[jfguay2]

Bbry keeps going green. Love it. It's a festivus miracle!

Pounded out on the last great qwerty to rule them all.. Q10

Another Festivus miracle!


Posted via CB10

[W Hoa]

Raymond James & Associates have a market perform rating on BBRY and they see upside as BBRY may gain some valuation relative to similar business IPO's this coming year.

Potential upside in:

1) Messaging... This is all good news for BBM's valuation especially as a number of these messaging platforms are considering initial public offerings (IPO) next year;

2) BlackBerrry Enterprise Server (BES) heritage....there may be positive valuation implications for BlackBerry down the road as some of these smaller Mobile Device Management (MDM) players potentially look to test the IPO market in 2014.

BlackBerry May Not Profit From Foxconn - Barrons.com

[Shanerredflag]

Wow...who'd of thought a simple plan and a hardware deal could mean so much.

Posted via CB10

[Shanerredflag]

And more positive thoughts going out to M8...you called this months ago.

Posted via CB10

[jake simmons3]

Really happy that I averaged down at 6 bucks. Looks like the shorts are finally covering. I would also like to say that i believe that bbry will return to profit way faster then the FY16 date stated by chen

[Corbu]

With New Outsourcing Deal, BlackBerry Cancels Two Phones - Canada Real Time - WSJ

A small item from BlackBerry Ltd.BB.T +5.04%’s earnings-related filing Friday got lost in the news of its hardware partnership with Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group2354.TW +0.58%–sales of its new phones have been so bad that BlackBerry was forced to cancel the rollout of two not-yet-released phones.

BlackBerry’s announcement Friday that it will start outsourcing its hardware business to Foxconn was greeted with enthusiasm by investors, who pushed that stock up 15.5%. In recent trading Monday, the stock was up another 5.4%.

In the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which detailed the weak sales of its current crop of phones, BlackBerry said it made the decision to “cancel plans to launch two devices to mitigate the identified inventory risk.” The Waterloo, Ontario-based company wrote off nearly $1 billion in unsold phone inventory in the fiscal second quarter and another $1.6 billion in the third quarter.

Those canceled phones, according to a person familiar with the matter, were internally code-named Caf� and Kopi, and were low-cost phones aimed at emerging markets. The timing of the launch of the phones was unclear.

Foxconn will now take over the making of low-cost phones, BlackBerry’s interim chief executive, John Chen, said Friday. The first of the phones from that partnership, nicknamed Jakarta, will be launched around April, according to Mr. Chen.

But BlackBerry is still working on several higher-end devices, internally code-named Ontario and Windermere, according to the person familiar with the matter. Its most recent higher-end devices, the Z10 and the Q10, have flopped.

Mr. Chen said last week that eventually he would prefer that Foxconn take responsibility for the hardware side of all of the company’s phones, even the high-end devices.

[michaelshawn]

Have we hit the top?? Seems to be coming down slowly now

My beauty Z30

[OMGitworks]

Have we hit the top?? Seems to be coming down slowly now

My beauty Z30

Hopefully just some nice steady consolidation at higher levels going on. Has to hold on for the EoD but it looks good, just what I would want to see if I was long BBRY.

[JLagoon]

Hopefully just some nice steady consolidation at higher levels going on. Has to hold on for the EoD but it looks good, just what I would want to see if I was long BBRY.

The SP is almost entering overbought RSI level on the daily chart, and it may go down for a cycle--but not go down enough to follow the past downtrend. I agree with OMGitworks, it needs to start holding its gains to show a real change in trend, and it seems to be consolidating around $7.5x. So far, things are looking fine. Cash burn is lowered, foxconn partnership solves the hardware production cost, and we got a CEO, who is conscientious in running the company to make sure that Blackberry doesn't lose money on anything, especially handsets.

[greggebhardt]

Have we hit the top?? Seems to be coming down slowly now

My beauty Z30

I would say that that is it for the day. Quite good in the last 5 days. Tomorrow we go into the $8 territory and up from there!

[sati01]

During the third quarter, the Company took steps to accelerate the receipt of a portion of the tax refund to which it is entitled.
The Canadian federal and Ontario provincial Ministers of Finance had indicated to the Company that they would be prepared to
recommend measures such that the acceleration would not jeopardize the entitlement to the balance of its tax refund. The
Company's actions resulted in a November 3, 2013 taxation year end, which triggered the entitlement to the accrued tax refund
accrued of $696 million, which the Company received prior to November 30, 2013. In December 2013, Remission Orders were
made by the Canadian federal and Ontario provincial governments which preserved the Company's ability to carry back losses
for the balance of fiscal 2014 and for fiscal 2015 on the same basis as without the November 3, 2013 taxation year end. The tax
provision excludes the impact of the Remission Orders in accordance with ASC 740 because they were made after
November 30, 2013. The additional income tax refund the Company can expect to ultimately access is approximately $170
million relating to the carryback year of fiscal 2011 provided there are sufficient losses in the related period.

That is from the earnings report. What do you understand from that paragraph?
The guys at Bernstein see a huge tax refund of $696m in q3, and only $170m on refunds available onwards.

BlackBerry Ltd (BBRY) Burned By Cash Issues, But Investors Oblivious

[Superfly_FR]

Have we hit the top?? Seems to be coming down slowly now

My beauty Z30

Never stop... to the top !
AH now +0.67% ...



Visit my BBM Channel !

[BergerKing]

No sweat, BK. Don't think twice about it. And a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you and yours, in return, and may it be a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

[Corbu]

We've learned to take it all with a grain of salt but still, FWIW:

BlackBerry Rising: Street Ponders ‘Quadruple Bypass’; Execution is Key - Tech Trader Daily - Barrons.com

Shares of BlackBerry (BBRY) are up 30 cents, or 4%, at $7.51, adding to a 14% surge on Friday, as the Street continues to reflect on the company’s much-worse-than-expected fiscal Q3 report.

The responses on Friday seemed buoyed by the fact BlackBerry has reduced its balance sheet risk by offloading inventory responsibility for future BlackBerry handset production to contract manufacturer Foxconn. The Street on Friday also seemed to like CEO John Chen‘s plan to restructure the business along four different segments.

However, the most negative reports seemed to have been held for this morning, as the tone seems decidedly less charitable today.

R.W. Baird’s William Power , reiterating a Neutral rating on the shares, cuts his price target to $7 from $9. Writes Power, although the company’s cash position is “solid,” and the company focus seems “sharper” under Chen’s restructuring, something he “applaudes,” nevertheless, he fears BlackBerry “still faces an uphill battle in devices, with potential revenue from BES10 and software/services also uncertain.”

Power cut his estimates for this fiscal year ending in February to $6.86 billion in revenue and a net loss of $2.10 per share from a prior $7.13 billion and negative $1.81 per share.

Citigroup‘s Ehud Gelblum, calling the quarter “exceedingly weak,” reiterates a Sell rating, and a $4 price target, writing that despite the new divisional structure, he still sees little hope for the BlackBerry devices business:

Overall, and putting the new C-suite of executive changes aside, we have seen very little different or revolutionary in Chen’s approach and believe the company remains spread thin between various market segments such as high-end enterprise devices, mobile device management and other enterprise services, BBM, and low-end / consumer. We also fail to understand why Foxconn will be more successful in designing low end BB10 devices that can compete against low-end Android than Blackberry has been itself, while in the high end and enterprise, the strategy appears to be pretty much business as usual, an approach that so far has proven to have little traction. Note that to the extent the new Foxconn low end BB10 devices are successful in converting existing BB7 users over to BB10, Blackberry would lose service revenue at an even faster pace in exchange for a device sale that likely is break-even at best.

Gelblum estimates the company’s BlackBerry subscriber count may have declined to 59 million in the quarter from a prior 68 million.

Gelblum thinks the actual cash burn in the quarter is more likely to be the rule in the future, rather than the reported operating cash loss:

We calculate that Blackberry burned $371M in cash in FQ3’14, after a $502M decline in cash in FQ2’13. Reflected in working capital are expenses related to Blackberrry’s “CORE” restructuring program, which incurred $266M in pretax and $225M in after tax restructuring expenses, most of which were one-time several fees and fees associated with the company’s strategic review. As a result, net cash declined to $2.2B from $2.6B q/q despite Blackberry raising $1B from Fairfax and others. We believe the decline in cash q/q is more illustrative of the company’s likely cash burn progression than the operating cash flow loss of ($77M) vs. ($144M) in FQ2 given all offsets created by non-cash *** declines such as intangible assets and various tax assets. Tangible book value also declined to $5.13 / sh from $9.38 / sh given the downdraft in retained earnings on the write downs.

Gelblum cut his fiscal 2014 estimates to $6.9 billion and and a loss of $1.76 per share from a prior $7.5 billion and $1.35 per share.

William Blair‘s Anil Doradla reiterates a Market Perform rating, calling the quarter “dismal,” but noting the restructuring has cheered the Street, that Chen came across as “skillful,” and that the result is “nothing short of quadruple bypass surgery“:

In a nutshell, the results were very unimpressive and weaker than the Street’s already muted expectations across every conceivable metric. Although that in itself would have been reason for a strong sell-off in the stock, BlackBerry’s new CEO’s commentary hit the right chords across the investor base and potentially raised hopes of a miraculous comeback in the company’s fortunes [...] In changing the incentives for the salesforce, aligning the company around end-customer needs, focusing on its core strength of security, and de-emphasizing its hardware business, Mr. Chen announced dramatic changes and came across as a skillful doctor conducting a complex bypass surgery on a very sick patient. Unlike previous BlackBerry management’s presentations, this was the first time, in a very long time, where the company’s leadership vision resonated well with us and we came away incrementally positive on the direction Mr. Chen has set out for the company.

Doradla thinks it is “too soon to tell” weather BlackBerry can sufficiently “execute” on the new approach.

Doradla cut his estimates for this year to $6.84 billion and a loss $1.85 from a prior 7.4 billion and negative $1.63 per share.

[Corbu]

Merry Christmas to you and yours, in return, and may it be a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Much obliged. And thanks for your work as a skillful and patient (I am sure) CB moderator! All the best!

[Im Mo Green]

I'm thinking the renewed target of the enterprise by Chen is going to bring back the trackpad (physical/ virtual ) with the next high end qwerty. I believe he mentioned at the end of the call that 80% of the subs are enterprise. He needs them to move upgrade cycle to BB 10 in 2014 and beyond. 10.2 will bring alot of the functionality missing from the legacy OS, the addition of the trackpad will help the enterprise upgrade cycle. With the addition of the trackpad, a significantly larger screen can be used for the next qwerty. I think your going to see it.

I'm a q10 user, and I don't miss the trackpad at all, but it's obvious many do.

Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2014!!

[BergerKing]

Much obliged. And thanks for your work as a skillful and patient (I am sure) CB moderator! All the best!

To be honest, without the cooperation of the thread regulars, this thread could have become a footnote in CrackBerry history. Back in July, it was that close, just a click away.

It has been an interesting challenge, and you folks are proof members can make the most of keeping their own house in order. Keep up the good work.

[bungaboy]

To be honest, without the cooperation of the thread regulars, this thread could have become a footnote in CrackBerry history. Back in July, it was that close, just a click away.

It has been an interesting challenge, and you folks are proof members can make the most of keeping their own house in order. Keep up the good work.

Out of thanks. So Thanks BK.

[austriker]

I'm a q30 user...

The mythical Q30?! Uuhh oohhh boy, another festivus miracle!




Pounded out on the last great qwerty to rule them all.. Q10

[snejpa]

Israeli
researchers find flaw in Samsung security platform
? 5:04 AM

Israeli cyber-security experts have found a vulnerability in Samsung's� (SSNLF, SSNGY) Knox security platform when enabled on the best-selling Galaxy S4 smartphone.
The researchers say the flaw could allow malicious software to track emails and record data communications, and in a worst-case scenario, cause havoc within a secured network.
However, Samsung said an initial investigation found that the problem isn't as serious as the Israeli researchers make out.
The discovery comes as Samsung attempts to gain approval for Knox to be used on Pentagon networks so that the company can compete with BlackBerry (BBRY) for orders from the Department of Defense and other highly security conscious customers.


Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to yo all!

[W Hoa]

BlackBerry deal bolsters Foxconn's makeover gambit

The rise of Chinese gadget makers has already dented Apple's and Samsung's market share in China and other developing countries, and Xiaomi has said it will now focus on Southeast Asia - precisely where Foxconn and BlackBerry mean to kick off their partnership.

To be sure, that's where the BlackBerry brand remains strong. While it has fallen out of favor in Western markets, it still has a cachet and name recognition in Asia, particularly in Indonesia and other promising markets like India.

It has other things going for it, too.

Foxconn will be helping in the design and manufacturing of the new phone, but taking on the inventory risk. Foxconn's scale means it should be able to bring down the cost of the phone as it has the muscle to source components at lower prices.

"I've got a really good bill of materials right now because of Foxconn - you know their volumes. I can't buy components at prices anywhere close to the ones they buy at," BlackBerry CEO John Chen told reporters. "This is a testing ground for both us and Foxconn. They are testing us and we are testing them."

Full article:

BlackBerry deal bolsters Foxconn's makeover gambit | Reuters

[Bilaal]

I actually smiled when I read that Samsung article today morning. #BBRY stay winning.

Posted via CB10

[stevenson232]

As a marketing tool they should release a statement of sorts that has a headline reading "blackberry offers $100 000 to the person(s) who can successfully breach BB10 phone security"



The goal being to decrypt a secret message sent between 2 blackberry 10 phones. I think it would create a lot of positive buzz and show extreme confidence in the product (assuming its as hard as they make it seem to be to hack). In a society so worried about privacy and security it would certainly make big headlines and will affirm the company is healthy and here to stay.

Food for thought... Now my eggs are getting cold!

[Corbu]

The WSJ source for that Samsung vulnerability story... Rather long but I'll still copy it since it its behind the WSJ wall.

Samsung Phone Studied for Possible Security Gap - WSJ.com

SEOUL—The security platform for Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE -1.26% 's best-selling Galaxy S4 smartphone suffers from a vulnerability that could allow malicious software to track emails and record data communications, according to cybersecurity researchers at Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

The alleged security gap, which the researchers say they discovered earlier this month, comes as Samsung pitches the new security platform called Knox to potential clients at the U.S. Department of Defense and other government and corporate entities, in a bid to compete with BlackBerry Ltd. BB.T +3.10% , whose devices have been considered the gold standard among security-conscious clients for years.

Samsung said it was looking into the allegations, but said that an initial investigation showed the problem wasn't as serious as the Israeli researchers have maintained.

The researcher who discovered the alleged problem at Ben-Gurion University's Cyber Security Lab, Mordechai Guri, said the vulnerability would allow a hacker to "easily intercept" secure data of a user of a Knox-enabled Galaxy smartphone.

In a worst-case scenario, he added, a hacker could modify data and even insert hostile code that could run amok within the secured network.

"The new unveiled vulnerability presents a serious threat to all users of phones based on this architecture, such as users" of the Samsung Galaxy S4, Dudu Mimran, the lab's chief technical officer, said in a statement.

A spokesman for Samsung said the company "takes all security vulnerability claims very seriously" and promised to further investigate the university lab's claims.

However, a preliminary investigation by Samsung showed that "the threat appears to be equivalent to some well-known attacks," the spokesman said.

The spokesman added that the university lab's breach of the system appeared to have been conducted on a device that wasn't fully loaded with the extra software that a corporate client would use in conjunction with Knox.

"Rest assured, the core Knox architecture cannot be compromised or infiltrated by such malware," he said.

Lt. Col. Damien Pickart, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense, said the government doesn't comment on possible security vulnerabilities, but added that no device would be used by the Pentagon until it is proven secure.

The Samsung Knox security system isn't yet approved for use on Pentagon networks, Lt. Col. Pickart added, but he said that the Defense Information Systems Agency, working with the National Security Agency, purchased 500 Galaxy S4 devices for testing as part of a pilot program.

"They have not been deployed and remain in testing," he said.

More generally, officials have said they are aware security vulnerabilities have been found in the Knox platform. The company has said it is working with the Pentagon to address these issues.

Such vulnerabilities, officials said, are common, and officials said that they hope they will continue to be discovered and fixed while the device is being tested for use on secure networks.

If the Samsung phone is approved for use on Pentagon networks, officials will also determine if the phone can be used for classified communications, Lt. Col. Pickart said.

In the event that the researchers at Ben-Gurion University are correct, the researchers said that the security vulnerability would classify as a "category one" vulnerability.

That is the most serious of its kind, according to a May 3 document discussing Samsung's Knox program, published by the Field Security Operations of the Defense Information Systems Agency, which manages device approvals for the Pentagon.

Outside the Pentagon, the Galaxy S4 is one of the world's most popular smartphones. While Samsung doesn't regularly release sales data for its devices, the company said in May that it sold more than 10 million units within the first month of its commercial debut.

Knox wasn't initially preloaded on Galaxy S4 devices, but users can now download the system. It is preloaded on the Galaxy Note 3.

The system can be turned off by any user. Israeli researchers said they have only discovered the problem on the Galaxy S4.

Mr. Guri said that he stumbled upon the security hole while working on an unrelated project related to mobile security. He said that his results tested out on multiple Galaxy S4 devices that had been purchased through retail stores.

Mr. Guri said it was unclear how long the vulnerability has existed.

Mr. Guri's doctoral adviser, Yuval Elovici, said in a phone interview that his student's discovery was "very, very alarming." Mr. Elovici, who runs the university's Cyber Security Lab, says the lab also does work for Israel's Ministry of Defense.

Patrick Traynor, a computer-science professor and specialist in mobile security at Georgia Institute of Technology, said that the vulnerability appeared to be legitimate. But he said it was hard to determine at this time whether the problem was one that could be fixed easily, or whether it would require much deeper work at the root of the Knox system.

"It is not surprising that Knox, much like all software, has some unintended weaknesses," said Mr. Traynor, who isn't involved either with Knox or the Israeli researchers. "However, this problem appears to be serious enough that it should be patched immediately."

The question of mobile devices is important for cybersecurity experts like Mr. Traynor, who say that many of our most critical operations and data will soon reside on our phones.

Samsung has gone to considerable lengths to integrate Knox into every aspect of its phones' hardware and software development, and designed the system so that sensitive, work-related data could be stored in a password-protected "container" within the phone, completely separate from a phone's other functions and apps.

The goal: to allow government and corporate employees to use their own devices at work, without compromising the security of confidential work data.

After years of issuing BlackBerry devices to Defense officials, the Pentagon says that it is now developing a communications system that will support Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Windows-based products, as part of a bid to allow employees to bring their own devices and use them on government networks.

"Our strategy to establish a multivendor environment was designed to mitigate problems that might occur as part of normal deployment of new products," Lt. Col. Pickart said.

Several security vulnerabilities have already emerged as Samsung develops and rolls out Knox—a normal part of software development processes, according to one person familiar with the project. Samsung has said it is working to fix these issues with Knox.

Earlier this month, the company said it had released a patch to address a separate vulnerability that affected Knox on Samsung's Note 3 smartphone.

In a statement, Samsung said that the Note 3 vulnerability posed a "threat to the integrity of Knox-enabled devices," but said that it had fixed the problem and that "security patches are being rolled out for all vulnerable models."

In the case of the vulnerability alleged by the Israeli researchers, even a relatively unsophisticated app, such as a mobile game aimed at children, could exploit the device's security, said Mr. Mimran of the Israeli lab.

Even if such an app were installed on a device outside the Knox container, that malware could be activated to record all data communication taking place inside the container.

"For us, Knox is state-of-the-art in terms of a secure mobile architecture, and I was surprised to find out there was such a big 'hole' that was left untouched," said Mr. Mimran, who added that he was willing to work with Samsung on the issue.

[neteng1000]

How much more upside do ya'll think this has? Seems to be chugging along

Posted via CB10