[Klipspringers Shoes]

You are getting emotional about a reporters' collection of thoughts and they may have nothing to do with what Chen is planning for HW. Today, anyone can "report" whatever they think is the case, it doesn't make it real by any stretch of the imagination. It is a piecing of several bits of information and he is concluding things that might have nothing to do with BlackBerry. Time again, practically on a weekly basis now, we see BlackBerry correcting the media who are pumping out nonsense just to get clicks. Relax!

Well, I'll say this: John Chen must be conducting the greatest Rope-a-dope business campaign in the history of the world. He's got every-damn-body fooled, except perhaps for a few people on Crackberry.

Posted via CB10

[morganplus8]

I would buy one too! I am having a hard time looking for a replacement for my Passport (cracked screen). Top choice right now is another Passport, but kinda suck to have to use the same phone for so many years. Come on, Chen, we want BB10!

I'm a two phone person, one T-Moblie and my Canadian sim card phone. Wouldn't it be nice to have that joined together along with the pbk, best of breed security and endless software for personal use? Its a dream to be using only one phone but that doesn't exist today. I'm looking for a hybrid Classic, but similar to the Passport, that handles everything. I cross the border a lot and have property on the border too so it would help me big time. Alas, our resident member who thinks dropping your ASP by $ 300/unit isn't a problem is telling me it will never happen. Darn it all!

[morganplus8]

Well, I'll say this: John Chen must be conducting the greatest Rope-a-dope business campaign in the history of the world. He's got every-damn-body fooled, except perhaps for a few people on Crackberry.

Posted via CB10

Can you take a moment away from constantly bashing "I Support BBRY and Buy Shares" members and post a link to Chen saying he is bringing two mid-priced phones to market this year?

[Klipspringers Shoes]

Can you take a moment away from constantly bashing "I Support BBRY and Buy Shares" members and post a link to Chen saying he is bringing two mid-priced phones to market this year?

I do not bash any members of this forum, but you can take a moment to post evidence of me doing so if you like. I'm not into attacking anyone in here. In fact, it is I who have often been attacked - called all manner of forest creature, actual and mythological. It's fine.

I support BlackBerry. I don't support foolishness, and that is why I am unable to keep chanting joyful and ever-positive statements about the company's decisions. The results have spoken for themselves over the past few years, despite undying optimism in this thread. There is a difference between supporting a company and clapping any and everything that is done, regardless of its wisdom. I support BlackBerry, and it annoys me that before very long there is likely to be no BlackBerry device on which to type comments on a site or thread that may very well not exist because BlackBerry have essentially left the building. That prospect is not one that brings joy into my life.

As for shares, I have twice doubled my investment in BBRY over the past four years. I last sold at about $12 and would LOVE a reason to buy right now, but Chen is making that difficult for me. I don't think he is a good CEO for BlackBerry, and that is my personal opinion to which I believe I am entitled.

Have a pleasant evening and weekend, all of you.

Posted via CB10

[markmall]

The value proposition that Chen could sell is called BB10. It has many features that BBRY spent many millions developing that people would want to use if they knew they existed.

This includes the wonderful Blend software. Does anyone know of this? A resounding "no!" to that question. Does anyone know about the Hub? Very, very few. Does anyone know that BBRY exists today? Again, very, very few people.

I blame Chen, not Heins, for this. Heins and the board panicked and tried to sell the company. That was their sin. But Chen is the one that did nothing to rehabilitate the brand image and did nothing to market the OS and hardware.

Many of us say this over and over again, and other people say, "people want apps" and "the market has spoken." No, the market has not spoken if the market didn't know that the phones existed.

If Chen produced a movie, didn't advertise it and only showed it in his basement, nobody would come to see it. Could Chen then blame the writers, actors and directors for not making a good enough movie? For not making it accessible enough to general audiences? Nobody knows whether the movie would have succeeded or failed.

We will never know if BB10 would have succeeded or failed. (I think we know that the Priv is a fail no matter what BBRY did. And it did make feeble attempts to market it.)

[markmall]

Chen is tone deaf on the market. He is trying to chase chimera that don't exist. Pent up demand for a slider keyboard on Android?

[W Hoa]

Could those who wish to second guess Mr Chen please direct your comments to the appropriate forum? Available for your amusement is the Armchair CEO forum:

We created the Armchair CEO forum to provide everyone with a place to enter their thoughts, suggestions and opinions on what BlackBerry should do next. What would you do if you were in charge!? Share your thoughts, plans and opinions right here!

[plasmid_boy]

How about calling the Android line "BlueBerry" and keep BlackBerry for BB10? Kids don't want to use what their parents and grandparents used to use, so perhaps give them something new? BlueBerry: "Your Sexting is your Private matter" cums preloaded with BlueBerry Messaging (BBM).

[Corbu]

JC / India
India among countries that will be key to next phase of revival: BlackBerry CEO John Chen | ET Telecom

Chen said the company would invest in rebuilding the team, distribution network and on reviving its enterprise ties in India but asked for patience. Chen added that while he was confident of turning around the hardware business, he won�t wait indefinitely for it.

NEW DELHI: BlackBerry CEO John Chen is counting India among the countries that will be key to the company's next phase of revival. Speaking to ET's Danish Khan and Romit Guha, Chen said the company would invest in rebuilding the team, distribution network and on reviving its enterprise ties in India but asked for patience. Chen added that while he was confident of turning around the hardware business, he won't wait indefinitely for it. Edited excerpts:

This is your first visit to India since you took over. What brings you here now?

India at one time was quite a big market for us. Over the years, things have changed. So, I want to make sure that I see our people here, partners and the government. Also, see the market, and come up with a better idea and information about how we invest back into the market.

Would we see BlackBerry making some investments in India this year?

Absolutely! We have to re-do the team first and our Indian operations are hiring people. Also, we just have got a couple of partners for enterprise mobility segment in India. So, we are broadening the distribution.

What is the outlook for BlackBerry?

We passed danger! We have picked 10 countries right now, including India, to go beyond five countries where we have always been in. It needs time, it needs patience, but we are committed.

India is going to be a booming economy, especially the SME model, which is going to be big.

How is the company reviving its operations as part of the turnaround strategy?

My first mandate was to get the financials back to normal and second mandate is to re-pivot the business.

Our infrastructure has gone down, not only in India, but in a lot of countries, partly because we needed the cost structure to be right. Our focus is now shifting to enterprise and mobility, while handset remains important at only about 30%, against 100% two-three years back.

Now, we are looking at growing economies, India and China certainly qualify for that. We are looking at markets where we have good brand like Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria, the UAE and Israel.

The company is here to stay, with security and enterprise being most important pillars. I think we have great products, but a weaker distribution.

What is the future of the handset business?

BB10 OS is definitely not dead. The reason is even if I want to make it dead, I can't because we have a lot of key government customers around the world that rely on it and will continue to buy it.

The most important thing to me is to be able to make money because that business has very marquee names with various presidents and prime ministers using BlackBerry devices.

BB10 OS lacked application support, but it is the most secure device. But if you just do that, you would never make money. In order to address the bigger market, we came with the Android-based smartphone. We decided to address the secured Android market, which is largely untapped.

We reckon that we could serve the market much better than Apple. Apple can serve only on the device side. But we provide devices along with software and services.

What went wrong with the sales of the Priv smartphones?

We released our Android device just about when the high-end phone market went soft, so that was principally the reason behind lukewarm response. However, execution could have been better because I tried to sell these phones through carriers as retail shops. Carriers are important but I need to be more directly available to customers by myself or through the partners.

I am not too concerned. I truly believe we can make money in handsets.

Can you talk about the devices roadmap?

Currently, we just talk about Priv. It's expensive, because it has no family. Normally, companies release more than one device. But we need to ensure that we don't build too many phones, while extending our distribution channel.

Our BB10.3.3 is in the certification lab, we expect to get a certificate in June. BB10.3.4 is being defined, it might be released same time next year. Our device strategy is still open.

Can we expect affordable Android smartphones from BlackBerry?

You would probably see more on the mid-price range, which is usually around $300-400. I doubt that BlackBerry can compete on the low end in this market.

[Corbu]

JC / India
We want India to be among the top 10 markets for us: BlackBerry chief | Business Line

When John Chen took over as the Chief Executive Officer of BlackBerry in November 2013, the Canadian phone maker was on ventilator. The company, then known for its QWERTY keyboard devices, was fast losing market share to Apple and Samsung, which had launched new generation smartphones with touch screen, high pixel cameras and lots of interesting applications.

Chen undertook a transformation roadmap that focused on turning BlackBerry from just a device maker to a software firm, centred around its strong portfolio of security solutions. BusinessLine met Chen to know how far he has succeeded in this turn around strategy and if BlackBerry is still relevant in the mobile phone segment. Edited excerpts:

How do you assess the success of the transformation roadmap you started two years back?

When I first came in two and half years ago, the company was almost 100 per cent dependant on the mobile handset business. It was losing lot of money and there was a lot of concern whether the company will survive or not. We have not completed the transformation but we have made the company safe. The company has turned cash flow positive.

We now have a good strategy in place where we focus on enterprise and security — both hardware and software. The transformation is definitely two-thirds through. I still need to make hardware profitable. This is my biggest goal this year. On the software side, we have proven ourselves with revenues doubling.

Given that you have lost out to Apple and Samsung, why is hardware still relevant? Is there a September deadline for you to decide on the future of the handset business?

It is still about 30 per cent of the business. People ask me why I am in the handset business when my software business is growing and has better margins.

Firstly, I have commitments to my customers who are using BB10 devices. This includes many governments and top government officials around the world. We can’t just say I am done and not expect to have negative repercussions.

These are the same customers I have to sell my software to. I have to be in the handset business for a long time. Therefore, the most important thing is to make money on the handset business.

We have looked at every aspect of this business to come with innovative way of doing things. Last September, someone asked how much time I will take to turn around the hardware piece and I said ask me a year later. Maybe I should have said 5 years. But I genuinely believe it can be done.

One of the things you have done to revive the handset business is to shift to Android. This has also not worked. Why?

BB10 is a good operating system but one problem with BB10 is that it does not have enough apps. So, while BB10 is popular with governments and enterprise, phone business is about volumes. Since we need a phone business with volume we looked at the various options. There is Windows but that has the same problem like BB10.

Then we have iOS but that is not open. So I have Android as the option. Android has 80 per cent of the market but most of the devices are in the mid to low-end segment.

There is a void at the high-end segment. So I thought the marriage between Android and our strengths such as security, enterprise features, encryption features would be great. But though people who use it, see it — they love it, it has not been working out well for us so far. Reason- high pricing.

It is basically in the range of the iPhone. The high-end phone market is also soft. Our distribution is also suspect.

Why haven’t you got the pricing right?

It’s because our component costs are high.

India used to be among the top 10 markets for BlackBerry at one time. Where does it figure now in your overall scheme?

We lost a lot of ground in India. We have now hired a seasoned enterprise executive — Narendra who has been mandated to build a team and partnership programmes. We want India to be back among the top 10 markets for us.

Are you looking at government contracts in India?

We do secure mobile communications — voice, data, text — and for that we are in discussion with a number of government agencies. But I think in India, it takes a long time to get anything done, especially if you are a multi-national.

We have been in discussion and I am here hoping to show our commitment.

Are you looking at licensing your security solutions to Indian Android OEMs? How are you approaching the SMB market?

Since our software is cross platform we support Android for Work and it has been growing. India will be driven by SMB. But most of Indian SMBs will not deploy a server or a CIO.

It may go for cloud-based solutions from a telecom operator, for example. So maintaining relationships with telecom operators is important.

What is the status of rolling out Movirtu - for offering virtual SIMs?

We are in the process of the rolling out in three countries. It’s a great concept. By May-end, we have three carriers in final phase of launching. This could be one area where we will do well.

Have you had any success with QNX in India, especially in the automobile segment?

Around 250 car models around the world has QNX today. We have a customer in India as well but I am unable to give out the name.

In a nutshell what would be your top-3 priorities?

Every year is different. I have to get device profitable. I have to maintain the lead on software to grow it as 30 per cent compared to a 20 per cent growth in market. We have to remain cash flow positive that gives us ability to stay and give time to execute and ability to invest.

You have done six acquisitions. Any potential buy outs in India?

We are very multinational. We have done acquisitions in Germany, the United Kingdom, Israel and the US. So, when it fits into our strategy and if it’s affordable we will do it.

[Iggy City]

BlackBerry keeps shooting themselves in the foot with every botched phone launch.

PRIV had lots of potential and it seems like it's hit a brick wall now....and now we go onto 2 new phones. If only they could get it right from the beginning.

Here's to try #52732! Hopefully this one works.

Rinse and repeat until they're finally out of hardware.

[bbjdog]

I love these so called supporters! Please go support Apple/iPhone, I will gladly pay you per word written (joking). Reminds me of my days of hockey and the i players on the team. LMAO




Posted via my BlackBerry Passport

[Klipspringers Shoes]

Chen's focus is enterprise, so he goes to enterprise and asks what they want and then he builds the Classic and they don't buy it, so he decides to go to enterprise and ask what they want and then he builds the Leap and they don't buy it, so he decides to focus on enterprise and ask them what they want and they tell him so he builds the Priv and they don't buy it so Chen should keep focusing on enterprise and asking them what they want.

ChenBerry Chalk Talk:

'Up the middle, up the middle, up the middle, punt. Go Team!'

Posted via CB10

[Iggy City]

Does it boggle your mind that I own BB.TO shares and I carry a Oneplus 2 and iPhone? It can't possibly be, could it?

I want to see BlackBerry succeed just as well as you do....but their hardware decisions are what I question.

[bbjdog]

Chen's focus is enterprise, so he goes to enterprise and asks what they want and then he builds the Classic and they don't buy it, so he decides to go to enterprise and ask what they want and then he builds the Leap and they don't buy it, so he decides to focus on enterprise and ask them what they want and they tell him so he builds the Priv and they don't buy it so Chen should keep focusing on enterprise and asking them what they want.

ChenBerry Chalk Talk:

'Up the middle, up the middle, up the middle, punt. Go Team!'

Posted via CB10

Repeat, repeat, repeat, and keep repeating. The more you repeat the more you believe in it.

Posted via my BlackBerry Passport

[anon(8865116)]

Yes and how exactly do these earnings losses constitute 'cash burn'? Answer? They don't. The cash used in the acquisitions has already been accounted for elsewhere, yet they have still shown 8 consecutive quarters of positive cash flow. There's a reason why publicly traded companies must issue an earnings statement AND a cash flow statement AND a balance sheet. You can bend one or two but never all three, unless you're a criminal of course.

Posted via CB10

you seem to be caught up on me using cash burn outside of the context of cash flow which was not my point. I was merely saying that looking at its cash value per share metric is meaningless by itself if the company continues to purchase companies and incur restructuring costs while also facing falling revenue QoQ.

How did they fund the Good acquisition? With 500 million in cash. What happens if software revenue doesn't outpace the fall in SAF, or if handsets drop off a cliff again? The possibility of negative income and cashflow is a REAL scenario. So once again, no investor is gonna say well blackberry is going to throw in the towel and return their cash on hand to their investors.

[kadakn01]

GOOD was 425 Million, and that was a bargain for what they paid, as it rejected an offer of nearly 800M just a few months after canceling filing thier S-1 for almost 1.1B

[Corbu]

JC / India
JC interview on CNBC-TV18
Going to make a tough call in September: BlackBerrys John Chen

[Corbu]

The Votes Are In: PRIV Beats Out 15 Other Smartphones in Tech Mag Readers? Poll | Inside BlackBerry

[morganplus8]

The Votes Are In: PRIV Beats Out 15 Other Smartphones in Tech Mag Readers? Poll | Inside BlackBerry

Yeah, and its all John Chens fault too. LOL

Hey Corbu, have you read or heard of John Chen referring to two mid-priced phones coming this year? I mean from his own words and not some lazy author of an article. Thanks

[DaSchwantz]

you seem to be caught up on me using cash burn outside of the context of cash flow which was not my point. I was merely saying that looking at its cash value per share metric is meaningless by itself if the company continues to purchase companies and incur restructuring costs while also facing falling revenue QoQ.

How did they fund the Good acquisition? With 500 million in cash. What happens if software revenue doesn't outpace the fall in SAF, or if handsets drop off a cliff again? The possibility of negative income and cashflow is a REAL scenario. So once again, no investor is gonna say well blackberry is going to throw in the towel and return their cash on hand to their investors.

Well, a cash value per share can always be given substance in the market by buying back shares, which BBRY has been doing more aggressively in the last 2 quarters. And if you maintain positive cash flow, this can be done indefinitely.

However, if the metrics are good enough, the excess cash is better used on creating revenue growth through acquisitions. This is in no way synonymous with 'cash burn', nor is the revenue and cash flow that it creates somehow illegitimate (like so many pundits seem to want us to believe). Chen has been quite successful so far in their acquisitions strategy, which is a big part of what's behind their software growth, and why it's going to start outpacing the SAF revenue declines in a much more clear way over the next several quarters. The momentum is already in the cards. In fact, that was a question they addressed in the conference call. SAF declines are going to become more and more meaningless to the company's metrics, and software growth more and more critical.

Hardware is a wash. All this debate lately seems to boil down to a difference in opinion as to how they should use their cash...i.e. Marketing to increase phone sales vs acquisitions to increase software sales. The answer to that question is really a function of the margins on each revenue dollar and the ratio of spending that is needed per dollar of revenue growth created. On the software side, those numbers seem pretty good, so money well spent (and one-time losses well-booked). On the hardware side, the math just doesn't seem to work as favorably, in my opinion. Not sure what all the griping and Chen bashing is about here lately, to be honest.

Posted via CB10

[DaSchwantz]

GOOD was 425 Million, and that was a bargain for what they paid, as it rejected an offer of nearly 800M just a few months after canceling filing thier S-1 for almost 1.1B

Yeah that was a great price, actually. The anger and lawsuits proved it, lol.

Posted via CB10

[Corbu]

Hey Corbu, have you read or heard of John Chen referring to two mid-priced phones coming this year? I mean from his own words and not some lazy author of an article. Thanks

No Sir! The only reference I can recall is from this morning, in that UAE piece:

The company’s chief executive, John Chen, told The National that BlackBerry plans to launch two mid-range Android handsets this year, one with a physical keyboard and one with a full touchscreen. He declined to say when the new devices would go on sale.

Given the number of times he has been misquoted and misunderstood, I would not give it any credence. They obviously have something in the pipeline in terms of HW (as he just said in the CNBC-TV18 interview) but "two mid-priced phones" would be news to me. We shall see. He seems much more concerned with distribution, etc.

[bungaboy]

Not sure what all the griping and Chen bashing is about here lately, to be honest.

I wish I could help you out on this one. I have my theories, but, they aren't fit to print. LoL

Ask bbjdog maybe.

Good luck in your quest for the truth on this.

[Hassan00]

The biggest problem in BlackBerry's handsets division is BlackBerry.
Even if the Priv was released for $499, it would have never sold well.
BlackBerry brand has been destroyed since 5 years, and people don't like BlackBerry's devices anymore. Thorstein Heinz knew that after the epic fail of BB10 and decided to sell the company afterwards. The hardware sold units were in free fall, and they would keep falling till hit the ground.
BlackBerry should pull the cord on hardware. No hope at all.