20 Years Ago, BlackBerry Ruled the Smartphone Market. Now It’s Depending on a $950 Million Product That Has Nothing to Do With Phones.

For galore people, the connection BlackBerry still conjures up images of the sleek keyboard phones that defined the early smartphone era. However, the institution down that once-ubiquitous marque has spent years remaking itself into a package business. Now, investors are starting to salary person attraction to the transformation.

John Giamatteo, CEO of BlackBerry, joined CNBC’s The Tech Download podcast precocious to talk the company’s translator and really it is preparing for a early dominated by AI. Though BlackBerry remains a recognizable and iconic brand, its business coming is acold removed from the smartphones that defined it 2 decades ago. 

Two segments thrust astir of BlackBerry’s revenue. The first is secure communications. BlackBerry now provides encrypted and unafraid communications package to governments and different customers that cannot spend to person delicate conversations intercepted aliases compromised. 

BlackBerry’s flagship SecuSUITE level encrypts sound calls, messages and record sharing crossed mobile and desktop devices. It besides verifies personification identities and protects communications.

The 2nd pillar of BlackBerry’s business is QNX, the behind-the-scenes package cognition that helps make vehicles tally safely. QNX supplies automakers pinch operating systems and embedded package for functions wherever a glitch tin beryllium dangerous. The exertion supports everything from braking to driver assistance systems. 

QNX is now a important subordinate successful the information automotive package space. BlackBerry has embedded QNX successful 275 cardinal vehicles worldwide. 

“While the products that we connection to our customers astir the world can’t needfully beryllium held successful the thenar of your hands for illustration the aged devices, those values of security, spot and invention still radiance done successful the package and services and the different solutions that we present to the marketplace today,” Giamatteo said connected the podcast.

One of BlackBerry’s fastest-growing businesses

Giamatteo views QNX arsenic the imaginable instauration for AI-powered machines that run successful the existent world, including autonomous vehicles, warehouse robots, business instrumentality and aesculapian devices. 

He said that arsenic package takes connected a greater domiciled successful controlling moving machines, it must respond predictably and meet rigorous information standards. That is precisely the situation that BlackBerry envisioned for QNX. 

Robotics is 1 of the company’s “fastest-growing businesses wrong the QNX portfolio,” Giamatteo said. BlackBerry is driving gross from the sector. The institution registered $950 cardinal successful orders for QNX, Giamatteo disclosed without going into specifics. 

BlackBerry’s stock value has doubled this year arsenic investors return statement of the company’s attraction connected its 2 awesome businesses, per CNBC. 

BlackBerry faced unit to reinvent itself aft the iPhone launched successful 2007 and group a caller manufacture modular almost overnight. The institution began rebuilding astir package successful the early 2010s, but its translator became charismatic successful 2016, erstwhile it stopped designing its ain smartphones to attraction afloat connected software. 

For galore people, the connection BlackBerry still conjures up images of the sleek keyboard phones that defined the early smartphone era. However, the institution down that once-ubiquitous marque has spent years remaking itself into a package business. Now, investors are starting to salary person attraction to the transformation.

John Giamatteo, CEO of BlackBerry, joined CNBC’s The Tech Download podcast precocious to talk the company’s translator and really it is preparing for a early dominated by AI. Though BlackBerry remains a recognizable and iconic brand, its business coming is acold removed from the smartphones that defined it 2 decades ago. 

Two segments thrust astir of BlackBerry’s revenue. The first is secure communications. BlackBerry now provides encrypted and unafraid communications package to governments and different customers that cannot spend to person delicate conversations intercepted aliases compromised.