Blackberry is working with Amazon on an enterprise-focused Alexa device, according to the company’s executives, as reported by ITWorldCanada.
BlackBerry CEO John Chen discussed the project during his keynote presentation at the company’s annual Security Summit. The company will reportedly release ‘BlackBerry Alexa’ at some point during Q1 2019.
Unlike other Alexa-enabled devices, BlackBerry’s device will “alert administrators” if its connections change, according to ItWorldCanada. It seems these alerts would be sent out for new Bluetooth connections, as well as unknown accessories connecting to the device.
It will also be possible to create role-based controls through BlackBerry’s Alexa-enabled smart speaker, with home and work applications operating separately. Given the BlackBerry-branded Alexa device’s enterprise focus, this approach makes sense. There’s also a possibility that “multi-factor authentication” could be coming to the device as well, though it’s unclear what this functionality would actually look like.
Further, it’s unknown if this enterprise-focused Alexa device would take the form of a smart speaker, though BlackBerry adopting this approach is likely given the success of Amazon’s Alexa line.
Source: ITWorldCanada
