[W Hoa]

On the changes taking place in the automotive sector and why BlackBerry is "hiring like crazy":

Grant Courville, vice president of product management and strategy for Blackberry QNX, says Canada has entered a period of transformation from production to more of a software-based automotive industry.

“It’s not about manufacturing being eliminated, the real opportunity is in the software sector,” Courville said. “The auto sector is very, very important to Blackberry.

“The federal government is betting on (the industry) with things like its strategic innovation plan. The province has the Auto Vehicle Innovation Network, which supports smaller firms, and has already made investments in Windsor, Ottawa and Waterloo.

“Canada has a real shot in leading innovation in the industry.”

Courville said major automakers are setting up large research and development centres in Ontario. Ford is in Ottawa while General Motors has set up shop in Markham.

FCA has its own research and development facility in Windsor.

“They can’t hire people fast enough and we’re hiring like crazy,” said Courville, who said Blackberry is involved with every global automaker.

https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/bu...stment-300361/

[Corbu]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...s-on-internal/
Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa says Fairfax will focus on internal growth at key insurance business

Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa told shareholders of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd on Thursday that the company will focus on internal growth at its key insurance business and step up efforts to boost its stock price by focusing on investment returns.

Watsa, who oversees insurance and other businesses in more than 100 countries, expressed disappointment at the company’s weak stock performance and book value over the past five years, largely the result of unimpressive returns from its investment holdings.

He said Fairfax was de-emphasizing acquisition-driven growth, but assured shareholders that would not limit the company’s overall performance.

Watsa nonetheless defended some of Fairfax’s core holdings, which include BlackBerry Ltd and Greek lender Eurobank Ergasias SA, and told shareholders to be patient and ignore the short-term stock market fluctuations and focus on the long-term performance.

“We are building the company for the next hundred years, long after I am gone,” he told shareholders at the company’s annual shareholder meeting.

[smithm565]

BlackBerry short interest drops 15%, now down to 19.5 million, as of 3/29/19.

https://wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_30...B-listing.html

Posted via CB10

[Andy_bb_king]

BlackBerry short interest drops 15%, now down to 19.5 million, as of 3/29/19.

https://wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_30...B-listing.html

Posted via CB10

Could expert please explain how shorts covered so much while share price was kept down this low? Does this mean we shouldn't expect short squeeze when shorts ratio is high as shorts can easily cover obviously?

[Corbu]

Oh, btw, who's leading The Masters at the end of this first day?

https://forums.crackberry.com/e?link...token=xxecw3yg

LOL!

morganplus8 and rarsen like this.

[Corbu]

Interesting series of tweets from Alex Thurber:

I may be wrong - and don't recall seeing anything official - but Alex's Twitter profile seems to have changed recently. I suspect he may have left BB.

morganplus8 and rarsen like this.

[smithm565]

Could expert please explain how shorts covered so much while share price was kept down this low? Does this mean we shouldn't expect short squeeze when shorts ratio is high as shorts can easily cover obviously?

No expert, and you may be able to find out specific info by googling short interest, short sale, or days to cover.

..basically the short interest is a lagging number, when released, that is calculated on open short positions that have not been closed out (covered) or settled on the reporting date. It is a static number and does not show activity between the reporting dates or after. It is the net open on that date. Someone could have covered 1,000,000 shares between the reporting dates, while someone else opened a short position of 800,000 shares, and on the report date it nets as 200,000 covered. Hope this helps?

Posted via CB10

[Andy_bb_king]

No expert, and you may be able to find out specific info by googling short interest, short sale, or days to cover.

..basically the short interest is a lagging number that is calculated on open short positions that have not been closed out (covered) or settled on the reporting date. It is a static number and does not show activity between the reporting dates or after. It is the net open on that date. Someone could have covered 1,000,000 shares between the reporting dates, while someone else opened a short position of 800,000 shares, and on the report date it nets as 200,000 covered. Hope this helps?

Posted via CB10

What I was referring to is the short interest ratio has dropped from over 20 percent to about 3 percent within 2 years while the share price was still this low. I guess shorts might have manipulated the price to first drive it high enough ahead of the fundamentals and then cover them when the price is going down. That is why I say don't buy the shares heavily while the short interest ratio is high. Just because it may come down before it goes up. To the current state, since most shorts have left, we are safer now hopefully.

[morganplus8]

Just to keep the covered call writing option theme going here for BlackBerry I thought I would post a video on the subject:



The following video gives you an idea of how you would go about choosing the time, premium and strike level for certain outcomes. There are an endless number of videos that talk about option strategies so prepare to sit back and listen to some of them to really build the know how and confidence to start your own income producing program.

[rytwjyx]

Just to keep the covered call writing option theme going here for BlackBerry I thought I would post a video on the subject:



The following video gives you an idea of how you would go about choosing the time, premium and strike level for certain outcomes. There are an endless number of videos that talk about option strategies so prepare to sit back and listen to some of them to really build the know how and confidence to start your own income producing program.

Some takeaways
- In the money - usually for overall bearish market or before major events like brexit where people are feeling nervous
- Out of the money - usually for overall bullish/stable market
- Don't write options before earnings report
- When the spread is wide between bid/ask, you don't necessarily have to sell at the bid price using the show or fill rule (https://seekingalpha.com/article/667...w-or-file-rule)

[Corbu]

Ot:

morganplus8, La Emperor, rarsen and 1 others like this.

[Corbu]

[Seadog83]

Looks like there was a joint motion to dismiss the suit against Instagram? Voluntary dismissal without prejudice which is what I gathered after a few reloads between the second of viewing and when the popup blocked things.

https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/...ook,_Inc_et_al

Not sure exactly the details as I'm not super proficient in law, but I take it that implies there was an out of court settlement? Or perhaps upon consultation with Instagram's lawyers BB figured it was a fight not worth fighting? I optimistically lean towards the former on the assumption that they wouldn't have even started down this path unless they had a decent case in the first place though.

I'm hesitant to draw a conclusion though, and even with my meager understanding surprised at a lot of the legal ignorance out there. Discovery hasn't even taken place yet, but people are jumping over themselves every time the phrase "ruling" is uttered assuming that means we'll have a final answer when it's actually something as trivial as the definition of terms is being decided.

[app_Developer]

What I was referring to is the short interest ratio has dropped from over 20 percent to about 3 percent within 2 years while the share price was still this low. I guess shorts might have manipulated the price to first drive it high enough ahead of the fundamentals and then cover them when the price is going down. That is why I say don't buy the shares heavily while the short interest ratio is high. Just because it may come down before it goes up. To the current state, since most shorts have left, we are safer now hopefully.

You can explain this as manipulation or conspiracy.

Another explanation is just rational behavior. The downside risk for this company is reduced as they are now in lines of businesses that have fewer downside risks. Therefore, shorting this stock isn’t as attractive now as it was for a few years.

[morganplus8]

Looks like there was a joint motion to dismiss the suit against Instagram? Voluntary dismissal without prejudice which is what I gathered after a few reloads between the second of viewing and when the popup blocked things.

https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/...ook,_Inc_et_al

Not sure exactly the details as I'm not super proficient in law, but I take it that implies there was an out of court settlement? Or perhaps upon consultation with Instagram's lawyers BB figured it was a fight not worth fighting? I optimistically lean towards the former on the assumption that they wouldn't have even started down this path unless they had a decent case in the first place though.

I'm hesitant to draw a conclusion though, and even with my meager understanding surprised at a lot of the legal ignorance out there. Discovery hasn't even taken place yet, but people are jumping over themselves every time the phrase "ruling" is uttered assuming that means we'll have a final answer when it's actually something as trivial as the definition of terms is being decided.

I would love to see that document in full, thanks for posting the link. I'm too cheap to pay for it so I too will conclude that it seems strange that this case wouldn't get out of the gate without a strong challenge behind it. We'll have to see how it goes, remember Nokia, same thing and we were forced to wait a very long time to get the results of that challenge. The ever hopeful side of me wants to believe they have settled in a similar way to Nokia. We'll see.

[morganplus8]

What I was referring to is the short interest ratio has dropped from over 20 percent to about 3 percent within 2 years while the share price was still this low. I guess shorts might have manipulated the price to first drive it high enough ahead of the fundamentals and then cover them when the price is going down. That is why I say don't buy the shares heavily while the short interest ratio is high. Just because it may come down before it goes up. To the current state, since most shorts have left, we are safer now hopefully.

To your point I haven't witnessed that many trades where the short interest had a compiling effect on the price of the stock. You see it in biotech but not so much in tech. These are some very smart traders that short stock, they understand the beta of the stock and its likelihood of actually turning around. When John came on board the balance sheet for BB was a disaster. So there was plenty of time to real in the price of the stock on each of those rallies. I too would have liked to see a tailwind on that 20% short position and in some ways I think we did see just that. In any case, the news that the SI is down to more normal levels for its sector is the result of limited perceived risk by many, more Funds buying into the dream and guidance that mirrors the sector. At some point we will begin a stealth rally of sorts that lasts. That's my guess. GL

[rampagingpanda]

I would love to see that document in full, thanks for posting the link. I'm too cheap to pay for it so I too will conclude that it seems strange that this case wouldn't get out of the gate without a strong challenge behind it. We'll have to see how it goes, remember Nokia, same thing and we were forced to wait a very long time to get the results of that challenge. The ever hopeful side of me wants to believe they have settled in a similar way to Nokia. We'll see.

You can sign up for a 14-day free trial to view these documents in full. All they require is a valid email address for the trial.

From what I can tell, Instagram has switched from Instagram INC to Instragram LLC?

'Having considered the Joint Stipulation of the parties to Case No. 2:18-cv-01844, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT all claims asserted against Instagram, Inc. shall be dismissed, without prejudice, from this action pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P.41(a)(l)(A)(ii). Instagram, LLC shall assume all liabilities, obligations,and defenses relating to any claims in this action that were originally asserted against Instagram, Inc., including any liability for past damages.Instagram, Inc. shall henceforth be removed from the caption.IT IS SO ORDERED.'

[smithm565]

You can sign up for a 14-day free trial to view these documents in full. All they require is a valid email address for the trial.

From what I can tell, Instagram has switched from Instagram INC to Instragram LLC?

'Having considered the Joint Stipulation of the parties to Case No. 2:18-cv-01844, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT all claims asserted against Instagram, Inc. shall be dismissed, without prejudice, from this action pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P.41(a)(l)(A)(ii). Instagram, LLC shall assume all liabilities, obligations,and defenses relating to any claims in this action that were originally asserted against Instagram, Inc., including any liability for past damages.Instagram, Inc. shall henceforth be removed from the caption.IT IS SO ORDERED.'

I think the original filed lawsuit included Facebook, Inc; Whatsapp Inc; Instagram Inc, and Instagram, LLC as defendants.

Posted via CB10

[morganplus8]

You can sign up for a 14-day free trial to view these documents in full. All they require is a valid email address for the trial.

From what I can tell, Instagram has switched from Instagram INC to Instragram LLC?

'Having considered the Joint Stipulation of the parties to Case No. 2:18-cv-01844, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT all claims asserted against Instagram, Inc. shall be dismissed, without prejudice, from this action pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P.41(a)(l)(A)(ii). Instagram, LLC shall assume all liabilities, obligations,and defenses relating to any claims in this action that were originally asserted against Instagram, Inc., including any liability for past damages.Instagram, Inc. shall henceforth be removed from the caption.IT IS SO ORDERED.'

Thanks for the heads up, I'll have a look at it when I have a moment. My buddy is a lawyer so I'll send him something and get his take ion it.

[bbjdog]

'Having considered the Joint Stipulation of the parties to Case No. 2:18-cv-01844, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT all claims asserted against Instagram, Inc. shall be dismissed, without prejudice, from this action pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P.41(a)(l)(A)(ii). Instagram, LLC shall assume all liabilities, obligations,and defenses relating to any claims in this action that were originally asserted against Instagram, Inc., including any liability for past damages.Instagram, Inc. shall henceforth be removed from the caption.IT IS SO ORDERED.'

Nice reading material mate!!!

[Corbu]

Public Policy Forum
Published on Apr 15, 2019
Fireside Chat: Reimagining Canada’s Tech Icon

With: John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry
Interviewed by: Tom Clark, Chair, Global Public Affairs

[EchoTango]

Since this thread has been a little quiet recently, I thought I'd do a precey on where Blackberry is and what's coming up this quarter.

Analyst Day - The company will be holding a meeting with analysts on April 23rd which I can only expect to include an over abundance of rubber chicken, erudite pontifications, prodigious quantities of hot air and oh yes...... a small oil tanker's worth of free alcohol. We can expect significant and exuberant goodwill with all the "pundits" basking in the afterglow of getting one's snout nicely filled at the corporate trough. Probably going to cause a short-term share price bump but only for a very short term.

IP Lawsuits - I'm not that up to date on these matters and some on this thread are much more aware than I am. However, I think the net net is the legal maneuvering will continue as trial dates approach. I suspect all the Defendants will keep to their guns and a settlement will come from the Judge at the end of the trial and not from the involved parties. FB and Instagram have way too much money and are quite fine with "going the distance" which is not the case for Blackberry. I suspect there is significant risk for BB that a large expenditure in legal costs to net them nothing and might even get slapped with covering the Defendant's costs. One can only hope the legal team has considered all risks and then and only then proceeded with the case(s).

Products - I can't see anything being announced this quarter other than wins from current development project from both BB and Cylance. I think the Enterprize division who put in a marginal performance last quarter and I expect they will be looking for some wins or a new executive. I expect the newly created US government company will want to get some early headlines and so expect some announcements filed with buckets of hope and promises.

Markets - Automotive will continue to dominate with security a close second. It will be interesting to see if Cylance will continue it's explosive growth now that the deal is closed, checks are cashed, exotic cars orders placed and reality unfolds. We will now get a taste of what was really purchased if we see a step down from the presale anticipated trajectory. I think the transportation sector (Radar) wil have some unexpected wins this quarter but will have an expected limited effect on the overall financials. One can hope the general nervousness of the global corporations will cause investments in infrastructure and BB getting a decent share of that pie.

Share Price - I expect to see BB trading in the $9.00 US range without much movement. However, with last quarter's $.08 eps, the next incremental step is into double digits territory which will now start to become, at least optically, material. I expect to see a nice bump from this step, but as I write this I just realised I've just pinned hopes on the next quarter, which is a disease all BB shareholders suffer from. I can only offer that even a broken clock is right twice a day and maybe this will be this share's "moment in time". One caveat, with the DOW trading near it's all time high, markets may roll back as historically they have done negatively impacting overall trading ranges.

So, that's my take on the company we all love to hate. I'm quite happy to have any of my prognostications challenged, ridiculed or called just plain BS as all commentary will be accepted and appreciated.

[Hazo]

https://www.fool.ca/2019/04/16/3-rea...n-tech-legend/

[Corbu]

Avanci secures deals with Audi and Porsche

http://avanci.com/

http://204.236.224.159/vt/avanci/ava...sing-platform/

Props to SH.

[Corbu]

How Blackberry Has Become a Cyber-Security Player

How Blackberry Has Become a Cyber-Security Player

By: Sean Michael Kerner | April 16, 2019

Blackberry is a very different company today than it was a decade ago, as the one-time mobile giant is now firmly positioning itself to be a global player in the cyber-security market.

Among the new assets in the Blackberry security portfolio is Cylance, which was acquired in a $1.4 billion deal announced in November 2018. Cylance is however only one of many different cyber-security technologies within Blackberry. In a video interview with eWEEK, Blackberry CTO, Charles Eagan explains what his company is now doing in cyber-security as it transitions away from its mobile device past.

"We probably have 50 different elements in our security portfolio," Eagan told eWEEK.

Among the cyber-security technologies in the Blackberry portfolio is mobile device management (MDM) capabilities gained via the acquisition of Good Technology for $425 million in 2015.

"Good gives us a dynamic container to create a secure environment in otherwise insecure devices," Eagan said.

QNX Technologies, which was acquired by Blackberry in 2010 for $200 million, provides a secure embedded operating system that is widely used in the automotive industry and general engineering. Certicom is another core cyber-security asset in the Blackberry portfolio, providing cryptographic and hardware key provisioning capabilities. Blackberry acquired Certicom in 2009 for $106 million.

Cylance is the newest part of the Blackberry portfolio, bringing along with it Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) in the Cylance Protect product and forensics with Cylance Optics. Cylance also recently expanded its portfolio with the Persona product, which provides user behavior analysis for anomaly detection.

"They (Cylance) have take a problem and applied data science policies to it," Eagan said. "They basically have a machine learning workflow to get a model that works."

Blackberry Network Operations Center

When Blackberry was best known as a mobile handset vendor, a core element of the overall platform was the company's Blackberry messaging service, which had its own network operations centers (NOC) and delivery systems. Eagan said that Blackberry is now making use of the same NOC infrastructure for cyber-security operations.

"We have a completely secure global network that touches every carrier on the planet, that we can host secure service in," Eagan said.

Blackberry at 35

Blackberry was originally started 35 years ago as Research in Motion and has undergone multiple transitions over its existence. Eagan emphasized that though the technologies have changed, the core founding principles remain the same, which is all about trying to make a difference.

"We are trying to make a difference, we're trying to create privacy and security in an environment where it's very important," he said.

Given Blackberry's legacy as a mobile device vendor, Eagan commented that he still needs to explain to people that Blackberry is now a security software company and not a cell phone maker.

"Thank-you for using a Blackberry, if you did, but we have moved on," he said. "Blackberry was and is very successful and I'm hoping people will learn more about our new direction."