For those of you who may be prone to losing your phone, listen up! This is what you’ve been waiting for. BlackBerry Protect is a security application that allows you to locate your device, lock your device, backup and wipe all upon losing your device. To add the icing to the cake, it’s free. There are many security applications out there for a paid subscription that do very similar things, but RIM is offering this service completely free of charge. Here are some of the key features talked about in the press release:

Remote Device Management:

• Protect important information on a lost BlackBerry smartphone by remotely wiping or locking the device from your desktop
• Remotely add contact information to the home screen of a locked BlackBerry smartphone so it can be returned if found
• See your BlackBerry smartphone’s location and pinpoint the current whereabouts of a lost or stolen device with cell tower and GPS device tracking
• Find a nearby misplaced BlackBerry smartphone by remotely activating a loud ringer

Over the Air (OTA) Backup and Restore:

• Back up data from your BlackBerry smartphone (including Contacts and Calendar; Memos and Tasks; Browser Bookmarks and Text Messages) over Wi-Fi
• Restore your data to a new BlackBerry smartphone, or simply switch from one BlackBerry smartphone to another

There are many other features that come along with BlackBerry Protect, and can be found here. Once we get a copy in our hands, we’ll take a further look into it. Right now, Protect is only in beta and will be released first in private beta to some of those lucky enough to get an invite code in Beta Zone. It will be released into a public beta later this year, so keep your eyes peeled if Protect strikes any interest.

Photo courtesy: Inside BlackBerry