UK Mental Health Trust Orders 1,800 BlackBerry Z10 Smartphones

The Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust (BSMHFT) has placed an order for 1,800 BlackBerry Z10 smartphones to give to its employees.

The order is a boost for BlackBerry, which is aiming to convince 1,000 of its customers who are attending the BlackBerry Enterprise Forum in London of the security and administration benefits of the new BlackBerry 10 platform.

The Canadian manufacturer claims that more than 100 UK public and private sector organisations are currently trialling BlackBerry 10, including BT, Aviva and the Co-operative Group.

BlackBerry Z10 purchase

“During April and May, we will roll out 700 BlackBerry Z10 smartphones running on the new BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, with an additional 1,100 devices set to roll out throughout the remainder of 2013,” said Stephen Asante-Boakye, Head of Technical Services, BSMHFT. “The combination of BlackBerry’s tried and trusted security and manageability with the new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone gives us confidence that we can continue to deliver a best-in class mobile enterprise experience, which ultimately enables the delivery of a better service to our patients.”

BlackBerry has launched a range of incentives as part of an effort to retain and attract business and government customers. Its smartphones have long been favoured by government agencies as they meet their strict security requirements, but this advantage has been eroded by rival platforms which have improved their security standards, while BlackBerrys have become increasingly undesirable.

However, the positive reception that has met the BlackBerry Z10 and the BlackBerry 10 operating system has encouraged many to give BlackBerry another chance. Yesterday, the German government announced that it was planning to buy 5,000 BlackBerry Z10 smartphones for public officials.

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