Editor’s Note: BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)
BlackBerry Z10 And Q10 Get US Department Of Defense Approval (echWeekEurope UK)
The US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has given the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 using BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES10) ‘authority to operate’ (ATO) on Department of Defense (DOS) networks. To add to the acronyms, the US announcement spells out that BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) is the first Mobile Device Management (MDM) provider to obtain an ATO. The Pentagon gave approval for BlackBerry 10, BlackBerry Playbook and Samsung Knox-enabled devices to be used on DoD networks earlier this year.
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), the Canadian smartphone maker, rose to the highest price in a month after Reuters reported the company is considering going private. The stock climbed 3.9 percent to $9.59 at 9:40 a.m. in New York and earlier traded at $9.89, the highest level since July 9. Shares of the Waterloo, Ontario-based company had lost 22 percent this year through yesterday. Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins and the board are coming around to the idea that going private would give them the leeway to fix problems out of the public view, Reuters reported, citing unidentified sources. While there is a change of tone on the board, no deal is imminent, according to the story.
Are Developers and Users Sold on the Built For BlackBerry Program? (Blackberry Cool)
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) first announced the Built for BlackBerry program along with the $10K developer commitment. The program was aimed at separating the great apps from the not-so-great and give developers who are committed to the program an opportunity for additional discovery and exposure. Several months into the program, we’re seeing some promotion from BlackBerry pushing these apps, but do developers and BlackBerry users care? It seems a little arbitrary who gets this designation and if it’s not fully accepted by developers, it probably won’t make much of a difference with users.
BlackBerry going private? Not likely, says analyst (MarketWatch)
A financial analyst on Friday downplayed reports that BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) that may be going private, saying the stock rally sparked by the speculation won’t last. “I don’t expect this rally to last,” BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis told MarketWatch. “Never say never but my read on this is this is just talk. … You have to be highly skeptical of anonymous sources when there are no sources of capital. The company’s turnaround position is still very questionable. I don’t buy it.”
Blackberry mulls privatization (CNBC)
BlackBerry aims to regroup with A10 after Z10 bombs (Stabley Times)
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) has admitted failure with its Z10, authorizing retailers to cut its price to the fire sale $49 mark in some cases and all the way to free in other cases. But even as the Z10 crashes and burns, BlackBerry is moving on to the next battle. It’s showing off the A10, a more advanced version offering more refined hardware and better features. But this move from Z to A may be too late to matter. The most recent quarterly financials from BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) show that not only has it been selling far fewer Z10 phones than the industry had hoped, it’s been losing twelve dollars per sale as the cost of its past failures continues to add up.
