Boeing. A word that’s synomous with airplanes, right? Well, all that’s about to change. One of the world’s most-famous aircraft manufacturers & high profile brands has designed a smartphone. Yup. And it’s just not any run-of-the-mill phone.

According to a post on the Boeing Website, the aircraft manufacturer had to step in to pick up the challenge posed by the U.S. defense & security communities for trusted access over a phone to data to accomplish their missions. Existing commercial mobile technology & devices did not match up to government needs as they were not designed from inception with the security & flexibility needed to match their evolving mission and enterprise environment. The solution – the Boeing Black smartphone.

Says Boeing: This phone was designed with security & modularity in mind to ensure customers
can use the same smartphone across a range of missions and configurations.

A lot of inferences can be drawn from all what Boeing’s saying, the least of them being that Boeing Black will be a “James Bond meets Mission Impossible” type of in-built security instrument for government use.

The phone, said the company, through embedded hardware security features, software policy configurability & physical modularity, “will give customers a trusted, more flexible and productive solution.”

Key Features:

1. Android Operating System: Convenient smartphone for Android usage
2. Disk Encryption: Encrypted storage for sensitive data
3. Hardware Root of Trust: Ensures software authenticity
4. Hardware Crypto Engine: Protects stored and transmitted data
5. Embedded Secure Components: Enables trusted operations
6. Trusted Platform Modules: Provides secure key storage
7. Secure Boot: Maintains device image integrity
8. Hardware Modularity: Endless modularity capabilities

Black has a dual-SIM capability that enables users to switch between government & commercial networks.

Boeing Black integrates seamlessly into customer mobile device management systems & virtual private networks. Running an operating system for Android with enhanced software security policy configuration, customers can configure the device for maximum mission productivity and security.

It’s still not clear yet whether Boeing will offer this phone to non-government customers, but yes, there’s already a report going around that says the minute someone tries to remove the casing of the phone, all data will be immediately erased & the phone itself will become inoperable. There’s no official confirmation of this, yet.

Check out this official video:

Image Credit: Boeing

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