[dalinxz]

And as both parties know the cap is set at 40% in any buy-out, whoever has the most shares of BBRY by that point, gets the company... :-)

Posted via CB10

There's no cap, but that's a realistic BO premium, as unfair as it might be, share price down this low for this long would get buy in from majority of holders. Retail would get screwed.

[Corbu]

More car stuff:

Intel Courts Auto Industry as Battle Brews to Provide Autonomous Car Computing Power - WSJ

Intel Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich on Tuesday arrived at his first car show as a keynote speaker to deliver the message that his company’s computing muscle and big-data prowess are just what auto makers need as they prepare for a world of vehicles that can drive themselves.

During his speech at Los Angeles’ annual car show, he plans to announce a $250 million commitment by Intel Capital to invest in autonomous car technology during the next two years.

Mr. Krzanich, who oversees the Silicon Valley semiconductor giant, faces increased competition as chip companies position themselves to provide the computing power for what quickly are becoming data centers on wheels. Rival Qualcomm Inc., the dominant vendor of smartphone chips, agreed to acquire the Dutch automotive chip leader NXP Semiconductors NV for $39 billion, while Nvidia Corp. provides chips for the latest generation of electric cars from Tesla Motors Inc.
“We see the world of cars shifting from something that uses computers to enhance the drive to something that uses compute to really power the drive,” Mr. Krzanich said in an interview before his speech. “More and more, it’s going to be that compute capability that’s going to drive a lot of the differentiation of the car of the future.”

Intel’s automotive business, which is involved in 30 vehicle programs on the road currently, is slated to increase that number to 49 by 2020 with orders worth $1 billion, the company said. Intel doesn’t break out its automotive business in its financial results. Several auto makers including Ford Motor Co. and BMW AG are targeting 2021 to build self-driving vehicles.

Mr. Krzanich’s job increasingly involves courting auto makers. During a recent trip to Europe, for example, he spent 60% of conversations with auto executives. “I love cars—they’re a passion of mine,” he said before sheepishly admitting he drives a staid Toyota Prius. His garage, however, stables a couple of Porsches.
The Los Angeles extravaganza, which opens to the public on Friday, has been rebranded during the days leading up to the event—traditionally devoted to presenting vehicles to the press—as Automobility LA in an effort to show case technology in autos.

Even without building fully self-driving cars, auto makers need increasing computing power to fuel advanced safety features and entertainment systems. The average new car contains 616 chips compared with 550 in 2013, the research IHS Markit estimates, performing tasks as mundane as controlling headlights and as sophisticated as warning when a car strays out of a lane.

Tesla, the Silicon Valley electric-car maker, is shipping vehicles with all of the hardware needed to drive themselves with the addition of software that is still in development. The software needs to be validated and approved by regulators, but Tesla’s move underscores the rapid advance of a car industry that typically has judged innovation in terms of incremental improvements in fuel efficiency and radio systems that seem antiquated compared with a smartphone.

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang told investors last week that Tesla’s self-driving hardware put the auto maker far ahead of competitors.

“Anybody who was talking about autonomous capabilities and 2020 and 2021 is, at the moment, re-evaluating in a very significant way,” Mr. Huang said.

Intel’s relationship with BMW could serve as a model for the chip giant’s approach to other auto makers. The companies, along with parts supplier Mobileye, are working to bring out an autonomous car in 2021, they announced earlier this year.

The Intel-BMW partnership demonstrates the changing roll that chip makers have in the automotive industry, where chips have been regarded as commodities. Auto makers, unlike computer and smartphone vendors, haven’t bragged about a vehicle’s processing power. They’ve touted horsepower.

But vehicles that generate and consume large amounts of data raise new challenges, such as privacy and cybersecurity. Mr. Krzanich sees a place for his company to help auto makers sift the data flood to make sure some is kept private, some is shared to help update autonomous systems, and some is available to advertisers. He pointed to the company’s work in health care with Cancer Cloud, a collaborative project with Oregon Health and Science University that lets medical researchers share data while keeping parts of it private.

The typical car today puts out very little data, Mr. Krzanich said, while the typical autonomous car will generate 4,000 gigabytes a day in 2020. Car companies are going to need help managing that. “It is a marriage of bringing what I call automotive skills together with data center and high compute skills,” he said.

Intel $250 million investment autonomous driving - Business Insider

[W Hoa]

Some having been looking forward to a short squeeze for BBRY. It may never happen but that's not to say it won't.

DryShips Soars 1,500% Amid Epic Short Squeeze
Sea-transport provider rallies as scant inventory of its shares sparks dramatic short squeeze.

DryShips (DRYS) soared some 70% in Tuesday trading and has risen some 1,500% over the past week as one of the most spectacular short squeezes the market has witnessed in a long time grips this unique investment vehicle.

DryShips shares jumped 70.3% to $73 Tuesday on a huge volume surge. More than 10 million shares changed hands -- some 20 times the stock's average daily volume of less than 500,000. DRYS had been as high as $102 earlier in the session and is up from just $4.56 a share at last Tuesday's close.

It's a remarkable turn of events for a stock that was trading just above $1 a share as recently as August.

https://news.thestreet.com/story/138...t-squeeze.html

[world traveler and former ceo]

Throw a consortium of auto makers in the mix as well. If a neutral, secure platform is necessary, I'm sure the automakers will view BlackBerry/QNX as critical to maintaining control of their product, just as they viewed Nokia's Here mapping platform. QNX is in virtually the entire automotive supply chain.

It's either buy BlackBerry/QNX or go Genivi (the hardened automotive version of Linux). QNX already has the certifications, the proven platform, and the lead.

Posted via CB10

Yes, they have the lead and some credentials but they can be left behind just as quickly as they did with messaging...

ONLY if BlackBerry executes very well and does not bungle it like they did with cross platform BBM and other past poor decisions ... only to be left watching other startup companies (whatsapp, LINE, wechat) run away with multu-billion dollar deals...While their once leading product is relegated to minor status, can BlackBerry win and their shareholders finally win big, IMO.

BlackBerry's QNX is their biggest asset...

... the Ford deal was awesome!... but now they need to follow that with other major deal(s) with other big auto makers, and really scale up and demonstrate critical mass capability and presence that really gets noticed by investors and other deep pocketed players...

While this is happening they need to finally rid themselves ASAP of the past money losing baggage (mobile phone manufacturing) ....that has tarnished the Brand and the stock, ..thereby showing a new profitable growing cool company... the new BlackBerry.

hopefully, 2017 is a banner year for BlackBerry...

I say that every year, sadly..but with new licensing deals, and focus on the new winning strategic core business... they (Chen) can finally say..." transition 100% completed... we did it!



Posted via CB10

[W Hoa]

BlackBerry's QNX is their biggest asset...

It would be quite the story if the purchase of QNX by former CEO's Mike Lazaradis and Jim Balsillie allowed BlackBerry to, like a Phoenix, rise up and retake the world stage. Regaining the Signal: The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Blackberry.

I'd buy that book.

[world traveler and former ceo]

http://tribune.com.pk/story/1232016/...medium=twitter

Posted via CB10

[DaSchwantz]

Well Samsung just got QNX source code "license -free" for the next 14 years +/-. Harmon retained the rights to use QNX for 20 years as part of the deal when they sold QNX to BlackBerry if I recall correctly.

Posted via CB10

As Morgan pointed out, it's access to source code, not 'rights to use'...if Sammy builds something on top of the QNX kernel, that's not necessarily a bad thing for BlackBerry when you consider that cars of the future will likely have to work with various systems via a Hypervisor type product or function. We know that QNX is now working directly with Ford (and that means Toyota indirectly via SDL), but I'm not sure the automakers will like the fact that Sammy now owns Harmon. It's fine from the hardware, cabin 'add-on' and infotainment perspective, but I suspect they'll try to keep it away from interacting with core operations via the dashboard and control systems. In other words, I think this will actually help BlackBerry grow its Tier One work with automakers. In fact, the recent Ford deal was likely brokered/announced because of rumours about Sammy doing dd on Harmon. Hopefully other automakers will start to do more work directly with BlackBerry as well.

[plasmid_boy]

As Morgan pointed out, it's access to source code, not 'rights to use'...if Sammy builds something on top of the QNX kernel, that's not necessarily a bad thing for BlackBerry when you consider that cars of the future will likely have to work with various systems via a Hypervisor type product or function. We know that QNX is now working directly with Ford (and that means Toyota indirectly via SDL), but I'm not sure the automakers will like the fact that Sammy now owns Harmon. It's fine from the hardware, cabin 'add-on' and infotainment perspective, but I suspect they'll try to keep it away from interacting with core operations via the dashboard and control systems. In other words, I think this will actually help BlackBerry grow its Tier One work with automakers. In fact, the recent Ford deal was likely brokered/announced because of rumours about Sammy doing dd on Harmon. Hopefully other automakers will start to do more work directly with BlackBerry as well.

Ford should just buy out BlackBerry and keep that competitive edge in-house.

[huwit]

Why up?

[Mr.Conviviality]

Why up?

why not?

[bbfort]

Looks like BlackBerry is losing another once dominant market for its phones:

Mayday!! Etisalat ends blackberry internet service support for blackberry phones - FEMTOP TECH

[ZayDub]

Why up?

Some could argue it should have never been down

BBM Channel: C002165D3 Tour 9630 > Bold 9650 > Q10 > Playbook > Classic AND Passport SE!!!

[Corbu]

Security, Productivity and Affordability: How DTEK50 and DTEK60 Check Every Box for Enterprise IT Managers | Inside BlackBerry

[morganplus8]

Just some odds and ends here:

MOBL has a 12 month underwriter established target of $ 3.00/shr and is currently trading at $ 4.00/shr, if it gets an offer, it will likely be around 20% above $ 3.00/shr, or, nothing near its current price.

Good Tech was set to do an IPO at $ 850 MM and went out at $ 425 MM.

The Samsung deal is ongoing, Apple could step in at any time and counter their bid. Let's see if anybody else wants to buy this company more than Samsung.

BlackBerry is controlled by Prem Watsa who owns 16.9% of the outstanding shares and his average cost is close to $ 13.00/shr. John Chen holds stock options with an exercise price of $ 8.85/shr and he has publicly stated he wouldn't entertain offers below $ 15.00/shr for the company. You must know that BBRY won't be going out for less than what Chen and Prem agree to, its that simple. This is a negative for the current price of the stock as there is no hope of a buyout at these levels so it trades at a discount to its intrinsic value today.

There is zero correlation between companies and M&A activity, there is no "average" percent offered above the current stock price. Some M&A involve the buyer purchasing 10% of the outstanding shares and then releasing their intentions for the investment or buyout as per the law. If someone bought BBRY, i.e. 10% of it right now, the stock would be much higher than it is today; then the offer would come from that.

As for the stock, it broke above its 50-dma and its 200-dma which is bullish, it also hit an RSI = 70 at $ 7.83/shr today, causing a sell signal. Right now, it is confirming the breakout above its 50-dma while backing and filling the over-bought target it hit earlier. Look for it to confirm the breakout, then rally from here into the RSI O/B levels again.

Good luck as we are entering the sweet zone for equity investments now with tax loss selling basically over and position squaring ends this month for most funds.

[DaSchwantz]

Ford should just buy out BlackBerry and keep that competitive edge in-house.

Re buyout, what Morgan said. also note increased stake by Ontario Teachers Pension Fund...can't go wrong by following their moves....Prem is setting the price, but OTP and Kahn are lining up. If you're a long term investor don't sell any significant shares until the rest do....

[Corbu]

QNX:

+ this:
https://event.on24.com/eventRegistra...epage=register

Embedded Hypervisors

November 30, 2016 02:00 PM EST

Spend some one on one time with the QNX virtualization experts:

Powerful computer hardware with multiple cores and multiple graphic displays are making an impact in every embedded industry, especially automotive. Virtualization of operating systems and services seems like a natural progression to run on this hardware. But how do you do this properly? Safely? Securely? With the right mix of real-time and performance? How do you share graphics between operating systems? Share audio interfaces?

Bring your questions and have them answered by the QNX embedded hypervisor kernel team… the team that writes the code and solves the hard design problems.

Greened, morganplus8, alludba and 5 others like this.

[Corbu]

EBN - Ariella Brown - BlackBerry's Indonesian Partnerships Demand Local Components

[W Hoa]

For those in the neighborhood:

[Corbu]

BlackBerry DTEK60 review - Review - PC Advisor

For the first time in a while, this is a BlackBerry we can recommend to the individual consumer. It is also a business device, but the flexibility of Android means it is versatile enough to be moulded to the needs of both. It marries the Android operating system with robust, easy to use security features and slick design, all for under �500.

It doesn’t have the brand clout of an iPhone or the curved edges of a Samsung Galaxy, but with its admittedly quite straight-faced take on the modern smartphone BlackBerry has just – just – turned a corner. This is an excellent smartphone.

[rarsen]

OT for after-hours reading on Security Exposure:
How your connected home or office is a gift for hackers, criminals, and cyber spies | ZDNet

"[Your television] may not be mobile, but my God, can you imagine what the television would say about you if the camera was on?
"People don't necessarily think about the invasiveness of these devices. People think about malware as going after credit cards, but as we build-in GPS, cameras, and microphones to connect devices which help manage our shopping... cybercriminals will find new and creative ways to monetize it. It's what they do best,"
Like any form of cybercrime, hacking a bigger target, even if it means playing a long game, can prove to be much more lucrative.
"The funny thing is we're just accepting it and letting it in. If you look at Amazon Echo or Google Home, the amount of information they're already gleaning about your habits and thought processes is pretty incredible,"

[sidhuk]

http://m.gulfnews.com/business/secto...ness-1.1931025
Some encouraging words

[Corbu]

The most beautiful Android BlackBerry ever: DTEK60 - first impressions | South China Morning Post

[W Hoa]

BlackBerry still committed to smartphone business | Gulfnews.com

Some encouraging words

Alex Thurber, Senior VP, BlackBerry, said there will be a lot of BlackBerry-branded devices in the market next year.

[rarsen]

OT from Related Technologies for weekend reading, explains somewhat why Chen is outsourcing HW:
Could Trump be the catalyst for an all-American iPhone? | ZDNet

This would add about $100 to the overall retail price. But all this would rely on assembly plants and skilled workers being ready to start building iPhones. And that infrastructure doesn't exist. First off, Apple doesn't manufacture iPhones itself. This job is outsourced to Foxconn and Pegatron, and these companies, in turn, manufacture the iPhone at six assembly plants in China and one in Brazil. These are some huge problems that would need to be overcome, and not the sort of thing that anyone can fix in a few months or years.

[Corbu]

BlackBerry Hires Canada?s Smartest Person | Inside BlackBerry