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Does anyone remember the phrase “BBM me”?
In its heyday, blackberries was one of the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturers. BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is an instant messaging service that became entrenched in early smartphone culture. But while BlackBerry remains an iconic brand, the business today is much different than it was nearly 20 years ago.
Although far from its 2008 highs, BlackBerry’s stock has doubled this year as investors rewarded the company’s strategy to focus on critical software and secure communications for cars.
BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo joins us on the latest episode of “The Tech Download” to discuss how the company is positioning for the future of AI.
“While the products we offer to customers around the world don’t necessarily fit in the palm of your hand like older devices, our values of security, trust and innovation still shine through in the software, services and other solutions we bring to market today,” said Giamatteo, summarizing the current business.
new business model
Two businesses drive the majority of BlackBerry’s revenue.
The first is secure communication. BlackBerry sells encrypted and secure communications products to customers such as governments.
The second one is QNX. Through this business, BlackBerry sells operating systems and other embedded software for cars that underpin features ranging from braking systems to some semi-autonomous driving features.
According to BlackBerry, QNX has become a strong player in safety-critical automotive software and is installed in 275 million vehicles.
But Giamatteo believes the QNX business is key to the future of AI, particularly physical AI, a term that includes products such as self-driving cars and robotics. BlackBerry has created software with non-negotiable high safety standards for cars and other moving objects. It could also work in fields such as robotics.
“We think that fields like robotics have the potential to become even faster growing fields,” Giamatteo said.
The CEO isn’t talking about the kind of humanoid robots you’ve probably seen on video recently in China. Instead, he is referring to robots in industry, factories, and medical settings.
Robotics is one of the company’s “fastest growing businesses in the QNX portfolio,” the CEO told me.
BlackBerry is also currently making money in this space. The company has a backlog of QNX orders worth $950 million, “part of which is robotics,” Giamatteo said. He declined to provide specific figures for robot-related orders.
After the iPhone launched in 2007 and changed the smartphone industry, BlackBerry fought hard to keep the consumer mobile sector afloat with new devices, but ultimately lost the battle.
Its reinvention has been remarkable, and so far investors seem to be receptive to the new direction.
News editing
A federal judge in San Francisco ruled Thursday that the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic earlier this year was illegal.
Anthropic has signed a roughly $45 billion cloud deal with UK-based AI infrastructure company Nscale, people told CNBC.
Nvidia’s Analysts say the company with a near monopoly on cutting-edge AI chips is under “threat” as OpenAI and other tech giants introduce custom-made semiconductors.
OpenAI has rolled out advertising on ChatGPT for some of its plans in India, one of its largest and most active markets, as it aims to maximize revenue ahead of its expected public listing next year.
SK Hynix is strengthening its presence in the U.S. with a new factory in Indiana, which CEO Kwak No-jeong says will make the state a “significant HBM manufacturing hub in the U.S.” by 2030.
One more thing
nvidia stock
Bucking the trend — Thursday’s rise in Nvidia’s stock marked a major shift in the company’s fortunes over the past four earnings quarters. Despite meeting or exceeding expectations, the stock price fell as investors remained unimpressed. Not this time.
