WASHINGTON and MADRID, Jan. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Silent Circle and Geeksphone today announced a new Switzerland-based joint venture and its inaugural product, Blackphone, the world's first smartphone placing privacy and control directly in the hands of its users.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140115/PH46617LOGO)

Blackphone, powered by a security-oriented Android™ build named PrivatOS, is a carrier- and vendor-independent smartphone giving individuals and organizations the ability to make and receive secure phone calls, exchange secure texts, transfer and store files, and video chat without compromising user privacy on the device.

It is the culmination of several careers' worth of effort from leading figures in the industry, including Phil Zimmermann, creator of PGP; Javier Aguera, co-founder of Geeksphone; Jon Callas, co-founder of PGP Inc. and CTO of Silent Circle; Rodrigo Silva-Ramos, co-founder of Geeksphone; and Mike Janke, CEO of Silent Circle and former US Navy SEAL. 

"I have spent my whole career working towards the launch of secure telephony products," said Zimmermann. "Blackphone provides users with everything they need to ensure privacy and control of their communications, along with all the other high-end smartphone features they have come to expect."   

Blackphone may be seen at https://www.blackphone.ch and visitors may join a mailing list to be kept informed of updates as the launch date approaches.  Blackphone will be available for pre-order beginning February 24, 2014, at Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona, Spain.

For more information or to contact Blackphone visit: https://www.blackphone.ch

About Geeksphone

Geeksphone is a young and dynamic Spanish Company headquartered in Madrid and specializing in the development, promotion and commercialization of "open source" mobile telephony solutions. Geeksphone pioneered the industry by becoming the first European brand to launch an Android™ smartphone in 2009, and launched the world's first Firefox OS™-powered smartphone in 2013.

Geeksphone relies on an "open source" business philosophy, which enhances agility and participation in its decision-making.  For more on Geeksphone, go to: http://www.geeksphone.com/

About Silent Circle

Silent Circle is a global encrypted communications service headquartered in Washington D.C. providing a revolutionary peer-to-peer platform for encrypted voice, video, text and file transfer on mobile devices via a secure, proprietary network, software and mobile apps. Silent Circle was co-founded by Mike Janke, former Navy SEAL and best-selling author and Phil Zimmermann, the world famous Silicon Valley creator of Internet encryption for voice and data and 2012 inductee into the Internet Hall of Fame, along with Jon Callas, co-founder of PGP Inc. and creator of Apple's Whole Disk Encryption. For more on Silent Circle, go to: https://www.silentcircle.com

Press contacts:

Coonic
Elvira Martín/Pedro Tortosa
geeksphone@coonic.com
Telf. +34 916 397 700/ 660690558

Welz & Weisel Communications (for Silent Circle)
Tom Resau
tom@w2comm.com
+1 703-877-8103

SOURCE Blackphone