(Image source from: BlackBerry to acquire Good Technology for $425m})

BlackBerry, a Canadian company, is set to acquire California-based Good Technology for $425m to get 6,200 new customers of mobile device-management at the same time removing one of its competitors in the business.

Good Technology is a company that builds applications to aid employees work securely from personal phones. According to BlackBerry, Good Technology’s 6,200 customers include Group of Seven governments, 10 largest banks of the world besides law firms. A rival would be removed due to the acquisition. Some of BlackBerry’s clients such as mapleleafonlinecasino.com, were taken by the rival, as more workers switched to their own Android devices and iPhones rather than the BlackBerrys provided by the employers.

Bloomberg Intelligence senior handsets analyst John Butler said, "This is good for BlackBerry in the sense that it gives them greater scale and therefore a greater ability to compete with larger rivals."

According to BlackBerry CEO John Chen, the acquisition would bring BlackBerry’s expertise and Good Technology’s secure e-mailing apps to help companies secure and manage thousands of connected tablets and phones.

Christy Wyatt, Good Technology’s CEO, said that that selling to BlackBerry made sense for both shareholders and customers. Early on Friday afternoon BlackBerry rose 0.5% to C$9.91 ($7.46). It is expected that the acquisition would close later in 2015.

-Sumana