[Corbu]

More general reading from the Governor General:
Governor General David Johnston talks innovation with Cantech Letter at C2MTL - Cantech Letter

Amongst other things:

The big Canadian technology narrative tends to be the rise of very large companies, like Nortel, like BlackBerry, and then their fall. Is there something about the nature of Canada that prevents us from getting out of that cycle?

BlackBerry, of course, is continuing on in a somewhat different form. That’s the nature of change. As Joseph Schumpeter said, creative destruction, so that one has to be reinventing oneself all the time. Apple, for example, has gone through at least two of those transformations. Microsoft also has. And in this new communication revolution, I think we’ll see many different iterations, and some will thrive for a while and some will perish. But out of the setbacks, of course, comes a new generation of creative people, and that’s what’s happening in Waterloo.

[bigbadben10]

For you Dave!


Posted by my Passport SE

[DREXcb]

Still liking Telit as a partner or acquisition.

Telit and DMI Collaborate on End-to-End Enterprise Solutions for the Internet of Things
Telit, a global enabler of the Internet of the Things (IoT), and DMI, a global provider of mobile business solutions, announced a collaboration to deliver end-to-end Internet of Things solutions for the enterprise. The collaboration between Telit and DMI has resulted in the Cloud-based Telit IoT Portal, providing customers a single point of access for integrating data from remote assets with their enterprise systems, databases, and Web-based mobile apps and dashboards.

Posted via CB10

[morganplus8]

For you Dave!


Posted by my Passport SE

WOW! I was just looking at another Morgan today too! Now if Corbu could get a pic of his girlfriend sitting in a Morgan while taking a selfie with a BlackBerry product ..........................

Thanks!

[bbjdog]

WOW! I was just looking at another Morgan today too! Now if Corbu could get a pic of his girlfriend sitting in a Morgan while taking a selfie with a BlackBerry product ..........................

Thanks!

Never mind Corbu girlfriend, Coco would look nice beside that Morgan. LMAO

Change of topic :

BRIEF-Empery Asset Management reports 8.58 pct passive stake in Sophiris Bio
2016-05-24 05:58:00 PM ET (Reuters)
* *
* *
May 24 (Reuters) - Sophiris Bio Inc

* Empery Asset Management Lp reports 8.58 percent passive stake in Sophiris Bio Inc, as of May 6, 2016 - SEC filing Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:

Posted via my BlackBerry Passport

[Corbu]

Some IPO numbers on Nanthealth. Still unclear on what BBRY's involvement, aside from the initial minor investment they put in 2014.

Nant Health, L.A. Billionaire?s Health-Care Firm, Seeks $82 Million in IPO - WSJ

Thanks La E!

For those that don't have access to the WSJ...

CEO Patrick Soon-Shiong seen controlling about 58% of Nant Health�s voting power after the offering

Nant Health LLC, the biomolecular medicine company run by a Los Angeles billionaire entrepreneur, said Tuesday it sees its stock pricing between $12.50 and $15.50 a share in its coming initial public offering.

Patrick Soon-Shiong, chairman and chief executive of Nant Health, is a biotech investor, physician and scientist. He is widely known as one of the richest people in Los Angeles, thanks to his innovations in the health-care sector, from pioneering treatments for multiple forms of cancer to technological advancements in artificial intelligence.

He sold two biotech startups in 2008 and 2010 that he had launched, together worth roughly $8 billion. On Monday, he took a 13% stake in Tribune Publishing Co. for $70.5 million, becoming an ally to the newspaper owner as it fights against an unsolicited takeover bid from Gannett Co.

In a regulatory filing Tuesday, Nant Health said it plans to sell 6.5 million shares, plus up to 975,000 shares in a so-called overallotment option, which gives underwriters the opportunity to sell additional shares under certain circumstances. The company could be worth as much as $1.83 billion after the offering.

Nant Health said it expects to earn $81.6 million from the sale, assuming that the stock prices at the midpoint of its range and after deductions for underwriting discounts and commissions, as well as offering expenses. If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full, the company estimates proceeds of $94.3 million.

Nant Health is a subsidiary of Dr. Soon-Shiong�s NantWorks, a company devoted to applying advanced technology into different industries such as science, commerce and communication.

The company said Dr. Soon-Shiong is estimated to control roughly 58% of the voting power in Nant Health after the offering. Some of Nant�s existing investors, including entities affiliated with Dr. Soon-Shiong and biopharma company Celgene Corp., indicated an interest in purchasing up $70 million worth of shares in this offering.

The company has applied to list on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol NH.

[Thud Hardsmack]

[warn]This thread will remain SFW.[/warn]

[Corbu]

MSFT and HW...
Microsoft to Streamline Smartphone Hardware Business - WSJ

Some elements of this strategy sound awfully familiar.

Software giant insists that it isn’t exiting the mobile-phone business and will focus efforts in areas where it has ‘differentiation’

Microsoft Corp., struggling to restart its mobile strategy after multiple misfires, early on Wednesday morning announced a further step in dismantling the mobile-phone operations it acquired from Nokia Corp.

The software giant will lay off 1,850 workers, taking an impairment and restructuring charge of approximately $950 million, the company said. It will record the charge in the current quarter in its More Personal Computing segment.

Last summer, Microsoft wrote down $7.6 billion related to its mobile-phone business and laid off 7,800 workers in those operations.

Combined, the charges total a bit more than the $9.4 billion Microsoft spent in 2014 to acquire Nokia Corp.’s handset business.

The latest charge and layoffs follow the sale last week of Microsoft’s low-end phone business to FIH Mobile Ltd., a subsidiary of Hon Hai/ Foxconn Technology Group, and HMD Global Oy for $350 million.

In an email to employees, Terry Myerson, executive vice president of Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, insisted that the company isn’t exiting the mobile-phone business. Microsoft, which still makes three phones in its Lumia line, will continue to “develop great new devices,” Myerson wrote.

“[We’re] scaling back, but we’re not out!” Mr. Myerson wrote.

It would be difficult for Microsoft to be less in the mobile phone business that it currently is, though. The market research firm Gartner Inc. last week reported that sales of smartphones running various versions of Microsoft’s Windows software amounted to 0.7% of the market in the first quarter of 2016. A year earlier, Windows’ share of sales came to 2.5%.

The company intends to focus its mobile-phone efforts in areas where the company has “differentiation,” Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said in a statement. That includes businesses that want to use Microsoft’s technology to manage and secure devices on their corporate networks. Mr. Nadella also touted the company’s Continuum feature, which enables a smartphone running Windows 10 to function as a surrogate PC when connected a video monitor and keyboard.

Increasingly, companies are procuring phones for employees rather than letting workers bring their own devices onto corporate networks, said International Data Corp. analyst John Delaney. In Europe, where Mr. Delaney is based, about a third of all companies now offer employer-owned mobile phones to employees.

The strategy allows those companies to better manage the devices on their corporate networks. That could provide an opening for Microsoft, Mr. Delaney said.

“They are basically giving up on the consumer,” Mr. Delaney said. “It is the right strategy. It would have been good to have done it a bit sooner.”

Microsoft is banking on Windows 10, the latest version of its flagship operating system, to grow that business. Released last summer, Windows 10 is the first version of the operating system that can run on mobile phones and game consoles as well as personal computers.

The company is betting that the vast number of devices running Windows 10—300 million by the latest count—will convince software developers to create the sort of apps that will bring mobile customers to the company.

While it pursues that Windows-centric strategy, Microsoft is also developing technology for rival mobile operating systems. It offers its Office word-processing and spreadsheet software on Apple’s iOS, for example. Mr. Myerson in his email to employees described that approach as “pragmatic.”

The layoffs will hit hardest in Finland, Nokia’s home, where 1,350 jobs will be cut, Microsoft said. The company said the charges include about $200 million severance payments.

Microsoft’s mobile phone struggles stretch back more than a decade. It originally offered Windows Mobile, an operating system for mobile phones aimed at business users, in 2003. But BlackBerry Ltd., first, then Apple Inc.’s iPhone and phones running Alphabet Inc.’s Android operating system outpaced Microsoft. It shifted strategy in 2010, targeting consumers with the renamed Windows Phone software. Microsoft acquired Nokia’s handset business in hope of catching up, which gave the software giant a hardware maker committed to using its operating system. But Nokia, once the global leader in mobile phones, withered on Microsoft’s watch.

“When I look back on our journey in mobility, we’ve done hard work and had great ideas, but haven't always had the alignment needed across the company to make an impact,” Mr. Myerson wrote in his email to employees.

[Corbu]

Industry:
Apple rehires prominent security pro as encryption fight boils | Reuters

Encrytion and security, anyone?

Apple Inc (AAPL.O), which has resisted pressure from U.S. law enforcement to unlock encrypted iPhones, this month rehired a top expert in practical cryptography to bring more powerful security features to a wide range of consumer products.

Jon Callas, who co-founded several well-respected secure communications companies including PGP Corp, Silent Circle and Blackphone, rejoined Apple in May, an Apple spokesman said.

Callas had worked at Apple in the 1990s and again between 2009 and 2011, when he designed an encryption system to protect data stored on a Macintosh computer.

Apple declined to detail his new role, and Callas declined to comment.

The Cupertino, California-based company has clashed with the U.S. government over whether Apple should help law enforcement access encrypted customer information stored on its devices.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice asked federal judges in California and New York to force Apple to break into locked iPhones, including one that was used by one of the shooters in last year's attacks in San Bernardino, California.

The cases were dropped after the authorities managed to access the iPhones without Apple's help, but the political debate over encrypted technology continues.

The FBI and law enforcement maintain that tech companies need to help the government hunt criminals. Apple and other tech companies say that requiring them to circumvent their own encryption would undermine the security of their products and make them more vulnerable to malicious hackers.

A Senate committee, meanwhile, is mulling legislation to require companies to help law enforcement agencies bypass encryption.

Callas has said he is against companies being compelled by law enforcement to break into their own encrypted products. But he has also said he supports a compromise proposal under which law enforcement officials with a court order can take advantage of undisclosed software vulnerabilities to hack into tech systems, as long as they disclose the vulnerabilities afterwards so they can be patched.

"Jon is someone who has deep appreciation of all sides of the story," said Phil Dunkelberger, who was chief executive of PGP Corp and its predecessor PGP Inc, which invented a system for securing email.

Callas' return to Apple shows how encrypted communications are going mainstream. Silent Circle protects phone calls from eavesdroppers and Blackphone sells a mobile phone that is very difficult to hack. Both companies are small but well regarded.

Apple has said it would continue to increase the security of its products. Companies including Facebook Inc's (FB.O) WhatsApp messaging service have also implemented encryption that makes it harder for law enforcement to access digital information.

"It has always been Jon's dream to bring the most secure products possible to a bigger population," said Mike Janke, who co-founded the secure email company Silent Circle with Callas.

[Corbu]

BlackBerry Australia:

We can confirm that Matthew Ball is no longer with BlackBerry and we thank him for his contribution to the company. As VP of Sales for Asia-Pacific and Japan, Paul Crighton will continue to lead the team in Australia and New Zealand. BlackBerry is focused on growing its global enterprise customer base and Paul will play a key role in achieving this for the ANZ market as the company concentrates on several critical components. First, we provide customers choices in what operating system they can use by developing cross-platform mobile solutions that support Android, BB10, iOS or Windows. Next is providing the most secure mobile infrastructures – especially as companies are broadly adopting BYOD strategies that create more complex security challenges. Third is capitalizing on the pedigree and trust BlackBerry has built with strategic partners and governments around the world.

Source: Australia and New Zealand to be Guided by Paul Crighton as Part of Asia-Pacific Wide Focus

[kadakn01]

Some interesting trading in the options for BBRY. The past few days I have seen a spread trade where a Trader is Selling Calls at Jan 2018 at a strike of $7, and then buying 2X as many calls at Jan 2017 at a strike of $8.

So in this example the trader (did this over past few days and multiple trades) sold 100 calls for Jan 2018 and got $1.44 per contract or $14,400 at the strike of 8.
At the same time he bought 200 calls for Jan 2017 and paid $.57 per contract or $11,400 at the strike of 7.

He received a net $3,000 for doing this trade, and essentially could be long 20,000 shares at $8 and short 10,000 at $7.

So why do it? No idea!

J/k.....
The short term calls are a bet that BBRY will trade higher than say $8, plus cost of his option, so say around $8.50. If BBRY is at $10 before Jan 2017, the 20,000 shares are worth $40,000 for a profit of about 30K.

The loss on the longer term calls he sold on 10,000 shares is about $15,000.

so in this example he could net the $3,000 he got for doing the trade (or the spread) and pocket about $15,000 as well (obviously time decay, etc affects this, but I am rounding to make this easier to follow)
Every $1 more than BBRY goes up, he gets another $10,000 profit, so at $11, he would net $25,000.
The trader did this on several hundred thousand shares, so you can multiply to get profit potential. if BBRY goes down, he should be able to use the $3,000 he got to buy close the longer term calls at a later lower price than where he sold. he may have still lose and be net short after Jan 2017, but normally they will close out well before then.

So the trader expects a nearer term move to the upside in shares, and the further in the money the longer term options are, the closer to the net value they will trade. for example the Jan 2018 at a strike of $2 sells for $5.30 today for a total price of $7.30 vs. the current of $7.08

Posted on my Priv

[Andy_bb_king]

Why is such close price?

Posted from my trusted Passport

[Superfly_FR]

Green never hurts !

Posted via CB10

[Variante Alta]

Hey everyone...been on a mad tear at work last few months - simply no time to browse my favourite forum. Glad to see the regulars still here...depressing to see BB still in the doldrums. I still hold long and pray for the turn-around to prove the non-believers wrong...too much power in the wrong hands. Glad to be back...best to everyone!

Morgan: I hope things are looking sunnier in your world than a few months back...always love to read your insights. Best...

Posted via CB10

[world traveler and former ceo]

India and the iphone....not so fast Apple.....

SF edit :
Let's read the info source (Reuters), if you don't mind
http://in.reuters.com/article/apple-india-idINKCN0YG2KP

Posted via CB10

[Corbu]

Mr BBRY, rarsen, morganplus8 and 3 others like this.

[DaSchwantz]

Some interesting trading in the options for BBRY. The past few days I have seen a spread trade where a Trader is Selling Calls at Jan 2018 at a strike of $7, and then buying 2X as many calls at Jan 2017 at a strike of $8.

So in this example the trader (did this over past few days and multiple trades) sold 100 calls for Jan 2018 and got $1.44 per contract or $14,400 at the strike of 8.
At the same time he bought 200 calls for Jan 2017 and paid $.57 per contract or $11,400 at the strike of 7.

He received a net $3,000 for doing this trade, and essentially could be long 20,000 shares at $8 and short 10,000 at $7.

So why do it? No idea!

J/k.....
The short term calls are a bet that BBRY will trade higher than say $8, plus cost of his option, so say around $8.50. If BBRY is at $10 before Jan 2017, the 20,000 shares are worth $40,000 for a profit of about 30K.

The loss on the longer term calls he sold on 10,000 shares is about $15,000.

so in this example he could net the $3,000 he got for doing the trade (or the spread) and pocket about $15,000 as well (obviously time decay, etc affects this, but I am rounding to make this easier to follow)
Every $1 more than BBRY goes up, he gets another $10,000 profit, so at $11, he would net $25,000.
The trader did this on several hundred thousand shares, so you can multiply to get profit potential. if BBRY goes down, he should be able to use the $3,000 he got to buy close the longer term calls at a later lower price than where he sold. he may have still lose and be net short after Jan 2017, but normally they will close out well before then.

So the trader expects a nearer term move to the upside in shares, and the further in the money the longer term options are, the closer to the net value they will trade. for example the Jan 2018 at a strike of $2 sells for $5.30 today for a total price of $7.30 vs. the current of $7.08

Posted on my Priv

Worst case scenario the stock is at exactly $8 at opex in Jan 17 and (s)he's out $7,000 in total. Still has risks, but not a bad approach overall if you think this flat SP and low beta can't go on forever. The last couple of trading days add credence. May start looking at the calls again...the price is right but the timing is all still a bit fuzzy.

Posted via CB10

[morganplus8]

Hey everyone...been on a mad tear at work last few months - simply no time to browse my favourite forum. Glad to see the regulars still here...depressing to see BB still in the doldrums. I still hold long and pray for the turn-around to prove the non-believers wrong...too much power in the wrong hands. Glad to be back...best to everyone!

Morgan: I hope things are looking sunnier in your world than a few months back...always love to read your insights. Best...

Posted via CB10

Variante Alta !!

Thanks for stopping by to "see" us old timers on this thread! My health can be described as far more stable these days, life looks interesting again.

If you have been following BlackBerry, you might have noticed that Chen has been appeasing the media/analysts by telling them that the hardware business is subject to review in September while moving ahead with two more handsets and appointing new talent to head up HW! That's like my wife telling me, "no more projects, enjoy what you have now" to which I say, "sure, sure, no problem" while I plot my next big move. John Chen seems to be completely onboard with more HW, he knows something we don't and he is determined to make HW a part of BlackBerry's stable of products. And so the stock isn't going to do much until he is finished with his attempt to make HW work which could be several Q's away. I want him to stay in HW so I'm willing to wait it out.

As for the stock, the 50-dma is at $ 7.16/shr, we closed at $ 7.16/shr, the DOW Jones gapped up yesterday, above its 50-dma and looks good. We are attempting to do the same thing here, and our driver, for those who don't know, is the next Q report! Many of us have seen this happen every quarter only to find out that Hardware is still not profitable and SAF is falling as per usual. Will this next report turn things around? That's the driver for the stock over the next 4 weeks. If you need to get out of this sleeper, do it within this time frame, if you are adventurous, hold onto your stock for the next set of data! It's been that simple.

Support for the stock is in the low $ 7.00's (I'm too lazy to figure the exact number out but I think it is $ 7.05/shr), and of course, a breakout would be anything above $ 7.16/shr. Best of luck everyone.

[plasmid_boy]

Would be nice if he can also answer the other part of the question - the no new BB10 phone part.

sidhuk likes this.

[morganplus8]

Some interesting trading in the options for BBRY. The past few days I have seen a spread trade where a Trader is Selling Calls at Jan 2018 at a strike of $7, and then buying 2X as many calls at Jan 2017 at a strike of $8.

So in this example the trader (did this over past few days and multiple trades) sold 100 calls for Jan 2018 and got $1.44 per contract or $14,400 at the strike of 8.
At the same time he bought 200 calls for Jan 2017 and paid $.57 per contract or $11,400 at the strike of 7.

He received a net $3,000 for doing this trade, and essentially could be long 20,000 shares at $8 and short 10,000 at $7.

So why do it? No idea!

J/k.....
The short term calls are a bet that BBRY will trade higher than say $8, plus cost of his option, so say around $8.50. If BBRY is at $10 before Jan 2017, the 20,000 shares are worth $40,000 for a profit of about 30K.

The loss on the longer term calls he sold on 10,000 shares is about $15,000.

so in this example he could net the $3,000 he got for doing the trade (or the spread) and pocket about $15,000 as well (obviously time decay, etc affects this, but I am rounding to make this easier to follow)
Every $1 more than BBRY goes up, he gets another $10,000 profit, so at $11, he would net $25,000.
The trader did this on several hundred thousand shares, so you can multiply to get profit potential. if BBRY goes down, he should be able to use the $3,000 he got to buy close the longer term calls at a later lower price than where he sold. he may have still lose and be net short after Jan 2017, but normally they will close out well before then.

So the trader expects a nearer term move to the upside in shares, and the further in the money the longer term options are, the closer to the net value they will trade. for example the Jan 2018 at a strike of $2 sells for $5.30 today for a total price of $7.30 vs. the current of $7.08

Posted on my Priv

kadakn01 !!

First off, always like your messages, the content is the best. You stick to the topic and never stray from it, CB must love you and it must feel good not to be under MOD review all the time like the rest of us! LOL

This option trade is interesting, I see it as very bullish, I would add my twist to it by saying that I think the author of the trade is writing covered calls against a stock position for a healthy return, and then buying calls to stay in the game leveraged 2X going forward. The reason for this approach is two fold, (s)he isn't likely to get margin on a naked call write, no one does, I can't and I'm one of the largest BB call writers out there today. So I think they are looking at a recent stock purchase of $ 7.00/shr and writing for a potential return of $ 7.00 \ $ 9.44 or a 35% return on investment for 19 months. They can buy back those calls at any time. As a covered write, they aren't losing a dime unless the stock drops below $ 7.00 - $ 1.44 = $ 5.56/shr which is close to BBRY cash. All of this conservative strategy sets them up for a major bullish purchase of calls at the $ 8.00 mark. To summarize, they lose nothing if the stock stays flat, they make the purchase price of those call options back if the stock can get to $ 8.00 plus this year, the whole thing is successful as a bullish bet and makes sense assuming we are at the bottom of the trough for this stock price cycle.

All of this assumes they aren't likely to get margin on naked call writing (I realize it is technically a spread but weak on margin) ..... and, it is fun trying to explain it in a different way! GL

Let's ponder this trade while we wait to see if BBRY can close above its 50-dma today at $ 7.16/shr and start a bullish run!

[DaSchwantz]

Variante Alta !!

Thanks for stopping by to "see" us old timers on this thread! My health can be described as far more stable these days, life looks interesting again.

If you have been following BlackBerry, you might have noticed that Chen has been appeasing the media/analysts by telling them that the hardware business is subject to review in September while moving ahead with two more handsets and appointing new talent to head up HW! That's like my wife telling me, "no more projects, enjoy what you have now" to which I say, "sure, sure, no problem" while I plot my next big move. John Chen seems to be completely onboard with more HW, he knows something we don't and he is determined to make HW a part of BlackBerry's stable of products. And so the stock isn't going to do much until he is finished with his attempt to make HW work which could be several Q's away. I want him to stay in HW so I'm willing to wait it out.

As for the stock, the 50-dma is at $ 7.16/shr, we closed at $ 7.16/shr, the DOW Jones gapped up yesterday, above its 50-dma and looks good. We are attempting to do the same thing here, and our driver, for those who don't know, is the next Q report! Many of us have seen this happen every quarter only to find out that Hardware is still not profitable and SAF is falling as per usual. Will this next report turn things around? That's the driver for the stock over the next 4 weeks. If you need to get out of this sleeper, do it within this time frame, if you are adventurous, hold onto your stock for the next set of data! It's been that simple.

Support for the stock is in the low $ 7.00's (I'm too lazy to figure the exact number out but I think it is $ 7.05/shr), and of course, a breakout would be anything above $ 7.16/shr. Best of luck everyone.

That's actually a good description of the 'fuzzy timing' I was talking about...thanks for laying it out, Morgan.

Posted via CB10

[DaSchwantz]

Oh and Kadakn01 I also meant to thank you for using hard facts to get rid of some silliness. When one finds oneself stuck playing 'conversational whack-a-mole' at a machine that never seems to stop, sometimes the best solution is to write the word 'FACTS' on the side of a sledgehammer and just smash the thing to pieces right from the get go. If the facts are true, the hammer is heavy and the wielder is just. Opinions on the subject no longer matter.

I personally appreciate this approach very much. However, if facts are not clear, or are being twisted, hammers may need to swing until the heaviest and most truthful one silences the rest (and this is almost never the loudest one, btw). I hope the mods here can carry on to recognize and allow for respectful but hard clean fact-based debate where it is needed even if it means a few bruises happen once in a while. I am a scientist at heart, and this is at the core of the scientific method. Different opinions are turned into 'hypotheses', which are tested against facts. We can't test our hypotheses in this case, but they can be proved right or wrong with time.

Unfortunately with stock prices, and BBRY in particular, nobody knows 'how much time'. It's the waiting (and mistiming) that is more painful than any bruises incurred along the way. This forum is also an excellent way to share relevant information as we pass the time, but I understand why people get frustrated. Hopefully folks can also keep their frustrations in check enough to prevent more shutdowns. Cheers.

Posted via CB10

[_dimi_]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...-funding-round

Snapchat is worth 20 billion now.. go figure!

Posted via CB10

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Snapchat Valued at $18 Billion in Funding Round - Bloomberg

Snapchat is worth 20 billion now.. go figure!

Posted via CB10

This one gives some comparisons of other social apps... userbase and projected monetary values. Why Snapchat is worth $19 billion (or more) - Fortune

Imagine if BlackBerry had acted in 2011 as Jim wanted to take BBM cross platform....

It's all about the users.....how many you have, how often they use the app, and what their demographics are.

[Jahcure]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...-funding-round

Snapchat is worth 20 billion now.. go figure!

Posted via CB10

Short traders dream.

Posted via CB10