Research In Motion (RIMM) announced on Monday “120 select customers” that “span a variety of industries including financial, government, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, media, and distribution” now have access to its BlackBerry 10 Technical Preview program. The new program comes off news that the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency had decided to drop RIM devices for Apple (AAPL) phones. Starting Monday, the program will provide organizations and governments with early access to BB10’s enterprise solutions along with pre-production BB10 smartphones. BlackBerry 10 officially launches on January 30th. RIM’s press release follows below.
BlackBerry 10 Technical Preview Program Gives Selected Customers Opportunity to Beta Test New Platform
Program Begins Today with More Than 120 Enterprise and Government Customers Enrolled
Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM, TSX: RIM) today announced the BlackBerry® 10 Technical Preview program, giving selected enterprise and government customers the opportunity to begin beta testing with BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10 and pre-production BlackBerry® 10 smartphones. The “by invitation” program starts today, with more than 120 select customers enrolled that span a variety of industries including financial, government, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, media, and distribution. The mix includes 64 Fortune 500 companies.
The technical preview program will give organizations early access to RIM’s new enterprise mobility management solution, BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, along with a limited number of pre-production BlackBerry 10 smartphones for testing within their environment.
“Beginning today, RIM will be visiting some of our enterprise and government ‘early adopters’ and getting them started with the BlackBerry 10 platform,” said Robin Bienfait, Chief Information Officer, Research In Motion. “At RIM, we’ve seen the power of our new enterprise mobility management solution first-hand, and we are thrilled to share BlackBerry 10 directly with these leading organizations.”
“We’ve been anxiously waiting to put our hands on BlackBerry 10, and the time has come,” said John R. Delano, CIO, Integris Health. “BlackBerry has been a trusted partner for many years, and we’re excited to see what the next generation of BlackBerry solutions offer. We know we can rely on the security and manageability that BlackBerry offers, and we’re looking forward to adding fun to the list of benefits.”
Customers will have first-hand experience with features such as BlackBerry® Balance™, the BlackBerry® Hub, the ability to seamlessly flow between core applications, the dedicated enterprise app store and the BlackBerry 10 platform’s secure connectivity to behind the firewall applications and data through BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.
“Getting devices early into the hands of its best and largest enterprise customers confirms the confidence RIM has in its new BlackBerry 10 platform and is an important step leading-up to its launch,” said Kevin Burden, Director of Mobility at Strategy Analytics. “Beyond reinforcing its commitment to those loyal to the BlackBerry platform’s future, the program stands to deliver valuable real-world feedback from multiple industries before RIM takes the platform live.”
About Research In Motion
Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit http://www.rim.com or http://www.blackberry.com.
