This guest post is by Jim Opfer – Business Development, New Context. Jim first published it on Linkedin on January 12, 2015.
1. BlackBerry was supposed to be dead by now.
Ten months ago analysts were calling BlackBerry the walking-dead smartphone company.
But BBRY is not dead, it’s far from dead! John Chen promised a return to profitability by March 2015. Well, he and his team under promised and over delivered one quarter early. In their December 19th earnings call BlackBerry already announced a positive cash flow albeit small at $43 million.
From another perspective had you invested $10,000 in BBRY when Mr. Chen took over as CEO your investment would be worth $17,600 today. That same day had you invested $10,000 in Apple it would be worth $14,900 today.
Also see this link showing BlackBerry stock outperformed Apple, Samsung, LG, HTC and Microsoft on a year to date basis.
Another great post from today – Four Ways BlackBerry Can Succeed In The Future Nice specifics!
2. BlackBerry cannot survive as a public company or it should be broken up into smaller companies left to compete on their own..
Well this is purely based upon opinions. I have yet to see a good factual argument why BlackBerry should not stay as it is and remain public.
Recently, I spent some time with a well-known and respected mobile industry analyst. He believes strongly that BlackBerry should divest BBM as a standalone company and let it grow on its own without the BlackBerry overhead. He also thinks that BlackBerry should get out of the device hardware business (see next item below). They also have $3.1 billion in cash and investments not to mention over 44,000 patents. Apple has less than 40,000 patents!
3. BlackBerry was supposed to stop making devices.
WHY? Who says so? For all practical purposes BlackBerry has stopped making consumer devices. Yes, their deal with Foxconn, at least for the lower end devices, helps BlackBerry hold onto market share in many countries where consumers still live off their BlackBerrys. Mr. Chen clearly views devices as one of the three critical legs of the stool:
- Software
- Services
- Devices
The higher end devices like the Passport and Classic focus on serving the enterprise customer. We don’t yet know the numbers but both Shop BlackBerry and Amazon are having trouble keeping the Passports in stock. And on Amazon, the Passport is the highest rated smartphone.
And we aren’t talking Apple like device sales number here. BlackBerry makes almost 50% margin on every Passport sold and they don’t need to sell tens of millions to make a profit here.
But the REAL reason BlackBerry needs to stay in software is the operating system OS 10. It’s not just my opinion that OS10 outshines both IOS and Android by a huge margin. But wait, the latest version of OS10.3 also supports Android and has Amazon App Store built into the OS. I don’t need to say must more here as this review says it all – 16 Reasons You Might Just LOVE The BlackBerry Passport.
4. BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) will go nowhere – WhatsApp is where it’s at.
I could write an entire tongue-in-cheek article about the Ten Things Wrong with BBM, maybe I will. For this post I’ll focus on a few key points,the top one being security.
Over a year ago BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) was basically written off by the pundits. At that time it only worked on BlackBerrys. Now today BBM runs on IOS, Android and the Windows Phone. There is also BBM Protected, a completely encrypted offering for enterprises.
Oh what a difference a year makes! BBM subscribers have grown from something like 20 million a year ago to over 140 million today.
BBM versus WhatsApp: BBM is NOT linked to your cell phone number. This is a huge plus as a BBM user is assigned a unique PIN by BlackBerry. Both WhatsApp and the CLOSED Apple iMessenge are linked to you phone number. So, what’s the big deal? Well for one thing, there are dead people on WhatsApp. Imagine the horror of getting a WhatsApp message from a dead loved one! Phone numbers get recycled, BBM PINS do not. Triniberryhas done a good job of comparing BBM features to WhatsApp, Viber, and Skype.
An added benefit of not being tied to a phone number – BBM works fine on Android tablets and iPads which do not have SIM cards.
Revenue from BBM: I would expect this to be the year that BlackBerry starts showing significant revenues from BBM. WHY? Also, see the chart below.
- Many BBM sticker packs available ($0.99 to $1.99). I have many and l use them a lot.
- BBM Banking already launched in India.
- BBM Channels which anyone can create and monetize.
- And more to come I’m sure.
But wait, there is more… It’s BBM time! Last week BlackBerry announced BBM for Android Smart Watches (sorry Apple Watch you are a closed ecosystem as of now). See screenshot here…
5. No one company can own over 50% of the world’s vehicle in-dash systems.
You should be very happy that BlackBerry QNX is in your next vehicle and not Apple IOS or Google Android! Why? Well for one thing QNX is the embedded system in everything from military systems to the space shuttle and the space station. Can Apple or Android claim that? No! And they never will be able to claim that space. There are many reasons, but basically only embedded systems can play secuely in that space and that is what QNX does.
And no it does not mean that you can only use a BlackBerry with your future vehicle. QNX based vehicles work seamlessly with both Android and IOS phones, even SIRI works.
Recently, QNX, a software division of BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY), announced that its infotainment and telematics platform has been deployed in more than 50 million vehicles.
Also, last month Ford announced that they are leaving Microsoft for BlackBerry QNX as their car in-dash system. This puts Microsoft in distant second place.Ford saw the value in being both secure and agnostic. From Ford CTO Raj Nair: “We want it to be what we call ‘device agnostic’. “We’ve always said we don’t want you to be making a purchase decision about your $30,000 automobile based on a $200 smartphone.”
QNX Software Systems has a 30-year history in safety-critical systems, from nuclear power plants to the Space Shuttle, as well as proven competency in certifications to standards like IEC 61508 and IEC 62304.
It’s also very encouraging that QNX is the core of the Blackberry 10 operating system.
6. Cisco’s WebEx and Citrix dominate the corporate conference call space.
And how much we curse trying to use either WebEx or GoToMeeting from a phone, the PIN frustration, lack of screen sharing on a phone, etc.
In November BlackBerry announced BBM Meetings. Yes, I could have covered this in #4 but I think it’s important enough to give it it’s own number. Prior to this announcement BlackBerry was also awarded several patents in this space.
As you can see in the above chart, BBM Meetings pretty much blows away the competition and it’s the least expensive solution.
7. Enterprise security doesn’t need BlackBerry.
Like BBM this item warrants a post by itself but I’ll highlight a few things here.
For starters just ask Sony. “The fact that these BlackBerry devices were still able to connect to a BES or a BIS that wasn’t hacked is rather impressive. It was reported that Sony’s internal systems were down, so a BIS may have provided the means to communicate. Details on the server end were not provided in the story.”
Back to this article … “Detractors of BlackBerry should also note that unlike Sony, no BlackBerry Enterprise-using company has reported any serious security breach this year.”
BlackBerry made two critical acquisitions in the security space last year which we can expect will start paying off in 2016.
- In September BlackBerry acquired Movirtu to enhance their BYOD strategy. Movirtu allows for a virtual second SIM to separate work for personal useage. Thus, your company can pay for your work phone use and you pay for your personal phone use. Also it’s cross carrier. For example, your company can use AT&T while you use T-Mobile. What’s even more interesting is that Movirtu works on Android and IOS devices. So down the road, BlackBerry gets more revenue even from other BYOD devices.
- in late July BlackBerry acquired Secusmart, a German mobile security company that has been protecting phones like Chancellor Angela Merkel and other top officials. Secusmart provides end-to-end encryption of voice and data, all via a special SD card in hardware. A less secure version is also rumored to be coming that’s all software based. Since no one expects less cyber security hacks or fewer concerns about electronic eavesdropping in 2016, BlackBerry should be able to turn this into nice revenues. One can also speculate what this could add to BlackBerry’s IOT strategy.
8. Who needs BlackBerry in Healthcare?
Short answer – we ALL need BlackBerry in Healthcare!
In October, BlackBerry became a strategic investor in Nanthealth. I view this as BlackBerry getting their feet wet in the healthcare space, especially with their IOT expertise ( see #9 below).
NantHealth has created the HBox, a communications hub that can retrieve, store and deliver real-time medical data for diagnosis and treatment. From the BlackBerry Press release on December 17th… “The HBox serves as a hub of all medical data related to a patient, and provides easy access to medical records by transmitting information to and from the patient, doctor and point of care. The mobile medical device, powered by the QNX® Neutrino® Operating System (OS), is able to communicate with all legacy computers and devices in healthcare institutions. Currently, HBox collects three billion vital signs annually and transmits that data to thousands of medical devices and 250 hospitals throughout the U.S.”
“The QNX enabled HBox will be compatible with BlackBerry’s BES enterprise mobility management platform in the coming months. HBox, once integrated with BES, will be fully encrypted to allow deployment in a HIPAA-secured environment, enabling clinicians and patients to securely access and receive medical information as soon as it is available, wherever they are.”
The next time you are in a hospital ER room be very grateful that all those medical devices aren’t running IOS or Android!
9. No one yet provides end-to-end security for the Internet of Things (IoT).
But BlackBerry does and now!
From Inside BlackBerry… “Meanwhile, another component of the IoT platform, BlackBerry’s secure network, today handles 35 petabytes of data per month. The IoT platform will initially be targeted at helping companies in the logistics, auto and healthcare industries to build applications such as asset tracking, connected cars, or the HBox.”
Below is a conceptual diagram of the BlackBerry IoT Platform.
BlackBerry is in a unique position to take advantage of the IoT because of their already in place infrastructure. From their CES press release… “The BlackBerry IoT Platform combines technology from QNX Software Systems, a BlackBerry company whose software powers mission-critical embedded systems in cars, industrial applications, and medical devices, with BlackBerry’s secure network infrastructure and device life-cycle management software. The BlackBerry global network infrastructure today handles approximately 35 petabytes of mobile data per month in data centers located around the world and manages peering connections with more than 300 mobile operators and 400 partner networks worldwide.”
All Apple Data Centers are based in the US and they only recently started building them overseas.
Like the PC phones are becoming commodity items.They will not go away but they will also evolve into our personal connected device for things and more.
10. BlackBerry does not compete with Apple.
Yes, I know that is a strong statement, but after reading this far can you come up with any other conclusion?
BlackBerry does whatever they can to compliment Apple but not vice versa for the relatively closed Apple ecosystem. An example is BlackBerry Blend which mirrors my Passport to my Desktop see below. BlackBerry Blend supports Windows, Android and iPhone tablets, and Macs. Apple Handoff which does basically the same thing works ONLY on Apple products.
BlackBerry is moving onto the next spaces that Apple cannot touch, at least not today!
Summary: BlackBerry is not a one trick pony! I do not own a single share of BlackBerry stock yet, but I’m seriously thinking about it. I hope that you enjoyed this post, I really did enjoy spending most of my weekend writing it.
Correction: A reader informed me that iMessage does not have to be linked to your phone number if you are not using an iPhone. You don’t sign up for iMessage, it is a seamless experience built into iOS. The people you are iMessaging with are the people you already have contacts with and already have their phone number. If you don’t want to share your number, you can use any email address you want to link it so if it is a new contact, you can use a burner email (which would be like using a random pin) or your normal email.
https://www.opptrends.com/2015/03/the-top-ten-things-wrong-with-blackberry-ltd-bbry/