[Bacon Munchers]

OT Sidethought:


After BlackBerry releases a John Chen MEME sticker pack, I would also like to forward a vote to you for a Chicken Little sticker pack.

[BACK-2-BLACK]

OT Sidethought:


After BlackBerry releases a John Chen MEME sticker pack, I would also like to forward a vote to you for a Chicken Little sticker pack.

LOL

Would definitely buy that!!!

[BACK-2-BLACK]

No. Different radios (for different providers), less expensive parts, and most likely, the entrails of the previous flagship versions.

Example: This 'Rio' will most likely use surplus parts from the previous flagship (Z30), to mitigate inventory that requires fulfillment from licensed manufacturers like Winstron, Foxconn, etc.

All in all, a very clever maneuver from BlackBerry, although somewhat industry standard.

Exactly what I was thinking...they (BB) probably have commitments with suppliers and looking to purge existing inventories that they(BB) still own at the supplier level.

[bbjdog]

Hope this clarifies some questions people have.


COMPANY NEWS ALERT
RPX buys Apple-backed Rockstar patents for $900-million (RTGAM)
Andrew Chung
NEW YORK � Patent risk management company RPX Corp. said on Tuesday that it would buy patents owned by Apple Inc. and other firms for $900-million (U.S.), helping to further scale back lawsuits over smartphone technology.
The sale consists of the more than 4,000 patents still owned by Rockstar Consortium, which was formed from the $4.5-billion purchase of about 6,000 Nortel Network Corp. patents in 2011 following its bankruptcy.
The deal puts an end to litigation started last year by Rockstar against several handset manufacturers whose phones operate on Google Inc.�s Android operating system, which fiercely competes with Apple mobile products.
While the sale price is far less than what Rockstar had paid for the original 6,000 patents, the most valuable 2,000 of them had already been distributed to consortium members, RPX chief executive officer John Amster said.
The deal was partly motivated by the Rockstar owners rethinking their strategy for the patents, Amster said, noting that he expects Rockstar will cease to exist in its current form after the sale.
RPX was formed primarily to buy patents before the sellers can be sued for infringement. The sellers pay RPX a fee that it says is cheaper than the cost of fighting the patents in court.
As part of the deal, RPX also said it will license the patents to more than 30 companies, including Google and Cisco Systems Inc., both of which last November settled patent lawsuits filed against them by Rockstar.
Besides Apple, Rockstar also includes Microsoft Corp., Sony Corp., BlackBerry Ltd. and Ericsson Inc..
�I think they were not thrilled at the litigation and thought there was a more efficient way to get fair value for the portfolio,� Amster said. �It could have taken many years more of litigation to get the same value.
Ericsson said the deal was good news for the industry. Microsoft said it �demonstrates our patent system working to promote innovation.� Apple, Sony, Google and Blackberry all declined to comment.
The deal is the latest to help calm the protracted smartphone legal battles. Earlier this year, Apple and Google agreed to drop all lawsuits between them, and Apple and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. did the same for litigation outside of the United States.

[jake simmons3]

Exactly what I was thinking...they (BB) probably have commitments with suppliers and looking to purge existing inventories that they(BB) still own at the supplier level.

Hey if they think they can make a profit go for it

[bspence87]

1.1 B

Posted via CB10

Blackberry owns approximately 10% share of Rockstar. Therefore, they receive 90-100million. The entire portfolio sold for 900million, which was 1/11th the size of BlackBerry's portfolio.

Posted via CB10

[laketrout73]

http://blogs.blackberry.com/2014/12/bbm-bes12-boeing/

I missed this tidbit from Chen.

In total, there are nearly 300 organizations that have deployed BES12 or plan to deploy it within the next 12 months, CEO John Chen said last week.

Q10SQN100-1/10.3.1.1154 | Bell | via CB10

[app_Developer]

They held onto 2,000 patents that are crucial to them, it is safe to say they paid $ 3.6 B to obtain the important patents and are now dumping the others. That's how I read it:

I don't think there is $3.6B worth of anything left in Rockstar. This deal is really just a giant settlement between several parties.

As you know, patent values fluctuate wildly and then trend to zero over time. So just because the consortium paid $4.5B and then sold some for $900M, that doesn't lead to any reasonable conclusion about the value of what is left.

Just as I don't think we have seen any reasonable valuation of BBRY's own patent portfolio lately.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[BACK-2-BLACK]

Hey if they think they can make a profit go for it

Exactly!

All about converting all tied up capital into sales in a profitable manner. Supply chain 101 and improving inventory turns!

[early2bed]

Blackberry owns approximately 10% share of Rockstar. Therefore, they receive 90-100million. The entire portfolio sold for 900million, which was 1/11th the size of BlackBerry's portfolio.

So is this ownership share Rockstar on the Blackberry books as an asset and what is it valued at currently (prior to the sale)? If they were purchased for $4.5B then didn't Blackberry pay around $450 million? Has this been depreciated?

[dusdal]

Blackberry owns approximately 10% share of Rockstar. Therefore, they receive 90-100million. The entire portfolio sold for 900million, which was 1/11th the size of BlackBerry's portfolio.

Posted via CB10

Ya, I'm agreeing with you.

What's 100 million times 11?

Posted via CB10

[La Emperor]

This deal is really just a giant settlement between several parties.

Could this be the agreement which would make Google play services official on BB10 devices? Was there some sort of coming soon pre announcement from one of the posts yesterday? Anyway, here's to hoping...

[morganplus8]

I don't think there is $3.6B worth of anything left in Rockstar. This deal is really just a giant settlement between several parties.

As you know, patent values fluctuate wildly and then trend to zero over time. So just because the consortium paid $4.5B and then sold some for $900M, that doesn't lead to any reasonable conclusion about the value of what is left.

Just as I don't think we have seen any reasonable valuation of BBRY's own patent portfolio lately.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

We do know that the patents held by the group are worth more than today's deal ($ 3.6 B ?):

While the sale price is far less than what Rockstar had paid for the original 6,000 patents, the most valuable 2,000 of them had already been distributed to consortium members, RPX chief executive officer John Amster said.

Knowing that, the rest is pure speculation, so we are guessing what BB's patents are worth, the standard is to multiply a patent by $ 80,000 to $ 100,000 but I don't think that logic works at all accept for Barons. The real value, which I'm alluding to is the Certicom ECC asset, now there is a patent!!! As for BBRY, at any value their patents work for a turnkey mobile company and if anyone wants into that space they need to consider BlackBerry to help them get there. You have to think if they broke up BBRY the sum of the parts would surprise plenty of us.

[La Emperor]

So is this ownership share Rockstar on the Blackberry books as an asset and what is it valued at currently (prior to the sale)? If they were purchased for $4.5B then didn't Blackberry pay around $450 million? Has this been depreciated?

This could just be the less essential patents, which are worth less than root ones. Who knows..

[morganplus8]

So is this ownership share Rockstar on the Blackberry books as an asset and what is it valued at currently (prior to the sale)? If they were purchased for $4.5B then didn't Blackberry pay around $450 million? Has this been depreciated?

You are correct, it depends on what they carried on their books knowing they took most of the patents out of the package to cross patent each of the investors. Each group member cross/co owns the same patent, how do you value that? We have to look at those books. Good point.

[morganplus8]

This could just be the less essential patents, which are worth less than root ones. Who knows..

That is correct, they sold off the lesser patent package today to shutdown Rockstar. The quality patents, the ones that each individual company was paying royalties to Nortel Networks for, are held still amongst the group of original investors. They had to purchase them at any price or pay royalties to Google and that would not sit well would it? I can see why Google was all over those patents back then. When was the last time you would think that Apple and BlackBerry would be doing anything together? LOL

[Corbu]

Apple, Microsoft-backed patent group cashes out as legal wrangling cools | Microsoft Pri0 | Seattle Times

The battle over smartphone patents continues to migrate from the courtroom to whatever room licenses are negotiated in.

The Rockstar Consortium, an Apple-led group formed in 2011 to buy Nortel Networks’ patents, will sell the bulk of those to RPX, a patent clearinghouse that acquires the rights to intellectual property to license to its members. RPX plans in turn to license those patents to a group of more than 30 companies, including Cisco and Google.

Rockstar, which in addition to Apple includes Microsoft, BlackBerry and Sony, spent $4.5 billion for the 6,000 patents auctioned by bankrupt Canadian telecom giant Nortel. Rockstar transferred about 2,000 of those patents to individual consortium companies, and spent the years since then licensing the remaining set to the wider tech world and taking to court those who allegedly used the technology without properly paying for it.

That hefty price tag Rockstar originally paid kept the patents out of Google’s hands, and also beat a bid by RPX. (Google memorably offered pi and other mathematical constants in its own attempt to buy the patents)

But the temperature around smartphone litigation has cooled in the past year or so, reflecting a growing realization that forking over reasonably fair fees is cheaper than spending years in court. Apple and Google reached a deal to end their smartphone patent court fight in May. Rockstar, for its part, settled suits with Google and Cisco last month.

In the deal announced on Tuesday, a global consortium “reached a fair value for licensing patent rights in a negotiated business transaction instead of a courtroom,” Cisco General Counsel Mark Chandler said.

Erich Andersen, a deputy general counsel at Microsoft, said the deal is good news for the industry.

“We joined Rockstar to ensure that both Microsoft and our industry would have broad access to the Nortel patent portfolio, and we’re pleased to have accomplished that goal through this sale and our valuable license to the patents being sold,” Andersen said.

Microsoft hasn’t disclosed its stake in Rockstar. IAM magazine dug into the corporate filings, finding Apple led the group, putting in $2.6 billion of the $4.5 billion total. Research In Motion (now BlackBerry) shelled out $770 million, and Ericsson $340 million. That leaves about $900 million in combined investment by Microsoft, Sony and EMC.

If this source is to be trusted, that would make BBRY's share 17% if I am not mistaken.

[Corbu]

TIME:
How BlackBerry Could Survive Another Year

[jake simmons3]

That is correct, they sold off the lesser patent package today to shutdown Rockstar. The quality patents, the ones that each individual company was paying royalties to Nortel Networks for, are held still amongst the group of original investors. They had to purchase them at any price or pay royalties to Google and that would not sit well would it? I can see why Google was all over those patents back then. When was the last time you would think that Apple and BlackBerry would be doing anything together? LOL

So will we see an extra 90 million on the sheets next ER

[early2bed]

BlackBerry paid $770 million for its share of Rockstar in 2011. Purchased IP is usually capitalized and depreciated based on some kind of schedule. In the latest financials, Blackberry listed Intangible Assets, Net as $1.433B which likely includes the book value of these patents. Now that some have been sold, could there be a write-down coming?

[slipstream89]

Interesting...someone bought 350k shares for $10.80 AH

[bspence87]

Ya, I'm agreeing with you.

What's 100 million times 11?

Posted via CB10

900 x 11. BlackBerry's share is 100mil. The whole portfolio sold for 900mil

Posted via CB10

[bspence87]

Apple, Microsoft-backed patent group cashes out as legal wrangling cools | Microsoft Pri0 | Seattle Times



If this source is to be trusted, that would make BBRY's share 17% if I am not mistaken.

Makes sense. All depends how those two thousand shares were distributed. BlackBerry could have paid more to have sole rights to certain patents, making their share in the communal 4000 smaller.


Tough to know, I doubt we ever will.

Posted via CB10

[morganplus8]

So will we see an extra 90 million on the sheets next ER

Well it would be something like $ 770 MM / $ 4.5 B or 17.111% as others have determined. That comes to $ 154 MM less costs. I'm not going to take the time to see what portion of that major purchase they claimed as assets. They will only right down those assets that are sold. When the next statement comes out, we can look at it to see how much of the $ 770 MM they allocated to those patents sold today. I have no guess!

[Superfly_FR]

What I'm trying to say is between the z10 and z30 why does this phone need to exist ?

Z3 like with LTE/4G for countries that handle it. With better price/range mix.


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