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BlackBerry CEO bashes Google’s move to bake Samsung KNOX into Android L

BlackBerry CEO bashes Google’s move to bake Samsung KNOX into Android L

Alexandra Burlacu

BlackBerry CEO John Chen is bashing Google's decision to bake part of Samsung Knox into its new Android L software, saying that it's not good enough.

For some context, Google announced its new Android L last month at its I/O 2014 developer conference, revealing that its next version of Android will have part of the Samsung Knox security suite baked in. This decision was part of an effort to improve the overall security of Android. BlackBerry, meanwhile, has long been proud of the fact that its devices have served enterprises and agencies, offering a superior level of security.

With Google's new Samsung Knox announcement, it seems that BlackBerry is taking it a bit personal. In a recent post on the company's blog, as part of the BlackBerry Fact Check section, the company's CEO expresses his opinion on Google's effort.

"While we applaud Google and Samsung for their plans, we don't think it's enough for security-minded enterprises. Instead, look to companies that have invested three decades into advancing the twin causes of security and productivity. In other words, don't be dazzled by those who can talk the security talk. Instead, look to the company that has repeatedly proven it can walk the walk," said BlackBerry CEO John Chen.

As the smartphone market has become increasingly competitive, BlackBerry has lost significant ground to rivals. Once at the top of the food chain, the company is now struggling to keep its head above the water, but it's nonetheless committed to staying relevant. Chen has repeatedly said that he wants to regain BlackBerry's position as the top smartphone maker for enterprise, looking to regain the company's long-lost enterprise customers.

When the company started losing ground to rivals, many BlackBerry enterprise customers started to flee to the competition. Both Apple and Google have made significant efforts to boost their respective platforms' security and reach, and even gained certification for some of their devices to run on secure military networks. Such achievements dealt heavy blows to BlackBerry, destroying its monopoly over this market.

Google's new strategy to adopt Samsung's Knox security suite deals another blow to BlackBerry, as the Canadian company is still struggling to regain its lost market share. It remains to be seen whether BlackBerry will manage to convince enterprise customers that its ecosystem is more secure and suitable for corporate use, but the company is not ready to give up just yet.

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