BlackBerry may be looking join the modern wearable device market in the near future. Thanks to the company’s patent filing with the USPTO, we (think we) know what Canadians are working on.
According to Bloomberg, BlackBerry got no less than 27 patents, one of which describes a wearable device that can be used to unlock a (BlackBerry) phone without extra fuss. Simply put it near the phone, and see it magically being unlocked in front of your eyes.
To make sure you don’t do this by accident, BlackBerry included the security mechanism in the form of a physical clip that must be closed in order for the wearable to be able to bypass your lock code. As MobileSyrup has noted, this could eliminate accidental unlocking when you’re not wearing a watch, but the phone could still be unlocked when someone else wears the same watch. Or when the watch is sitting on your desk during the meeting. Perhaps there’s also the software side of the equation to prevent this sort of scenario but those details aren’t explained in the patent.
In any case, we would love to see what kind of wearable BlackBerry can come up with. Since it’s renewed focus on the enterprise, chances are the company is preparing a wearable device executives would be willing to wear while in the board room. How that device looks like is anyone’s guess…