BlackBerry: Do Short Sellers Feel Lucky? [View article]
Thanks for responding back @robbieboggie. Not only is Prem Watsa astute in his financial skills but as I have mentioned before he also has a very good technical mind (as you might know he did his under grad. in Chemical Engineering from one of the top notch institutes in India). I also agree with you that Mike Lazaridis (a very good friend of Prem and a genius according to Prem) is still driving the strategy at $BBRY and IMO that is good for the company as a whole. Somehow I find Heins to be a straight talker and a guy who likes to deliver to his promises.
There are two things that concern me at this time - The media out here is extremely negative about $BBRY and there seems to be some unified push toward portraying $BBRY in a very bad light and in forcing its demise or making them inconsequential.
- Both AT&T and Best Buy also have lent a helping hand in trying their level best not to promote the Z10.
- There seems to be some deliberate attempt on part of Verizon and AT&T when it comes to delaying the Z10 and Q10. To some extent I can understand Verizon's delay (because of CDMA) but AT&T has a GSM/LTE based network and I don't see why they have been delaying the launch.
Although Indonesia and India are huge markets in terms of numbers, the smartphone penetration is not as high as it is out here. Coupled with that, as you might know, a lot of folks over here don't mind buying multiple unlocked phones for the full price - not sure if that would be the case in Indonesia or for that matter India as well.
BlackBerry: Do Short Sellers Feel Lucky? [View article]
@robbieboggie, you were right on the money with your post detailing the quantitive breakdown on how the Q4 numbers will play out. You had estimated that the gross margin would be at least 38% and it came out to be 40%. With the Q4 numbers out would you mind sharing your projection for this year?
BlackBerry: The Killer Punch Will Be Security [View article]
Thanks Kurt, in fact when I read those lines about what the Army was looking from in MDM solution it almost felt like they had (almost) cut and pasted the some of the key salient points of BES 10 platform!
Per Heins about 4k customers are already in the final stages of approval for a BES10 platform in their enterprise and another 4k customers have signed up for the program.
I very much like your thought that from a revenue standpoint all non $BBRY devices become $BBRY devices generating a nice stream of yearly revenue for $BBRY (but who is going to explain this to some of those dunderhead analyst and equally clueless reporters?).
BlackBerry: The Killer Punch Will Be Security [View article]
George, who are the other competitors in this space who can be considered as an alternative for this contract?
The earlier some of these bonehead analyst figure this out the better! I am sure when $BBRY does get this contract these same analyst and media reporters will spin the news as "US Army/DoD throws a much needed lifeline to Blackberry, but can it save Blackberry given that their BB10 devices are not in demand here in US?"
Thanks to @Yosemite Wealth and @sonbuster for posting those DoD links on stock talk a couple of days back. The surprising thing is that not one media outlet has published this news - they eagerly jumped over each other to post the false news that Army is going to replace $BBRY devices with Apple and Android devices.
The level of dysfunction and corruption in today's media is appalling to say the least.
@Ed, absolutely, no disagreement on that. When it comes to stocks every individual has their own risk tolerance level, and, for a (currently) volatile stock like $BBRY that could indeed be a strategy that one could follow.
@Ed, no doubt that Apple (and to some extent Android) took the UI to a new level - but don't discount Blackberry - technologically, it won't be far fetched to say that they make the most efficient devices - in terms of its Radio Management capabilities, call quality, usage of battery, reliability of messaging and emails and a very secure environment. Even today in the enterprise environment there is no substitute for Blackberry when it comes to security. Their BYOD offering (through BES 10) may turn out to be the most comprehensive security offering out there - in fact, I won't be surprised if DoD gives them the contract to manage and secure 8 million devices (Apple, Androids, etc.) on their network!
The reason why Blackberry was left behind was because when it revamped its OS strategy to go with QNX at its core they also had to ensure that its crown jewel (security and the interest of a large base of enterprises) was well supported on the new platform.
About mobile computing - don't discount it that easily - in the very near future (6 to 8 months) all you may need to do is carry your $BBRY smart phone and it would allow you to run Virtual Machines on it (and access computing capability from the cloud). With the micro-hdmi port you can connect your phone to the monitor or a gateway (connected to your monitor) could remove the need for a physical connection between your monitor and phone altogether (we will see how this actually takes shape).
I guess your comment - "Let this company survive first,..." - was merely a knee-jerk response because you were irked by some of the user comments. If your comment was indeed well thought then I think it will help if you review their overall product portfolio. As Misek has stated repeatedly, he discounts their hardware business entirely and considers that they will do well (considerably) even with out it.
Last but not the least considering Blackberry's contracts with DoD and its niche play in the security market around the world I very much doubt that Lenovo or any other Chinese company will even get a chance to touch it with a barge pole.
I can go on about their secure transaction support, QNX, BBM, secure network that connects 650 carriers around the globe, etc. All in all, as you can see, $BBRY is no more just a hardware company - through its BB10 offering it has moved much, much beyond that. Very soon analyst will take a note of it. It is not surprising that Wells Fargo's analyst who had downgraded $BBRY last quarter on account of perceived drop in services revenue came back and has upgraded this stock!
A lot of these analyst have been writing off $BBRY w/o really understanding the capabilities of BB10. This is an excellent news Yosemite Wealth. Lets see if WSJ, Forbes and others will carry this news - given that they have been trigger happy to carry news from obscure blogs who have been spreading false rumors.
BlackBerry: Do Short Sellers Feel Lucky? [View article]
Mr. Knowitall, blackberry has always been a communications device and folks like the physical keyboard because they rely on the muscle memory while typing in a document/email/text/etc. w/o having to look at either the screen or the keyboard. There are folks out there who can easily type 80 to 100 words a minute on their blackberry w/o looking at the keyboard. Over and above this, Blackberry provides a number of shortcuts and tools which make the experience of using the keyboard very productive to say the least.
A lot of sales people carry nothing other than their blackberry to meet their customers! Can you say that about an Android or iPhone? Such patterns of usage repeat in all enterprises.
That is why to a lot of business users the keyboard is very important.
Android Is Dead - Part 8: The S4 Fights Back - BUT... [View article]
I agree with MSD's point of view because BB10 - Z10 and Q10 allow one to run Android apps natively while Windows 8 doesn't provide this feature. IMO, once Jelly Bean support becomes available on BB10 what is most likely to happen is that a lot of folks who initially used a Blackberry would move back to BB10 and start sideloading their favorite Android apps on their BB10 device (Z10 or Q10). As the time progresses what you will most likely see is that the devices that provide this "dual" platform support (currently, only Blackberry provides this) will become a platform of choice and comfort for folks who like their current platform but who still also want to capitalize on the strengths of other platform (like: Keyboard, Security, BBM, etc.). I have a couple of friends who use Samsung SG3s and are seriously considering Z10 as it is soon going to support Jelly Bean.
Apart from this, even though Samsung has Tizen waiting in the wings it is still not a hardened platform like the BB10 with its QNX OS. So, it is very likely that folks might defect out to Blackberry's BB10.
With BES 10 Blackberry has another tool in its arsenal that can continue to support BYOD for the enterprises across iOS, Android and Blackberry platforms and generate some handsome service revenues (understand that it is in the range of $100/year per device) for Blackberry.
Lets see how the story unfolds as time progresses.
BlackBerry: Do Short Sellers Feel Lucky? [View article]
I am looking for the call transcript - I distinctly remember him say that the 1 million device order was not for the US market. I will confirm back once I dig out the detail.
BlackBerry: Do Short Sellers Feel Lucky? [View article]
wow! @systembolaget, glad to read that you have finally decided to go long on $BBRY. Hope you are in to invest and not to trade like a lot of folks (and authors ;) we know.
BlackBerry: Do Short Sellers Feel Lucky? [View article]
The reason Brian clarified that was because the analyst wanted clarification if the 1 million device order from BrightStar was also getting included into those numbers - which Brian clarified that it was not. I guess you forgot to mention that comment made by Tim Long.
If I am not mistaken Brian also mentioned that the 1 million device order by BrightStar was for markets outside US.
...and yet manufacturers clamor to launch their products here in US :) Systembolaget, even though Europe is the motherland of GSM, US is still a market that can spend billions of dollars, marketing muscle, etc. and adopt to/recycle technologies faster than any other country in the world - we just love gadgets, technologies,... If you have something worthwhile to offer we Americans have the will to buy and adopt it into our daily lives. Even though there are ~228m adults they have the zeal to buy multiple of these gadgets within short order of time - we are almost addicted to these things. Anyway, I am sure you will have an apt response for that :)
I agree that as time goes by the purchasing power is also picking up across the world (but it doesn't diminish the demand here in US) and from that perspective I think it certainly bodes well for both $NOK and $BBRY, What gets me excited is that there is so much room for the Smartphone market to grow around the world.
BlackBerry: Do Short Sellers Feel Lucky? [View article]
There are two things that concern me at this time
- The media out here is extremely negative about $BBRY and there seems to be some unified push toward portraying $BBRY in a very bad light and in forcing its demise or making them inconsequential.
- Both AT&T and Best Buy also have lent a helping hand in trying their level best not to promote the Z10.
- There seems to be some deliberate attempt on part of Verizon and AT&T when it comes to delaying the Z10 and Q10. To some extent I can understand Verizon's delay (because of CDMA) but AT&T has a GSM/LTE based network and I don't see why they have been delaying the launch.
Although Indonesia and India are huge markets in terms of numbers, the smartphone penetration is not as high as it is out here. Coupled with that, as you might know, a lot of folks over here don't mind buying multiple unlocked phones for the full price - not sure if that would be the case in Indonesia or for that matter India as well.
BlackBerry: The Killer Punch Will Be Security [View article]
BlackBerry: Do Short Sellers Feel Lucky? [View article]
BlackBerry: The Killer Punch Will Be Security [View article]
Per Heins about 4k customers are already in the final stages of approval for a BES10 platform in their enterprise and another 4k customers have signed up for the program.
I very much like your thought that from a revenue standpoint all non $BBRY devices become $BBRY devices generating a nice stream of yearly revenue for $BBRY (but who is going to explain this to some of those dunderhead analyst and equally clueless reporters?).
BlackBerry: The Killer Punch Will Be Security [View article]
The earlier some of these bonehead analyst figure this out the better! I am sure when $BBRY does get this contract these same analyst and media reporters will spin the news as "US Army/DoD throws a much needed lifeline to Blackberry, but can it save Blackberry given that their BB10 devices are not in demand here in US?"
Thanks to @Yosemite Wealth and @sonbuster for posting those DoD links on stock talk a couple of days back. The surprising thing is that not one media outlet has published this news - they eagerly jumped over each other to post the false news that Army is going to replace $BBRY devices with Apple and Android devices.
The level of dysfunction and corruption in today's media is appalling to say the least.
What Will We Do With BlackBerry? [View article]
What Will We Do With BlackBerry? [View article]
The reason why Blackberry was left behind was because when it revamped its OS strategy to go with QNX at its core they also had to ensure that its crown jewel (security and the interest of a large base of enterprises) was well supported on the new platform.
About mobile computing - don't discount it that easily - in the very near future (6 to 8 months) all you may need to do is carry your $BBRY smart phone and it would allow you to run Virtual Machines on it (and access computing capability from the cloud). With the micro-hdmi port you can connect your phone to the monitor or a gateway (connected to your monitor) could remove the need for a physical connection between your monitor and phone altogether (we will see how this actually takes shape).
I guess your comment - "Let this company survive first,..." - was merely a knee-jerk response because you were irked by some of the user comments. If your comment was indeed well thought then I think it will help if you review their overall product portfolio. As Misek has stated repeatedly, he discounts their hardware business entirely and considers that they will do well (considerably) even with out it.
Last but not the least considering Blackberry's contracts with DoD and its niche play in the security market around the world I very much doubt that Lenovo or any other Chinese company will even get a chance to touch it with a barge pole.
I can go on about their secure transaction support, QNX, BBM, secure network that connects 650 carriers around the globe, etc. All in all, as you can see, $BBRY is no more just a hardware company - through its BB10 offering it has moved much, much beyond that. Very soon analyst will take a note of it. It is not surprising that Wells Fargo's analyst who had downgraded $BBRY last quarter on account of perceived drop in services revenue came back and has upgraded this stock!
What Will We Do With BlackBerry? [View article]
BlackBerry: Do Short Sellers Feel Lucky? [View article]
BlackBerry: Do Short Sellers Feel Lucky? [View article]
A lot of sales people carry nothing other than their blackberry to meet their customers! Can you say that about an Android or iPhone? Such patterns of usage repeat in all enterprises.
That is why to a lot of business users the keyboard is very important.
Android Is Dead - Part 8: The S4 Fights Back - BUT... [View article]
Apart from this, even though Samsung has Tizen waiting in the wings it is still not a hardened platform like the BB10 with its QNX OS. So, it is very likely that folks might defect out to Blackberry's BB10.
With BES 10 Blackberry has another tool in its arsenal that can continue to support BYOD for the enterprises across iOS, Android and Blackberry platforms and generate some handsome service revenues (understand that it is in the range of $100/year per device) for Blackberry.
Lets see how the story unfolds as time progresses.
BlackBerry: Do Short Sellers Feel Lucky? [View article]
BlackBerry: Do Short Sellers Feel Lucky? [View article]
BlackBerry: Do Short Sellers Feel Lucky? [View article]
If I am not mistaken Brian also mentioned that the 1 million device order by BrightStar was for markets outside US.
BlackBerry: Z Is For Zero [View article]
I agree that as time goes by the purchasing power is also picking up across the world (but it doesn't diminish the demand here in US) and from that perspective I think it certainly bodes well for both $NOK and $BBRY, What gets me excited is that there is so much room for the Smartphone market to grow around the world.