Tag: blackberry technology news

Mobile technology news is made by BlackBerry

BlackbBerry announces its first digital assistant.

The wireless and telecommunication equipment company has unveiled its new mobile technology, Blackberry Assistant, which is its first digital assistant designed to carry out tasks through voice command and the feature could be new competition for Microsoft’s Cortana, Google Now and Apple’s Siri.

The voice-activated personal digital assistant will allow users to perform daily tasks with ease.

Blackberry’s assistant has been developed to perform simple tasks. For instance, it can complete an email search, discover the latest trends on Twitter, send texts and set reminders. In addition it has been designed to adapt to the behavior of the user. Its Bluetooth capabilities enable users to activate and use it without them having to touch it. According to BlackBerry, its assistant recognizes user’s requests with accuracy.

In a blog post, Donni Halliwell, a social media marketing lead and editor for the official Inside BlackBerry blogs, provided details about the many capabilities the assistant will include. Halliwell said that “It is voice activated when I need it to be, and helps manage simple tasks on my device from searching my email and calendar, finding out what’s trending on Twitter, to sending trivia night invitations.” He added that the more he uses it, “the more it learns and adapts” to him and that the more he speaks with it, the “more tuned-in” it becomes to his queries.Mobile Technology - New from BlackBerry

Although Halliwell described the mobile technology to be “hands-free” it is unknown whether it can be activated exclusively through voice prompt, as is the case with certain Android smartphones. However, it will work though Bluetooth. That said, just like other digital assistants, users can directly type their requests into the app, if this is their preference.

The mobile technology will be part of the BlackBerry Passport.

Despite the mobile technology appearing to be a step in the right direction for the company, the digital assistant does seem to lack certain capabilities when compared to its competition. Nonetheless, Blackberry Assistant could prove to be quite popular among mobile users. It will ship as part of the BlackBerry 10 smartphone, the square-shaped mobile device which is BlackBerry’s next big release, for which a price or ship date has not been released.

BlackBerry has clawed its way out of death’s door

That said, the company is still in critical care as it continues to battle to break even in its cash flow.

Investors have turned their eyes back on BlackBerry Ltd., once more, as the company’s strategies for cutting costs and preserving funds have led it to actually report a solid balance sheet in its fourth quarter earnings, which were released in recent news.

This will help to give the company the time that it needs to be able to attempt to turn its situation around.

BlackBerry brought itself about as close to death as a company can. However, now that it has broken through the other side of that experience, it is now working on the “specifics of charting a course to promised cash flow break-even by the fiscal first quarter.” This technology news is according to RBC Capital Markets analyst, Mark Sue.

Sue pointed out that liquidity is no longer one of BlackBerry’s largest risks within the near future.

He pointed out that the reason that liquidity isn’t among the struggles that the company will face in the near future is because of the tax refunds that it will receive, this quarter, which are expected to total approximately $500 million (U.S.). Moreover, it will receive an additional $300 to $400 million in tax refunds due to its recent sales in real estate. The result will be an additional $2.2 billion in net cash.Mobile Commerce - Blackberry Technology News

Sue’s belief is that if it is possible for the transition between the mobile devices manufacturer and Foxconn Technology Group’s production to increase the blended gross margins of the company could make it into the mid to high thirties, then it should also be possible for the cash flow of that handset maker to reach the break even point, which is an estimated $600 million for its standard operations.

The RBC Capital Markets analyst explained that “Should service revenue attrition continue or if Foxconn smartphone demand doesn’t improve, BlackBerry will need to cut more open.” He underscored the importance of the enterprise business stability at the company, which would represent an enterprise subscribership of an estimated 15 to 20 million, which would mean between five and seven million shipments of handsets each year, on top of service revenues of $1.6 billion.