[Sairos]

"BlackBerry APJ Vice President Paul Crighton, who took over the reins of the local operation late in 2015, said the results show that BlackBerry’s security software sales are superseding hardware sales for the first time.

Crighton told CSO Australia, “The turnaround is now complete… We’re now a global leader in the security software business, and we happen to sell devices.”

BlackBerry’s turnaround has come after a number of high-profile security acquisitions in recent years which include the acquisition of mobile alerting vendor AtHoc to complement BBM, the purchase of mobile device management (MDM) giant Good Technology for $425 million, and the purchase of secure document exchange specialist WatchDox to strengthen data-protection credentials.

According to Crighton, these acquisitions give the Canadian firm a more attractive proposition for consumers who already trust the security of BBM and the strength of BlackBerry’s own MDM offering. Crighton explained that when they speak with the customers, they all say the same thing.

“They say the biggest problem they have is securing their critical information – their customer information, contract information, their business roadmaps. It’s all well and good securing it inside the firewall, but what happens when it gets out – when it’s in email or in the wild in general?” Crighton told CSO Australia.

With the help of embedded security that gives control over the documents accessed based on time of day, limited lifespan, location and other criteria, WatchDox enables restrictions on access to the documents. These tools are heavily adopted by enterprise customers which are leveraging BlackBerry’s software development kit (SDK) to link their apps into that secure ecosystem.

- Customized solutions are BlackBerry’s strength

For CEO John Chen, who has slashed about $100 million from BlackBerry’s costs, the turnaround was a major part of his restructuring efforts. Chen could not, however, keep revenues from declining 39% y-o-y in the most recent full-year results announcement. But in the first quarter of fiscal 2017, software revenues grew to $166 million, and during fiscal 2016, the Canadian firm reported that it had won over 10,000 enterprise customers.

Crighton said the challenge for the security companies such as BlackBerry is going to be to “stay ahead of the bad guys. One of the strengths we have is the ability to have lots of different solutions depending on what the customer’s posture is, and that doesn’t have to be on-premises only.”

Link: BlackBerry Eying Deeper Security Presence With Turnaround ?complete?

Interesting news, lets now wait for the earnings results.

[Skatophilia]

Thanks for posting! Let's hope they acquire more customers and continue to grow from there!

Posted via CB10

[Zeratul57]

Excellent. Plus they happen to support and sell BB10 devices too.

Sent from a Silver Passport.

[donnation]

LOL, "And we happen to sell devices." What a great way to instill confidence in the handset business.

[kvndoom]

LOL, "And we happen to sell devices." What a great way to instill confidence in the handset business.

He's driving home that phones are not their primary focus. If crackberry is any indication, that fact still needs to be emphasized.

Blackberry Poptart SE - Cricket Wireless

[donnation]

He's driving home that phones are not their primary focus. If crackberry is any indication, that fact still needs to be emphasized.

Blackberry Poptart SE - Cricket Wireless

No I get that, I just don't think that a statement like that needs to be said at all. Just leave it at the first part in my opinion.

[sorinv]

No I get that, I just don't think that a statement like that needs to be said at all. Just leave it at the first part in my opinion.

He's merely providing a hint that the main reason why software sales have surpassed hardware sales is because revenues are down over 30% year upon year.
In translation: "We are selling so few phones these days, that we've finally reached our goal of becoming a software company ;-)".

It is indeed a great accomplishment from one year ago when they were selling only bb10 phones and no android phones.

[Chuck Finley69]

No I get that, I just don't think that a statement like that needs to be said at all. Just leave it at the first part in my opinion.

Normally, your statement would be Marketing 101 correct. However, the BlackBerry name is so tarnished now that they have to remind people what they are now and that includes still in the phone business. Software is where the future is but hardware still creates expenses unless they shut it down so they need to push DTEK50 and PRIV.

Posted via CB10

[BBd00d]

LOL, "And we happen to sell devices." What a great way to instill confidence in the handset business.

Actually, it's a philosophy taken from Simon Sinek's explanation, which is smart. Instead of saying 'we're BlackBerry, we make great secure devices, try one out...' they are now saying 'we're BlackBerry, we believe in keeping data secure and privacy to be your own through our software, services and devices, want to take a look?'

It sets them apart by sharing and being true to who they are as a corporate culture, then by telling you how...I like it.

Posted via CB10

[playfoot]

On the one hand, this is good news as BB moves towards its goal of software, back end and abandons hardware. On the other hand, there is no objective data in the report such a market share, penetration, comparisons to competitors, classification of customer market sectors, such as auto v finance, etc.

As with all things BB, I consume this news, while hopeful, with a very large grain, nay helping, of salt.

[TBone4eva]

No I get that, I just don't think that a statement like that needs to be said at all. Just leave it at the first part in my opinion.

When you omit things people tend to read into it. He's just making sure that he doesn't wake up to a headline the next day saying, "Is BlackBerry Planning to Exit the Hardware Business?"

[Sairos]

When you omit things people tend to read into it. He's just making sure that he doesn't wake up to a headline the next day saying, "Is BlackBerry Planning to Exit the Hardware Business?"

Just like people woke up and said no more BB devices with keyboards. They practically had to tell them we're only discontinuing the classic, not the keyboard xD.

You've an article popping up in several places now talking about how BlackBerry will exit the hardware business because they've discounted 40% of all accessories on their website. This is the state of financial analysis these days.

[Prem WatsApp]

Just like people woke up and said no more BB devices with keyboards. They practically had to tell them we're only discontinuing the classic, not the keyboard xD.

You've an article popping up in several places now talking about how BlackBerry will exit the hardware business because they've discounted 40% of all accessories on their website. This is the state of financial analysis these days.

The first "four" letters of analysis will tell you more in 2016... :-)

�   "Chenterprise. We are the future. Resistance is futile. Prepare to BBe... "   �

[donnation]

When you omit things people tend to read into it. He's just making sure that he doesn't wake up to a headline the next day saying, "Is BlackBerry Planning to Exit the Hardware Business?"

Good point, and I agree with you. But making the statement "and we happen to make devices" to me seems like hiding from the fact that they make them. Blackberry is either in the game or they are out. Saying they "happen to make devices" to me is somewhat of a cop out. Its like saying "We make phones but we don't want to be judged on them because its just sort of a hobby." He could have made the exact statement he made and instead of saying "and we happen to make devices" he could have said "We are a global leader in software security, and we make devices that are built around that." Again, this is just my opinion but they are either in the handset game or out and making a statement like that isn't going to relieve any pressure on them as far questions on the handset sales are concerned. It's what they are known for and its what most people want to know about.

[eshropshire]

Good point, and I agree with you. But making the statement "and we happen to make devices" to me seems like hiding from the fact that they make them. Blackberry is either in the game or they are out. Saying they "happen to make devices" to me is somewhat of a cop out. Its like saying "We make phones but we don't want to be judged on them because its just sort of a hobby." He could have made the exact statement he made and instead of saying "and we happen to make devices" he could have said "We are a global leader in software security, and we make devices that are built around that." Again, this is just my opinion but they are either in the handset game or out and making a statement like that isn't going to relieve any pressure on them as far questions on the handset sales are concerned. It's what they are known for and its what most people want to know about.

I was at a small tech conference this week in Berlin and BlackBerry was at the event. Blackberry was there mainly about software. The introduction of Blackberry in the opening session made it very clear that they were Android on their hardware.