoints beyond mobile devices.”

Good says it serves more than 6,200 organisations, including more than half of the Fortune 100. BlackBerry says it expects to realise around $160 million in GAAP revenue from Good in the first year.