[crackberry_geek]

Sadly... this week we can see the best evidence yet of where Chen is leading the company. And it is NOT in the direction that most on these forums will care about.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cautio...124132249.html

The next few quarters may just show the revenue numbers Chen has been predicting... due to acquisitions (gimmicks) rather than any real BlackBerry growth.

Good luck to ya BlackBerry... as a software company. And kuddos to ya Chen, for all the gimmicks (cost cutting, dumping on BB10, acquisitions, twisted accounting... etc.) you used to save the shareholders.

More than at any time in the past dozen years, I now realize my next phone will most likely NOT be a BlackBerry.

[discrete longfellow]

So........they shouldn't be acquiring companies to continue growing their own? Will the revenues of those acquisitions disappear after year 2 of being acquired? Just looking for some clarity here...

[tanzarian]

More than at any time in the past dozen years, I now realize my next phone will most likely NOT be a BlackBerry.

Chen is doing things right. He is positioning the company correctly and he is already earning money.

Good luck with your next phone.

[cathulu15]

Chen is doing what needs to be done. The only way forward is software, hopefully hardware carries on and a nice high spec touch is built on limited volumes for fans.

Posted via CB10

[bigbadben10]

Another excellent acquisition by John Chen. Looking forward to many more that solidify BlackBerry's position in mobile management and data security.

Posted by my fabulous red Passport

[early2bed]

Agree with the OP. Acquiring software revenue is the fastest way to turn BlackBerry into a software company - its faster than growing the existing software business. This is rapidly becoming a company that isn't dependent on hardware. It will cushion the blow if and when the hardware operations are sold off.

The notion that the purpose of growing the software business is to support the hardware is fanciful at best. The idea that you can just make some smartphones and sell them without investing heavily in your platform in order to compete with the other three is absurd.

[birdman_38]

Good luck to ya BlackBerry... as a software company. And kuddos to ya Chen, for all the gimmicks (cost cutting, dumping on BB10, acquisitions, twisted accounting... etc.) you used to save the shareholders.

BB10 is still there. But Chen barely acknowledges its existence.

[pantlesspenguin]

Chen is doing what needs to be done. The only way forward is software, hopefully hardware carries on and a nice high spec touch is built on limited volumes for fans.

Posted via CB10

This is what I've always wanted too, high spec devices in limited volumes. But then I realized it might not be worth it, because I think manufacturers get components at a discount the more they order. So cutting edge components for say, 500,000 devices might be pretty costly, and they'd have to sell them at a very high price in order to get revenue from the device sales. I'm just guessing though, I don't really know how it all works.

[bobshine]

Sadly... this week we can see the best evidence yet of where Chen is leading the company. And it is NOT in the direction that most on these forums will care about.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cautio...124132249.html

The next few quarters may just show the revenue numbers Chen has been predicting... due to acquisitions (gimmicks) rather than any real BlackBerry growth.

Good luck to ya BlackBerry... as a software company. And kuddos to ya Chen, for all the gimmicks (cost cutting, dumping on BB10, acquisitions, twisted accounting... etc.) you used to save the shareholders.

More than at any time in the past dozen years, I now realize my next phone will most likely NOT be a BlackBerry.

Acquiring a company to increase revenue is the safest way to grow. Before commenting negatively on a great move, you should follow a few finance classes.



Posted via CB10

[kbz1960]

This is what I've always wanted too, high spec devices in limited volumes. But then I realized it might not be worth it, because I think manufacturers get components at a discount the more they order. So cutting edge components for say, 500,000 devices might be pretty costly, and they'd have to sell them at a very high price in order to get revenue from the device sales. I'm just guessing though, I don't really know how it all works.

You are right but what if they used the same components in all of their lineup and not just one?

[white shirt only]

Every big tech company is acquiring smaller ones to grow skills, hence the forecasted revenues.

There is nothing wrong with that and the BlackBerry 's management is in the right direction.

Posted via CB10

[prplhze2000]

They will build phones to fit software, not the other way around.

Posted via CB10

[birdman_38]

Every big tech company is acquiring smaller ones to grow skills, hence the forecasted revenues.

There is nothing wrong with that and the BlackBerry 's management is in the right direction.

Just like they did with QNX.

I do give the OP credit though. He recognizes devices are becoming irrelevant. Relatively few on these forums do.

[hoonigan99]

While it may not be the strategy the OP is looking for, this is a solid strategy to grow the company as whole, and to solidify and grow it's presence in software.

This is not necessarily a sign the company is leaving hardware, it's just a strategy to grow and keep the company profitable. You are not going to get hardware if they go out of business, but it still has a foreseeable future if they can stabilize and grow the company.

John Chen has already stated he has no intentions of giving up hardware, it is a key component to providing end-to-end security solutions.

That being said, at this point its more important for the company to stabilize it's revenue than to dump money into the riskiest segment (investing in hardware) While we are all rooting for new hardware developments and improvements, the company must be stable in order for this to be possible. The Wall Street pressures and bad outlook for the company won't be saved by releasing a killer phone or new OS improvements, it will be improved only by showing that BlackBerry is growing, profitable, sustainable and here to stay.

There are so many users here that are following the same mindset as these analysts that are killing the stock price, namely, thinking BlackBerry is just about phones. We need to recognize the company as a whole, which is admitting that it's future (profitability) is in software and security. It does not mean phones will not continue to be made, it's just recognizing that it is not the sole purpose or business which BlackBerry operates in.

BB for Life

[NG888]

I'm surprised that this is new news, obviously when they cant move hardware and grow the displaced revenue with software revenue quick enough, this is how they will grow, built more intellectual property and more value in the company.



Posted via CB10

[playpen007]

This Morgan Stanly at BlackBerry again like the bad shadow. Last month it put out negative spin on BlackBerry sold 5000 devices and now a month later put out another negative spin. This guy doesn't want to give up! He never showed up at the earning conference call last month. Chen makes him eat his own **** and he is pissed. I'm sure his brokerage must have ton of BlackBerry stock short. This guy is crazy and his brokerage must be investigated!

[RawDil]

As long as they support hardware, then I will continue to use them. If my Z30 breaks, I'll buy another one. If that breaks then I'll buy another one even if it's used. I'll only change OS when BlackBerry themselves stop supporting BB10. My phone does me fine right now, if tomorrow things change, I'll deal with it at that given time.

Awaiting the next flagship full touch.

[Bishkin]

This analyst is slow. He should also know that a company can also acquire a competition to kill their(competition) products, thereby forcing those clients to use the company's products.

[1REDRUM]

I know a couple of people at BlackBerry. I was going to say I know a few people but the numbers are shrinking.

The problem is not even the people who work at BlackBerry believe the story. What they see....and yes this could be sour grapes...is friends being brought in....the dismantling of the company further and....the realization that Chen and some of his "cronies " will ride off into the sunset with hefty compensation and BlackBerry as we know it will be no longer.

Now...getting rid of employees who don't see the vision is part of every turn around but things are not exactly "looking up" over in Waterloo and many employees do not trust / believe in Chen. He may or may not be a media darling but the people there also do not see how revenue will meet the targets.

Posted via CB10

[birdman_38]

John Chen has already stated he has no intentions of giving up hardware

For as long as it remains profitable.

[kellyTKD]

I don't see how you can make high-end flagship smartphones without flagship features like widely-available NFC payments, fingerprint unlock, popular media streaming services, popular social networking apps, the best maps, language recognition, integration with wearables, home automation, cloud services, robust accessory availability, retail presence with in-store demos, etc. A high-end ecosystem is just as important as the hardware itself.

[green_ember]

So growing revenue isn't good enough because it's not grown how they want it to be grown? Well excuse frickin me! It's not like they went out and bought pizza franchises. WatchDox is an important security-oriented enterprise software package, which is exactly the type of vendor that BlackBerry is positioning itself to be.

[birdman_38]

I don't see how you can make high-end flagship smartphones without flagship features like widely-available NFC payments, fingerprint unlock, popular media streaming services, popular social networking apps, the best maps, language recognition, integration with wearables, home automation, cloud services, robust accessory availability, retail presence with in-store demos, etc. A high-end ecosystem is just as important as the hardware itself.

BlackBerry is light years away from most of what you mentioned.

[green_ember]

I don't see how you can make high-end flagship smartphones without flagship features like widely-available NFC payments, fingerprint unlock, popular media streaming services, popular social networking apps, the best maps, language recognition, integration with wearables, home automation, cloud services, robust accessory availability, retail presence with in-store demos, etc. A high-end ecosystem is just as important as the hardware itself.

To some people, there are more importnat features than streaming media and social networking. Just because they're important to some people, does not mean they are important to all. With the main functions of things like SnapChat, Vine, SocialCam, etc being the sharing of naked selfies and porn videos, it's not surprising that BlackBerry isn't focused on them

[white shirt only]

Just like they did with QNX.

I do give the OP credit though. He recognizes devices are becoming irrelevant. Relatively few on these forums do.

So Caterpillar smartphone are also irrelevant to Caterpillar 's business, right?

BlackBerry 's hardware is a gateway.

Posted via CB10