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TAGGED AS BLACKBERRY LTD.

BlackBerry might make phablets: report

telecom | 06/11/2014 9:12 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. chief executive John Chen said the company might get into the business of making so-called phablets, or smartphones with extra-large screens, according to an article in an Indonesian publication. In an interview with Chen published Monday, the Jakarta Post quoted the BlackBerry CEO as saying, in response to a question about new products that might become available in Indonesia: "If we will do another thing, we will probably go to phablet. I think if you look at our strategy and if you look at where the market goes, there is definitely a good market for something between a...

‘Connection’ helps commercial radio remain relevant: analyst

Media | 06/03/2014 8:29 pm EDT

Broadcast commercial radio remains popular in the face of competition from online streaming services and satellite radio because it’s a “point of connection” for listeners rather than just a music-delivery service, says analyst Jeff Vidler. The latest figures from the CRTC, released Tuesday, showed commercial radio revenues for the broadcast year ending Aug. 31, 2013 rose a quarter of a per cent from the year earlier to $1.62 billion. In its news release, the CRTC noted that radio revenues “remained relatively stable from the previous year despite competition from satellite, online and mobile services.” Vidler, president of Toronto-based media research...

Growing smartphone market won’t help BlackBerry: report

telecom | 05/28/2014 7:30 pm EDT

A new report says smartphone sales will continue to grow in the coming years, though the opposite trend will be seen with BlackBerry Ltd.’s handsets. International Data Corp. said in a news...

Rogers announces new direction to combat customer flight

Media | 05/23/2014 9:03 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. on Friday released a “comprehensive” plan to overhaul its customer service and restructure its corporate hierarchy. CEO Guy Laurence, who took over the job in...

BlackBerry launches Internet of Things project

telecom | 05/22/2014 5:16 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. announced Wednesday a number of initiatives it said will be the “cornerstone” of its “vision to offer end-to-end solutions for the Internet of Things.” The company said in a press release...

Telecom industry looking for growth in health care

telecom | 04/17/2014 8:56 pm EDT

The announcement this week by BlackBerry Ltd. that it would invest in a U.S.-based health-care technology company is the latest effort by a company in Canada’s wireless sector to look to the health-care market in an attempt...

Former BlackBerry boss ranked third-highest paid wireless exec

telecom | 04/16/2014 7:44 pm EDT

Former BlackBerry Ltd. CEO Thorsten Heins was the third-highest paid executive in 2013 among wireless companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges, according to the website FierceWireless. Based on filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the website said Heins received total compensation of $22 million US in 2013. That included a base salary of $3 million US, plus bonuses, stocks and other supplemental pay of $19 million US, the website said. It more than doubled his previous year’s compensation of $10.3 million US, the article said. BlackBerry announced on Nov. 4 that...

BlackBerry plans collaboration with health-tech company

telecom | 04/15/2014 3:57 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. on Tuesday said it had made an investment in and was planning to collaborate with a heath-technology company in the United States. The Canadian smartphone maker did not disclose the...

‘Small risk’ of Heartbleed to BBM users on Android, iOS

telecom | 04/14/2014 2:37 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. said Monday that there is an “extremely small” risk to the security of BBM communications from the Heartbleed bug on devices powered by Apple Inc.’s iOS software or...

Canada needs stronger IP defences: Balsillie

telecom | 04/11/2014 6:07 pm EDT

Canadian companies need to build their capacity for defending patents and asserting intellectual property rights in order to build more technology success stories like the company he founded, Research in Motion...

BlackBerry CEO says no plans to sell handset business

telecom | 04/10/2014 3:43 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen wrote a blog post on the company’s website Thursday that said an article suggesting he would consider getting out of the handset business took his comments “out of context.” A...

Money for messaging — BlackBerry mines BBM for dollars

telecom | 04/04/2014 6:36 pm EDT

It’s hard to pin down David Proulx, BlackBerry Ltd.’s senior director of BBM, on when exactly the company started to see this application as something that could generate revenue directly....

BlackBerry won’t renew contract with T-Mobile

telecom | 04/02/2014 1:58 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. said in a release issued late Tuesday that it will not renew T-Mobile US Inc.’s licence to sell BlackBerry products after it expires on April 25. BlackBerry CEO John Chen said in the release:...

U.S. judge bars sales of iPhone case with physical keyboard

telecom | 03/31/2014 6:43 pm EDT

A U.S. district judge has ordered Typo Products LLC to stop selling its case for Apple Inc.'s iPhone that includes a physical keyboard for typing on the device while a lawsuit against Typo by...

BlackBerry’s hardware business shrinking proportionally

Media | 03/28/2014 3:12 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd.’s fourth-quarter earnings show the company is a getting smaller proportion of its revenue from hardware and a bigger slice from services. Results released in a press release...

BlackBerry receives U.S. military certification

telecom | 03/27/2014 7:36 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. has received an exclusive security certification from the U.S. military, the company announced on Thursday. The Waterloo, Ont.-based smartphone maker said in a release it earned the Full Operational Capability (FOC) designation from the U.S. Department of Defense, which allows the company’s phones to be used to access the email and applications on the department’s network. “FOC further highlights BlackBerry’s proven security model at a time when cybersecurity is top-of-mind for governments and enterprises,” the company said in the release....

BlackBerry work app for iPhone, Android security certified

telecom | 03/26/2014 5:00 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. said Wednesday that its Secure Work Space application for Apple Inc.’s iPhones and devices running on Google Inc.’s Android software has been certified in a way that should...

Government said no to BlackBerry sale to Lenovo: CBC

telecom | 03/25/2014 5:37 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. abandoned a potential sale of the company last year to Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo Group Ltd. after the Canadian government indicated it would not approve such a transaction, CBC reported online on Monday....

M2M compared to Industrial Revolution, science fiction

telecom | 03/20/2014 12:22 am EDT

TORONTO — The world’s most interconnected retail store isn’t in London, Paris or New York, Canadian Tire Corp. chief technology officer Eugene Roman said Wednesday, but in West...

BlackBerry lays off 90 people in Ottawa

telecom | 03/18/2014 8:11 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. laid off about 90 workers from its Ottawa operations this week, a company spokesperson said Tuesday. The BlackBerry official said these employees were part of the company’s product-development and...

BlackBerry cuts 120 employees

telecom | 03/17/2014 6:01 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. on Monday said it has laid off 120 employees in Waterloo, Ont., as part of its efforts to restore the company’s fiscal sustainability. A statement from the company said the latest cuts came from its product-development and wireless-technology teams. “BlackBerry is working hard to return to profitability and we continue to optimize our resources to meet our mandatory operational targets,” the company said in an emailed statement. It said these cuts are part of global reductions of up to 40 per cent of its workforce it announced in September, which are expected to be implemented by the end of May....

Chen meets with White House as part of BlackBerry ‘customer outreach’

telecom | 03/07/2014 6:12 pm EST

Blackberry Ltd. CEO John Chen has met with White House staff as part of a wider series of meetings he’s held with customers since taking over as chief executive of the company last November, Bloomberg reported Friday. The news service quoted Chen as saying that he “briefed the White House from an IT...

BlackBerry testing sponsored content on BBM

Media | 03/05/2014 7:10 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. said in blog post that it is testing sponsored content on its BBM messaging service with some users. A posting on BlackBerry’s website Tuesday by Jeff Gadway, head of product and brand marketing for BBM,...

BlackBerry CEO would consider selling BBM: reports

Media | 02/25/2014 8:10 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen said Tuesday he would consider selling BBM, the company’s messaging service, according to different media reports Tuesday. CNBC quoted Chen in an interview as saying: "If somebody comes to...

BlackBerry makes BBM available for Windows, Nokia phones

Media | 02/24/2014 2:50 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. said Monday that its BBM instant-messaging service would become available to users of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phones and Nokia Corp.’s X smartphones. BlackBerry made the...

Canadians prefer iPhone for second screen, Blackberry for news tweets

telecom | 02/21/2014 9:33 pm EST

Canadians overwhelmingly use Apple Inc. iPhones as a second screen when watching television, and despite vanishingly small market share, those with BlackBerry Ltd. smartphones account for nearly...

Blackberry CEO John Chen slams “inappropriate” T-Mobile offer

telecom | 02/18/2014 9:13 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen said in a blog post Tuesday he was “outraged” at T-Mobile US Inc. after the U.S. carrier sent a targeted email to BlackBerry users last week offering them a...

Android, iPhone users can make free calls on new BBM

telecom | 02/13/2014 7:12 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. announced a new version of its BBM messaging system Thursday that will, among other features, allow users of Apple Inc.’s iPhone and smartphones powered by Google Inc.’s Android system to make free...

Android, Apple account for 95.7% of smartphone market: IDC

telecom | 02/12/2014 8:48 pm EST

Google Inc.’s Android operating system and Apple Inc.’s iOS software powered 95.7 per cent of the smartphones shipped globally in 2013’s third quarter, a report released Wednesday...

Andrew Bocking leaves BlackBerry’s BBM unit

telecom | 02/10/2014 9:27 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. confirmed Monday that Andrew Stocking has left his post as executive vice-president of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). His LinkedIn profile shows that he’s held that position since June last year, and has been an employee of BlackBerry and its predecessor, Research In Motion Ltd., since 2000. BlackBerry spokeswoman Kim Geiger said in an emailed statement that Bocking “made the decision to leave BlackBerry. We thank him for his years of leadership and contribution.” It added that John Sims, BlackBerry’s president of global enterprise solution, would take...

BlackBerry update unlocks FM radio

telecom | 01/28/2014 5:20 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. announced an update to its operating system on Tuesday that, among other things, unlocks a built-in FM radio on certain models. The company said in a release Tuesday that version 10.2.1 of its BlackBerry 10 OS...

Reports of U.S. military BlackBerry order incorrect: spokesman

telecom | 01/24/2014 5:29 pm EST

The U.S. Defense Department says reports from earlier this week of a major purchase of BlackBerry Ltd. devices were not correct. A emailed statement Friday from a department spokesman to The Wire...

New U.S. military program to support 80,000 BlackBerrys: reports

telecom | 01/20/2014 9:04 pm EST

The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency will use about 80,000 BlackBerry Ltd. devices on a new mobile communications system to be launched at the end of January, news agencies reported Monday....

BlackBerry names Eric Johnson to head global sales

telecom | 01/13/2014 3:01 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. said Monday it has named Eric Johnson as president of global sales. This announcement follows a series of other executive appointments in recent weeks, including Ron Louks as president of devices and emerging...

Fairfax buying more BlackBerry debt

telecom | 01/09/2014 8:24 pm EST

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. has agreed to buy an additional $250 million worth of convertible debt in BlackBerry Ltd., according to an announcement from BlackBerry on Wednesday. Reuters reported that the transaction would double the amount of BlackBerry debt that Fairfax holds, on top of its 9.9 per cent equity stake, which makes it BlackBerry’s biggest shareholder. With the purchase, Fairfax is exercising an option linked to its $1-billion private placement into BlackBerry in November, BlackBerry’s release said. That financing was led by Fairfax and other backers, including Brookfield Asset Management, Markel Corp. and Canso Investment Counsel Ltd., Reuters reported....

BlackBerry reports $4.4B Q3 loss

telecom | 12/20/2013 5:03 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. reported a net loss of $4.4 billion US in its third fiscal quarter results, deepening from the $965-million US loss it reported in the second quarter and compared to a profit of about $9 million US one year...

BlackBerry adds three executives

telecom | 12/18/2013 6:10 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. appointed John Sims as its new president of global enterprise services, James Mackey as executive vice-president for corporate development and strategic planning and Mark Wilson as senior vice-president of...

Three more BlackBerry departures

telecom | 12/16/2013 10:10 pm EST

BlackBerry Inc.’s executive vice-president of global sales, Rick Costanzo, and Chris Wormald, the company’s vice-president of strategic alliances, are leaving BlackBerry, Canadian Press reported Monday. Costanzo has...

Obama still uses BlackBerry: report

telecom | 12/05/2013 7:31 pm EST

U.S. President Barack Obama is still a customer of Canada’s BlackBerry Ltd., Reuters reported. The news article said Obama told an audience of youth on Wednesday that he continues to use a BlackBerry and is not permitted to...

BlackBerry announces changes to management, board

telecom | 11/25/2013 5:12 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. on Monday announced it was making changes to three top management positions and a board seat. It said Kristian Tear is leaving the position of chief operating officer, and Frank Boulben is departing from the job of chief marketing officer, without giving a reason for their departures. BNN reported that BlackBerry is not replacing them...

Android reaches 81% of global smartphone shipments: IDC

telecom | 11/12/2013 7:21 pm EST

Phones running on Google Inc.’s Android operating system made up 81 per cent of all smartphone shipments worldwide in the third quarter of 2013, up from 74.9 per cent at the same time a year...