Almost 8am in Barcelona!
Ready for the news!
So, I say, we pop 7% today!
Live blog @ http://crackberry.com/blackberry-mob...gress-liveblog
Posted via CB10
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Almost 8am in Barcelona!
Ready for the news!
So, I say, we pop 7% today!
Live blog @ http://crackberry.com/blackberry-mob...gress-liveblog
Posted via CB10
I have to say this is all good, and a lot of these things we have discussed in here for quite some time.
I like the idea of bundling some of the native apps which we love so much and taking them cross platform.
All of the announcements today are great, but playing devil's advocate here, let's not forget that they're just announcements.
We all know that from announcing something to actually making a profit from it is a lengthy process.
A handful of these announcements may fail aswell. Just being optimistically cautious.
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I like the idea of bundling SOME of the software too. But seems like they are throwing the baby out with the bathwater here. They are giving away virtually every competitive advantage that the BlackBerry devices had. Should have kept something... like hub and blend.... just for BlackBerry devices. An incentive to buy them if you will.
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Ok one post, updated as it comes - italic is me.
- articles
https://n4bb.com/blackberry-sold-7-m...-devices-2014/
- abstracts from CB live chat roll thanks to Derek:
Generating cash now, which is ahead of their 2-year gameplan.
"We have a really robust plan for our messaging platform."
Connected cars transitioned into connected medical.
In the process of putting together a network for the "Internet of Medical Things."
200 application providers in the medical space, 38 clinically-oriented. (those aren't all companies that BlackBerry is working with, by the way, but the potential market for connected medical)
Working to stabilize revenue and position for growth.
No projection details, thanks to the quiet period moratorium.
Executing on roadmap. Will make more money and generate more cash.
"We're very focused on security and privacy know-how."
The next major set of product and relationship announcements are this morning.
"That is our connection to the carrier, it really highlights our relationship with the carriers over anybody else."
The most revenue opportunity, aside from BES12, is enhanced SIM-based billing.
Carrier can make money, BlackBerry can make money, everybody make money.
6-7 SIM-based billing carriers signed up. 200+ carriers with which BlackBerry has relationships for potential of billing.
Philosophical change in past 16 months: BlackBerry is committed to make software a business.
Roadmap and software needs to address everybody's phones and endpoints.
Endpoints are more than just phones — if it has an IP address, BlackBerry wants to manage it.
It will take a few years (5 with marketing) to build this infrastructure
Vodafone is of course a big supporter in Europe.
The BlackBerry Experience Suite
iOS, Windows, Android : Supercharge your smartphone with enhanced security and productivity.
Experience Suite is about expanding into the broader smartphone market and making money at it.(3 bundles we know)
Targeting tablets, phones, laptops initially, then all endpoints eventually.
"It's one thing to build fantastic software, which we're doing it's another to get it into distribution"
Building the same security for enterprise, SMB, consumer (<= that's a KEY point IMHO)
Cloud is a pure multi-tenant offering.
Customers get an easy and secure model, pricing is available monthly.
Pushing hard on supporting Android solutions
Launching Android for Work with Google, integrating with Samsung Knox, VPN.
Technology enables choice, and choice doesn't have to be binary.
[Hans-Christoph Quelle, MD & SVP SecuSmart and Greg Wade, Samsung VP of Enterprise Business up.]
Wade is former BlackBerry EMEA lead. (that’s not something they've said)
There's a fourth: partnership.
Having Knox as standard gets down to the hardware for securing apps, can run enterprise apps in kiosk mode.
Samsung has been driving hard for consumer and enterprise adoption
A great opportunity to take the off-the-shelf Samsung experience and marry it up with BlackBerry's secure cloud experience.
Having Knox as standard gets down to the hardware for securing apps, can run enterprise apps in kiosk mode.
Knox Works Base is available today, with BlackBerry in the future.
Focused on highly-regulated markets. Finance, government.
Introducing Work Life by BlackBerry: split billing between personal and work usage, protect employee privacy and corporate assets.
Integrated in all new Samsung devices.
Business only has to work with their carrier to enable.
[past mantra :]Take a smartphone and cut away all of the smart features to make it secure. SecuSuite goes the other way by protecting communications and storage.
SecuSuite is coming to Samsung Knox. (I can feel the $pile in revenues)
Same security, same features, but on Samsung.
The highest security has always crippled devices, SecuSuite is able enabling the full phone's features.
Governments aren't the only organizations that need to secure themselves — so do corporations.
Working with Vodafone Germany to distribute secure communications app to their customers : Taking the complexity out of enterprise voice security.
(hello/goodbye blackphone)
"BlackBerry technology makes other products better and more secure"
(sounds like a new baseline !)
Demo by Gadway
Work Life : Marty Beard: "BlackBerry technology makes other products better and more secure"
Using a Galaxy S5 running Work Life on BES12 (so, not only the S6 range : good good news !)
[won't list all the demo, see linked chat roll for details,o only a selective pick]
- Placing a call asks which line from which you want to call. Essentially tricks the phone into believing it has dual SIMS.
Attachment 338286
Attachment 338287
Can distinguish between personal and business use of data.
Apps stored in Knox are automatically billed as corporate
Attachment 338289
Now devices (Bla1ze pops in :D)!
Attachment 338288
N4BB credits here
[From N4BB]
Ton Louks, 3 new colors of #BlackBerry #Classic coming soon, brown, blue and white #MWC15
BlackBerry Leap – New BlackBerry Smartphone with 5” HD Screen - US - Mobile global.blackberry.com/en/smartphones… #BlackBerry10
Mark Wilson, Chief Evangelist is up : "Not only are we excited about what we do, we're excited about what our customers do with our technology and what our partners do with our technology."
Doctor and developer from Mumbai up to talk about their secure medical app.
"After experimenting with multiple platforms, found that BlackBerry was the best platform for medical"
Telemedicine has been cost intensive in India, with poor electrical and network infrastructure. Bring together diagnostics, EMR, and diagnosis with encrypted transmissions on BB10. (App is on BlackBerry World...)
(listing key points we know: security, ease of use, secure video for telemedicine ...)
BlackBerry Passport has everything needed for telemedicine in India. (I'd sure bet it'll be doctor's darling, not only in India, btw)
BBM video works over even that 3G for consultation and diagnosis. (noticeable advantage for weak infrastructure and "disaster scenarios")
Back to devicesimportantOne-time investment in putting a server in the hospital,
install the app on the phone.
=
80% cost reduction in implementation and user costs.
Attachment 338296
SLIIIIIIIDERRRRR !
Coming sometime this year.
Innovative product: dual-curved display phone, all touch, with a keyboard.
Not just mechanically innovative, it has unique usage.
(image below from N4BB)
Attachment 338295
Dual curve display means one display with two curves — looks like that Samsung partnership goes two ways.
Chen : BlackBerry has 45,000 patents, which they're "very much willing to license". 51% of company staff is involved in IP creation and engineering.
IP licensing is simply another revenue stream for BlackBerry [DEREK : "(You hear that, Typo?)" Spot ON !]
Both competing and collaborating with Samsung.
Chen : "There's still a reason to buy a BlackBerry: other phones are becoming more secure than before, but BlackBerry will remain the most secure because it's designed that way from the start."
"You cannot dictate what phones a customer uses — you have to embrace it."
Sales :
Can't comment on sales of Passport or Classic, but they're happy to be on carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and Vodafone.
Focusing more on the quality side of the equation, but that doesn't mean super-affordable BlackBerry phones aren't coming in the future.
Working with carriers in developing nations to create a multi-year subsidized subscription plan.
That's it !
gotta go, sorry for the bulky copy/paste and no comments, really late for business !
Additional slider pic
Attachment 338301
What I take away from the webcast is that JC will almost definitely license part of the IP ^^ $$$
Posted via CB10
Keian is supposedly the codename for the Porsche design, not the slider :-)
Posted via CB10
Is that it for new 2015 devices then?
Posted via CB10
Nice, thx guys. :).
Is that it? Lol. How many devices has Apple brought you in 8 years? 1...1 1/2 if you count that 6+ thing.
Classically Posted.
Was just an honest question. There has been plenty of discussion in here about Passport II devices, possible tablets, etc. As I'm not able to properly follow things online at the moment, I was checking that that was it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought there might be one more device announced.
Posted via CB10
Some feedbacks after the press conf :
Blackberry CEO: "Samsung is a huge player" | Watch the video - Yahoo Finance
And for Keian, remember ...
Keian Blundell | CrackBerry.com
For Ryan and Keian Blundell | Inside BlackBerry
I'm liking the "Work/Life" offering...seems like a reasonable way to compensate and manage devices in a BYOD environment.
Classically Posted.
About IP:
BlackBerry Shows Off Leap, a $275 Five-Inch, All-Touch Phone | Re/code
BlackBerry on Tuesday showed off the BlackBerry Leap, a new five-inch, all-touch smartphone that will sell for $275 unlocked when it comes out this spring.
“We’re going after the young ‘career builder,'” BlackBerry’s Ron Louks said at a press conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
The company plans to introduce three other devices this year, Louks said, including a new keyboard-based model and another that is a curved-screen device with a slide-out physical keyboard. Asked when that model would come out, CEO John Chen said “as soon as it’s done,” adding that it would be sometime later this year.
Asked why the company is introducing an all-touch device when it has talked up the importance of keyboards, Chen said that keyboards remain its focus. As for all touch models, Chen said: “We will build some, but it will be a few.”
Earlier at the event, Chen forecast that last quarter’s finish in the black will become a trend, with the company continuing to post profits and generate cash as revenue starts to stabilize.
Chen used a similar event at last year’s Mobile World Congress to show a glimpse of the Z3 and talk about what became the BlackBerry Classic.
Asked how the Classic and Passport were selling, Chen declined to comment, saying the company is in its quiet period ahead of its quarterly earnings report later this month.
During his final remarks, Chen also talked up plans to license the company’s 45,000 patents.
“I’m not a believer in holding on to your secret sauces,” Chen said, adding that more than half of the company’s workforce is in engineering and creation of intellectual property and that it is important for shareholders that the company make the most of that value.
BlackBerry CEO Predicts More Profits in Coming Quarters | Re/code
Even as outsiders question whether BlackBerry has changed enough, CEO John Chen insists that the company’s turnaround is running ahead of his own two-year plan.
“The company financially is stabilizing,” Chen said. “We made a little bit of money last quarter.”
After many, many quarters of burning through its reserves, Chen said, BlackBerry generated cash and turned a slim profit last quarter, excluding certain items. And Chen predicted that trend will continue.
“We’re going to be making more money,” he said. “We’re going to be generating more cash.”
Chen also said the company expects its revenue to stabilize over the coming year.
However, he said he couldn’t say more given the company is in a quiet period ahead of its next earnings report.
“We are a little ahead of our two-year turnaround and strategy,” Chen said at a briefing with reporters outside of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
The company also talked about its plans for four new devices this year, including a $275, five-inch, all-touch phone called the Leap that is coming this spring. It also offered just a glimpse of a curved screen model with a slide-out keyboard that will come later this year.
BlackBerry pulled a similar move in Barcelona last year, flashing a glimpse of the Z3 and discussing plans for the Classic. BlackBerry still gets three-quarters of its revenue from hardware.
On that front, Chen noted that Verizon and AT&T have recently resumed carrying BlackBerry phones in store.
“It’s a big deal for us,” Chen said. “We’ve been disconnected from them on the retail side for a while.”
Last week, BlackBerry announced plans to bring many of the popular features from the BlackBerry handhelds onto iOS, Android and Windows. It also announced a cloud version of its server software for managing mobile devices.
Chen has set a goal of generating $500 million in software revenue this year. “We’re committed to make software as a business,” he said, adding that the company hopes to manage all manner of devices — basically anything with an IP address Chen said.
If you need some good quality LEAP pics for your social ...
BlackBerry Leap - UK
Blackberry goes cross-platform as it unveils new devices
Handset maker Blackberry has unveiled an "affordable" smartphone and announced plans for three other devices including a dual curved screen slider phone and luxury smartphone.
The 5-inch $275 BlackBerry Leap will be rolled out in April and is designed for "rising stars" in business, the company said at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Tuesday.
BlackBerry, has been struggling to gain any significant smartphone market, has also opened up a number of its key software assets to Android and iOS devices as it looks to widen the adoption of its services.
The Canadian firm already released its BlackBerry Messenger service to the other mobile operating systems last year but is now releasing its security and enterprise apps as well.
"We are committed to make software as a business...We are also going to make sure our software technology roadmaps addresses everybody's phone," BlackBerry CEO John Chen, told reporters.
'Hopeful'
Later, Chen told CNBC's Worldwide Exchange that the company was also working hard on innovating its hardware
"I'm really hopeful that our business is going to do well. In that last couple of quarters our hardware business actually made money," he said.
Responding to criticism about the company's low smartphone market share, Chen told reporters that the company could be in 99 percent of devices because it has opened up its key software to the Android and iOS platform.
As well as the Leap, BlackBerry outlined plans to release three other devices this year: a high-end "luxury" device with Porsche design, a "keyboard-based product", and a "dual curved display" phone with keyboard function. More details are expected to emerge at a briefing later on Tuesday.
The news follows a number of device releases last year from the Ontario-based company including its flagship square Passport phone.
BlackBerry has highlighted the security on its Leap device and features such as Hub - a software that displays all messages from emails to texts in one place. Other features include 25 hours of battery life for "heavy use" and BlackBerry World and Amazon App stores.
Software 'the future'
Chen has been trying to steady the ship and in the three months ending November 29, BlackBerry reported profit of 1 cent per share, compared to a loss of 2 cents per share in the previous quarter.
A large part of the CEO's presentation focused on the partnerships BlackBerry is striking in the software segment. As well as releasing all many of their key services to other operating systems, Chen explained details of BlackBerry's expanded partnership with Samsung, to integrate its encryption and billing services with the South Korean electronic giant's security service called Knox.
Despite struggles to gain smartphone market share, analysts said BlackBerry has to remain in the devices segment, but software is going to be the key part of the business in the future.
"They can't abandon devices and need to be invested. The devices they are teasing is underlining that they are confident they have a future," Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight told CNBC.
"It was no accident that Chen spent that majority of the presentation talking about software and services because that is definitely the future of the business."
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/0...touch-screens/
BARCELONA, Spain — After returning in force to its keyboard roots last year, BlackBerry jumped back into touch-screen phones this week at the Mobile World Congress here, announcing the five-inch BlackBerry Leap.
At its news conference here, the company also teased — in the briefest of fashions — that a curved phone with a slider keyboard might be “coming later this year.”
As for the Leap, BlackBerry said it would go the distance for business users, with a 25-hour battery life, although it is no flagship device. The Leap will retail for $275 when it goes on sale in Europe in April. There is no word on whether it will be sold in the United States.
Its specifications are appropriately middle of the road: a high but not extremely high-definition screen, an eight megapixel rear-facing camera and a two megapixel front-facing camera, acceptable processor and memory specs, and a slightly heavy weight compared with some of the competition.
BlackBerry is in the midst what it calls a two-year turnaround plan, after years of falling sales and rapidly declining market share. It posted a smaller quarterly loss last year, which was seen as a positive sign, as it focuses more on mobile software and security offerings. To that end, John S. Chen, the BlackBerry chief executive, focused much of his presentation on BlackBerry’s shift from a pure device maker to a company that can power business services on a variety of devices.
BlackBerries now run Android apps, and Mr. Chen emphasized a relationship with Samsung and its Knox division, which has created a business-oriented environment that can hold work-related apps and keep them separate from other data on a device.
In addition to the Leap, BlackBerry said it would introduce another phone this year that features a keyboard, as well as a followup to the high-end Porsche edition BlackBerry, which it released last year.
Analysts said that even as the company moved toward becoming more of a services company, it was still valuable to release new phones.
“Devices still represent a very significant revenue stream,” said Ben Wood, a mobile and wireless industry analyst with CCS Insight. “They can’t afford to slow down on their device portfolio releases. And to have a proper portfolio of devices, you have to have a touch screen.”
really like what Chen is doing. it's as if he read this thread over the last couple of years and has been implementing out ideas :)
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PS is there anywhere we can watch the presentation again. I missed it?
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Thank you for that great blow-by-blow reporting, SF!
OT
While Grabbing infos, learned that Google's Android Wear is going to hit apple store (no date, no details).
here (translated) https://translate.google.com/transla...-text=&act=url
There was no live stream; but you can read most here : BlackBerry at Mobile World Congress 2015 Live Blog | CrackBerry.com
JC on CNBC
BES12, QNX
Blackberry CEO confident in BES12