[Andy_bb_king]

Not really sure. I thought sync pod was apple thingy... however I like the mystery

Posted via CB10 on my BlackBerry Passport

Sync Pod is definitely not apply thing. I still remember the face expressions my Apple fan boss had on my Sync Pod for my Passport. It was priceless.

Presented to you by real phone - Passport

[theRock1975]

Great news! Q4 gonna be great. Back to $9 we go.

Posted via CB10

[masterful]

Great news! Q4 gonna be great. Back to $9 we go.

Posted via CB10

Hehe we are all hope so too. Glad to see you back more often.

Posted via my PRIV

[farmwersteve]

Not really sure. I thought sync pod was apple thingy... however I like the mystery

Posted via CB10 on my BlackBerry Passport

I am stumped as well.

I wonder if it has more to do with the way the older devices had the charging contacts, like the playbook and the playbook stand.

I miss the charging contacts on the new phones. The ability to put them in a cradle without having to fiddle with finding the exact right spot, since the magnets sort of moved it into final place

I can see that being handy for a camera, as opposed to a charging mat, but then again, the sync pod style for a camera would ne nice too, charge and upload photos at the same time would ne handy

Nice to see their patents being used to try to generate revenue

There are so many devices out there other than phones that could use a lot of BlackBerry tech in them and yet would never compete with the actual BlackBerry handsets.

I hope they are really focused on finding new uses for their patents for other companies


Posted via CB10

[bspence87]

Great news! Q4 gonna be great. Back to $9 we go.

Posted via CB10

This deal was on the last ER. Signed in November...
Unless it's a monthly payment, in which case we'll get an extra two months this timw.

[bbjdog]

This deal was on the last ER. Signed in November...
Unless it's a monthly payment, in which case we'll get an extra two months this timw.

I searched for an announcement on these transactions and could not find anything. Can you supply a link or reference that I could look it up. Thanks!

Posted via my BlackBerry Passport

[Corbu]

I searched for an announcement on these transactions and could not find anything. Can you supply a link or reference that I could look it up. Thanks!

Maybe bspence87 was referring to this part of the news release, bbjdog:

An agreement between the two companies was reached in November 2015. Specific terms of the deal are confidential.

[bbjdog]

Maybe bspence87 was referring to this part of the news release, bbjdog:

Thanks Corbu!

That sentence doesn't say much. An agreement was made but they announced the news now. Lots of questions in regards to revenue received on last quarter (if any) or this coming quarter. I guess we have to wait for the coming ER.

Cheers!

Posted via my BlackBerry Passport

[_dimi_]

Q3 ended 28 November so I think these vague press releases are just another part of JC's tactics :-)

Posted via CB10

[bspence87]

I think these two deals were paramount in the large software revenue increase last Q. I think it also explains the "70% of the revenue is recurring".

The strange and debatable part is the timing of these PRs.
Is BlackBerry trying to pressure others before the end of this quarter?
Why on a Friday night? To have it go under the radar to keep SP cheap for buybacks?

Strange indeed...

[morganplus8]

I think these two deals were paramount in the large software revenue increase last Q. I think it also explains the "70% of the revenue is recurring".

The strange and debatable part is the timing of these PRs.
Is BlackBerry trying to pressure others before the end of this quarter?
Why on a Friday night? To have it go under the radar to keep SP cheap for buybacks?

Strange indeed...

I think they were allowed to disclose the names of the companies and some details regarding the transactions, not much else to it. What is interesting is the $ 33 MM in revenues for those particular patents, ... along with future payments. I find it interesting that they could amass so much value for just those patents. I came away thinking their legal team are really digging deep to confront infractions to their patent portfolio.

[Corbu]

Morgan, a question if I may since you know the numbers way better than I do: can one actually say with 100% certainty that those two specific patent deals accounted for $33 M last quarter? I share your view and believe that their Legal and IP teams are working hard at materializing the potential of their patents. I expect some more of those deals in the future. Thanks!

[masterful]

44k patents. So the two just announced was just 1 out of 44k? We really don't know how many patents were made in that deal.

Posted via my PRIV

[tmurphx5]

I think these two deals were paramount in the large software revenue increase last Q. I think it also explains the "70% of the revenue is recurring".

The strange and debatable part is the timing of these PRs.
Is BlackBerry trying to pressure others before the end of this quarter?
Why on a Friday night? To have it go under the radar to keep SP cheap for buybacks?

Strange indeed...

Maybe they waited until they completed the share buy back?

Passport running on 10.3.2. 2876

[rarsen]

Some general weekend OT for specialzed educational reading, where increasing discussions on compagnies using tax havens :

'War' on tax avoidance overlooks some obvious legal fixes
Luxembourg leaks: how harmful tax competition leads to profit shifting
Explore the Documents: Luxembourg Leaks Database | International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

[Corbu]

How a BlackBerry could be the phone of my dreams - CNET

[CDM76]

How a BlackBerry could be the phone of my dreams - CNET

"3) most people have no idea the Priv exists"

And herein lies the problem. Although I'll agree that marketing and advertising have picked up, the average person still has no idea this device is around or what it can do, besides slide. Z30, Passport and now Priv could all have done MUCH better if BlackBerry put some serious $$$ behind them. With that being said, there is a little being spent on Priv but not anything serious.

Posted via CB10

[masterful]

How much was spent on the super bowl? I think marketing is necessary but you have heard or experience yourself when you were at the phone stores. The sale staff were pushing people away from getting a BlackBerry and that beats any commercial because the real a regular user don't think much other buying into the salesperson and their stories

Posted via CB10 on my BlackBerry Passport

[morganplus8]

Morgan, a question if I may since you know the numbers way better than I do: can one actually say with 100% certainty that those two specific patent deals accounted for $33 M last quarter? I share your view and believe that their Legal and IP teams are working hard at materializing the potential of their patents. I expect some more of those deals in the future. Thanks!

Hi Corbu,

Here are the transcripts for BlackBerry:

Conference Call Transcripts - BlackBerry Limited (BBRY) - NASDAQ.com

Chen talks about licensing for each Q:

Q3 - "We were successful in closing a number of licensing agreements, generating a total of $53 million in revenue for the quarter. Notably, the largest agreement was structured with an upfront payment. And starting in FY '18, we'll have a recurring component for up to 10 years. We'll continue to focus on making our IP portfolio a recurring source of revenue and profitability, although for those people who follow the IP licensing business, it will take some time to ramp up.

To close, the quarter was quite solid across the board. Some of the areas, I'd like to bring your attention to or some of the highlights or observation maybe, I'd like to bring your attention to. First, we delivered double-digit sequential growth. The first time in nine quarters, total revenues had grown sequentially. Secondly, we secured significant IP licensing agreements with a recurring component."
(Sorry for the typo in my last message, I didn't go back to proof read it)

Q2 - "The second area of focus related to the monetization of the IP patents. In Q2 we did not generate any IP licensing revenue after closing two significant transactions in Q1. Licensing of IP assets is part of our strategy to increase profitability and growth. We have a reasonable pipeline of opportunity in the second half of the FY '16 however we are working to generate royalty revenue where possible, to make our business more recurring and more predictable."
(Here we learned nothing was done in licensing, and as a result, we can conclude there were no payments programs in place at this time)

Q1 - "So let's start with the software side. I'm obviously quite pleased with the quarter. We have some very good achievements. As I mentioned earlier, software and technology revenue were $137 million. This represents a 130% increase on year-over-year. The enterprise business which includes BES and VAS, value-added services and our QNX business, turned in double-digit growth year-over-year again. And it was two quarters in a row now. In addition, our technology licensing program made a significant contribution as well with two technology license deals. One with Cisco, I hope we have announced it -- in the press release there. And the other with another major technology provider whose name they would like to keep off the radar, I guess."
(We later learned that fully $ 70 MM went to licensing and the balance to software)

You can find more detail in their official filings and that is likely the better place to find details, or breakdowns, or updates to errors made during the first few hours of the reporting process.

The theme here is that we have so little data to extrapolate from. For instance, in my message I concluded that the payments made for those patents seemed rich and now at $ 53 MM its more of a stretch. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you have several degrees from Harvard or all the experience in the world, you are limited to the data before you and we don't receive much to go on. This is why some of us can consistently beat the best fund managers in the world, most of the time, they has a little as us to go on. All you can do is gather everything in print and see if there is a way to create something more from what has been provided to you by the company.

In summary, if we conclude that the announcements on Friday aren't fully represented by the $ 53 MM, we have to conclude that they are talking to a large number of companies about licensing and while we aren't Priv'y to all of the details, they are solid and enforceable patents across several sectors of business.

[Corbu]

Many thanks for that detailed response, Morgan!

[masterful]

Thanks for the work Morgan.

OT: happy valentine's day to all

Posted via CB10 on my BlackBerry Passport

[bbjdog]

Thanks Morgan!

Q3 - "We were successful in closing a number of licensing agreements, generating a total of $53 million in revenue for the quarter. Notably, the largest agreement was structured with an upfront payment. And starting in FY '18, we'll have a recurring component for up to 10 years. We'll continue to focus on making our IP portfolio a recurring source of revenue and profitability, although for those people who follow the IP licensing business, it will take some time to ramp up.

One statement says "closing" and the other does not, they only mention "reaching" and not finalized. I guess I have to wait for the ER and take it from there. Thanks again Morgan!

[rarsen]

OT from the Related Technologies, explains some of the BB diversification efforts:

The Single Biggest Threat to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)
"Yet with all the success that Apple has had over the last half-decade, you'll notice a glaring difference in how the market prices the company compared to Google. The answer is actually pretty simple: single product risk. You see, as much of a windfall (some 2/3 of profits) as the iPhone may have brought Apple over the last five years, the massive success of the device has become as much of curse for the firm as it was once a blessing. The scary truth behind Apple's flagship product is that Apple is its flagship product � we're talking about a company that lives and breathes off a single device that will inevitably go out of style. Take away Apple's branding, and virtually the entire company can be summed up like this: �Tiny iPhone. Little iPhone. Big iPhone. Really Big iPhone.� That's not innovation... it's replication, and it puts Apple shareholders at substantial risk."

[bbjdog]

Just a thoght!

Canon ER was on Jan 27-2016 and IGT should be this coming week. BlackBerry announces in the middle of the two.

Posted via my BlackBerry Passport

[bspence87]

In the mail today:



Not front-and-center, but I'll take it!