Chinmay Bidkar
Image- arstechnica
28 September 2016, USA :
BlackBerry has announced that it plans to stop making its own smartphones, and will outsource the job instead. The struggling Canadian smartphone maker has announced the move during the briefing of its quarter result.
“We are reaching an inflection point with our strategy. Our financial foundation is strong, and our pivot to software is taking hold,” said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry. “In Q2, we more than doubled our software revenue year over year and delivered the highest gross margin in the company’s history. We also completed initial shipments of BlackBerry Radar, an end-to end asset tracking system, and signed a strategic licensing agreement to drive global growth in our BBM consumer business.”
“Our new Mobility Solutions strategy is showing signs of momentum, including our first major device software licensing agreement with a telecom joint venture in Indonesia. Under this strategy, we are focusing on software development, including security and applications. The company plans to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to partners. This allows us to reduce capital requirements and enhance return on invested capital,” continued Chen.
BlackBerry secures, connects and mobilizes the enterprise. For today’s enterprise of things, It provides devices and a software platform that enables and manages security, mobility and communications between and among hardware, programs, mobile apps and the internet of things.
Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, BlackBerry operates in North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America.