BlackBerry Tackles Tablet Security With Help From Samsung, IBM

BlackBerry may be at the forefront of secure smartphones, but its latest endeavor aims to protect tablets from nefarious users. The Canadian manufacturer announced its new product, the SecuTablet, at the 2015 CeBIT conference Saturday, describing it as a collaboration between several companies, including Samsung and IBM.

The SecuTablet is developed by BlackBerry subsidiary Secusmart. The high-security tablet is based on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, which released last summer, and includes secure app wrapping technology, by IBM, which provides certain applications with a higher level of encryption, according to BlackBerry. The technology is pending certification under the German VS-NfD security rating.

Users can also access apps that need more open permission for use, such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and WhatsApp. The SecuTablet will primarily be marketed toward business users, but will also be available to the public. The tablet goes on sale this summer.

The SecuTablet isn’t BlackBerry’s first attempt at a tablet. In 2011, the manufacturer launched the BlackBerry Playbook as a competitor to the iPad. Though the tablet was noted for a sleek design, it was ultimately a market failure due to its lack of applications. BlackBerry took a $360 million write-down on the tablet in late 2011.

BlackBerry has been moving forward with a comeback over the last year, having launched two new smartphones, the BlackBerry Passport and the BlackBerry Classic, as well as its new BlackBerry 10 operating system and security applications. The manufacturer also announced four new devices at the recent World Mobile Congress, including one called the BlackBerry Leap, which will feature a built-in QWERTY keyboard.

The company hopes that high-level partnerships and acquisitions will help to expand its customer base. In addition to BlackBerry devices, users will find BlackBerry software standard on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge.