BlackBerry seeks to restore its past glory with services push

BlackBerry was once king of the smartphone world, reaching more than 40% market share in the US in 2010. But those days are long past. At the beginning of this year, the Canadian company finally pulled the plug on its device business, ending support for its smartphone and tablet operating systems.

CEO John Chen argued that this was not the end but “the beginning of a new era” in which the company will focus on cybersecurity, which already generates around 70% of its revenue. This trajectory could offer plenty of opportunities. “It’s a high growth market for any vendor to address,” says Matthew Ball, chief analyst at Canalys.

But there are also challenges specific to smaller players like BlackBerry that need to be worked around. “We have not seen the broad growth [with BlackBerry] that we see with other security vendors,” says Fernando Montenegro, senior principal analyst at Omdia.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company is a leader in cybersecurity for the automotive industry and plans to further develop the capabilities of its BlackBerry QNX embedded OS. According to CTO Charles Eagan, the company also aims to continue to improve its other products, including the Spark Suite, currently used by governments, businesses, and financial institutions.

“There’s still a lot that we’re offering, and we hope people can see us in the new light,” Eagan says.

Focusing on Cybersecurity
BlackBerry’s plans of reinventing itself as a security company capitalize on one of the firm’s remaining strengths. “This focus allows them to husband their limited resources and focus those resources on the most significant opportunity for advancement,” says Enderle Group technology analyst Rob Enderle.

At the beginning of 2022, BlackBerry secured more than 500 million mobile, desktop, and Internet of Things (IoT) endpoint devices. The number includes almost 200 million vehicles built by top manufacturers, such as Ford, GM, BMW, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Volkswagen. These brands use BlackBerry QNX, which has a robust cybersecurity component and allows the control of a wide range of safety-related systems, such as cruise control, tire pressure, and automatic parking. On the electric vehicle market, QNX is used by 24 of the top 25 manufacturers, the only exception being Tesla.

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