Tag: blackberry

This year will define whether or not BlackBerry continues with hardware

| February 9, 2016

The brand is already struggling to return to a smartphone space that is only increasing in competition.

The attempts being made by BlackBerry to return to a level of success in the smartphone hardware business is certainly an ongoing one, but it appears that the company has been fighting an uphill battle.

Analysts from Scotia Capital are now saying that the company will be reaching a “critical juncture” in 2016.

As much as CEO John Chen has insisted that BlackBerry will not be leaving the hardware industry and while a number of highly strategic moves have been made to help ensure that its smartphones will keep heading to store shelves – and into the hands of consumers and business users – the fact is that it is continuing to lose subscribers and money. In fact, just as the analysts made their prediction, the company also revealed that it would be laying off 125 employees in Canada, in addition to 75 workers in Florida who would also be losing their jobs.

The analysts see a number of different strategic options still left for BlackBerry as this year progresses.

Deciding Year for BlackberryThe Scotia Capital analysts said that there are three main strategic options that the Ontario, Canada-based company currently has within its reach. The first would be to step out of hardware while facing a one-time cost that they predict to be around $100 million (USD). The second would be to license its operating system or brand as a whole to another hardware manufacturer. The third would occur if the company’s hardware segment manages to reach profitability this year, in which case it should continue its operations.

A great deal of the decisions that will be made by the company will depend on whether or not its latest smartphone, the Priv slider mobile phone powered by Android, ends up being successful in its sales. Investors have a very close eye on whether or not that key mobile device is managing to appeal to enough consumers to make it worthwhile.

At the same time, BlackBerry has been continuing its evolution as a provider of enterprise software. It could end up spending as much as $1 billion (USD) on the acquisition of companies over the next couple of years and still manage to keep up a net cash balance of $500 million (USD) in that business.

BlackBerry says it hasn’t given up on BB10 support

| January 13, 2016

The company intends to continue releasing Android based smartphones over 2016 but isn’t dropping its OS.

Even though BlackBerry has been discussing its intentions to continue to release smartphones based on Android throughout 2016 and potentially onward, the company has confirmed that it doesn’t intend to give up on its own operating system, BB10.

The Canadian smartphone manufacturer has said that it remains committed to supporting its own OS.

When BlackBerry’s CEO, John Chen wrote a recent blog post on behalf of the company, he expressed that “At CES 2016, BlackBerry has been busy discussing self-driving cars, global carrier support for Priv and consumer healthcare apps. But as we shift our energies toward all these exciting opportunities, does that mean the BlackBerry 10 operating system is dead? Far from it.”

Still, BlackBerry does intend to continue the successes it has seen by moving toward Android based devices.

Blackberry 10 SupportTherefore, the company plans to keep releasing smartphones based on Google’s mobile operating system, but at the same time it will keep up its commitment to supporting the devices it has already released based on its BB10 OS, such as the Classic and Passport. Chen’s blog post said that the upcoming version of BB10, which will be 10.3.3 will have NIAP compliance certification. This means that the OS will have undergone “the strictest government-grade security tests.”

According to the CEO, the added testing will make it possible for the company to offer an increasingly secure ecosystem for its government customers and others that require the highest possible security levels for their smartphone device users.

Equally, Chen also pointed out that BlackBerry plans to keep up the work it has started on steadily improving its BB10 operating system throughout 2016. This will occur at the same time as it continues the development of smartphones that will be based on Android, following the positive reception that the Priv received upon its release at the end of last year. Within the blog post, Chen expressed that “We’ll share more details about our roadmap when we’re ready.” The company has been taking on some dramatic strategies as it works to claw its way back into solid relevance.