360 Goes with Oberthur Technologies eSE for Q5 Phones

China-based smartphone maker 360 has selected Oberthur Technologies’ PEARL by OT solution for the Secure Element of its new Q5 and Q5 Plus smartphones.

It’s the same eSE solution that Samsung chose for its Galaxy S6 devices, and perhaps that proved to be a strong endorsement as far as 360 was concerned. Or it may have won 360’s interest on its strong security pitch alone; the solution supports biometrics and can be used for access control, and OT says it’s “the safest possible place to store and process confidential user information and to execute sensitive applications.”

In a statement announcing the integration, OT’s Managing Director of the Connected Device Makers, Pierre Barrial, pointed to strong market trends as the driving forces behind it. “With the growing trend of smartphones being used as payment devices or storing and processing sensitive biometric data, users’ authentication, data protection and privacy are increasingly critical”, he said, adding that the company’s team is “very pleased that a leading Chinese company such as 360 Phone selected our eSE”.

OT has also been in the news lately for another major business development: Advent International, its parent company, has entered into direct negotiations to buy Safran Identity & Security, another important digital security solutions provider.