BlackBerry is moving into mobile payments Thursday’s announcement of three-year agreement with EnStream.
EnStream is a mobile payments joint venture owned by Canadian wireless carriers Bell, Rogers and TELUS. As part of the agreement, Blackberry will rovide a secure platform that supports transaction services between leading banks and consumers.
Under the agreement, EnStream will leverage BlackBerry’s infrastructure to enable financial institutions, including Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank Group, CIBC and Desjardins, and mobile operators to securely provision sensitive payment card credentials into any smartphone capable of near field communication (NFC).
For BlackBerry, the move is yet another step away from its devices business, which continues to be on the decline.
In addition to today’s announcement, BlackBerry previously launched BBM Money in Indonesia, which allows BBM customers to transfer funds and conduct other types of financial transactions using BBM.
BlackBerry CEO John has continually stressed that BlackBerry’s fate doesn’t depend on its devices business. Chen continues to focus on BlackBerry’s messaging and device managmenet services as the future of the company.
