Mobile World Congress is not just a platform for new gadgets and partnerships to be announced, but also a place for some companies to redeem themselves, telling the world they’ve got some fight left.

At this year’s MWC, BlackBerry announced new devices, enterprise solutions, partners and services, that would enable the enterprise, as well as individuals, to maximize their productivity, communication and collaboration.

“We have engineered a new strategy to stabilize the company and restore our customers’ confidence in BlackBerry,” said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO at BlackBerry. “The announcements made during Mobile World Congress demonstrate that BlackBerry is looking to the future and bringing solutions to market that matter most to our customers. These secure solutions emphasize our strengths in enterprise mobility, while empowering end users to become more productive with technologies that drive communications and collaboration.”

Enterprise

BlackBerry introduced its next generation Enterprise Server, BES12, that will enable organizations to develop enterprise-grade applications that are quickly deployed to BlackBerry smartphones and other mobile devices.  It is both backwards and future compatible, and unifies the BES10 and BES5 on to one platform.  BES12 offers scalability and flexibility to provide its customers a secure and effortless way of transitioning from one platform to another via the cloud.  It offers enhanced multi-platform support for iOS, Android, BlackBerry 10, and will soon support Windows Phone 8.

Other core capabilities of BES12 includes advanced service management which includes proactive monitoring and systems tuning for a complete end-to-end perspective of the BES management platform and automation of problem resolution; and tools and integration points that allows for the easy development and deployment of securely connected enterprise apps across supported platforms.

BlackBerry also introduced the EZ Pass program, which provides free migration for customers to move from BES and other MDM platforms to BES10.  The program matches active existing on-premise BES license and any active license customers may have from other MDM vendors with a corresponding Silver level BES10 perpetual license, and these customers receive a free Advantage-level technical support with their new license to help them get up and running fast.

There’s also a new pricing model for BES 10, the Silver and Gold tiers.  The Silver tier includes full device, application, email and security management for BlackBerry, iOS and Android devices, including the unique BlackBerry Balance technology for BlackBerry 10 smartphones., while the Gold tier offers the same plus BlackBerry’s Secure Work Space containerization solution for iOS and Android, and advanced BlackBerry 10 management and security features for the most security-conscious organizations, including government, financial services and healthcare.

eBBM Suite

BlackBerry users have been long fans of the BlackBerry Messaging service, and now even non-BlackBerry phone owners are enjoying this messaging service,. Because of this, they’re extending the service to the enterprise where social software is taking over.

The eBBM Suite is a new family of products and services that work with BlackBerry smartphones and the BlackBerry enterprise solution, BES and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, to provide enterprise-class mobile messaging that brings together the core strengths of BBM with features and capabilities aimed at enterprises.

The first solution introduced to the eBBM Suite is the BBM Protected which delivers the most secure and reliable real-time mobile messaging.  It offers end-to-end encryption of messages that uses symmetric encryption keys for BBM messages and best-in-class technology for public-private signing and encryption key pairs.

Customers

Many multinational corporations take advantage of BlackBerry’s enterprise offerings; the latest include Daimler AG and Airbus Group.

Daimler AG relies on BlackBerry 10 smartphones for employees with increased security requirements, while Airbus chose BES10, and will be upgrading its entire BlackBerry mobile fleet to BlackBerry 10 smartphones as BlackBerry offers the best in the business when it comes to security and confidentiality requirements, as well as Mobile Device Management capabilities.

“BES10 in combination with BlackBerry 10 smartphones offers us the safest environment for mobile device management,” said the automobile manufacturer’s CIO Dr. Michael Gorriz. “With BlackBerry Balance technology, we also offer our employees the opportunity to use two profiles on one device – a professional and a private one. While the professional site is controlled and protected by IT, the user receives individual user options in the private section. With this, private services and apps can be used without compromising company data.”

Devices

And now here’s something BlackBerry fans have long waited for: the BlackBerry Z3 and Q20.

The BlackBerry Z3 is a new all-touch BlackBerry 10 smartphone and the first smartphone that came with BlackBerry’s strategic partnership with Foxconn.  It features the BlackBerry Hub for an easy access to all you work and personal messages, emails, apps; the intuitive BlackBerry Keyboard that learns your typing style; BBM, Time Shift camera, Story Maker, BlackBerry 10 browser, instant previews, reply now option, FM radio and a lot more other features.

As for the BlackBerry Q20, it went back to its roots with a QWERTY keyboard and trackpad that BlackBerry customers grew to love and want in their mobile devices.  It features a  3.5” touchscreen, the BlackBerry Hub to access all your messages in one place, a large battery for longer battery life, and is made from premium materials for reliability and durability.

No word yet as to how much the Z3 and Q20 will cost and when the devices will be released, but the Z3 is intended for Indonesian consumers.

photos courtesy of BlackBerry