BlackBerry Stock

BlackBerry Limited provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world.

The company secures more than 500 million endpoints including more than 215 million vehicles. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company leverages artificial intelligence ('AI') and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety and data privacy, and is a leader in the areas of endpoint security, endpoint management, encryption, and embedded systems.

Strategy

The company leverages its extensive technology portfolio to offer best-in-class cybersecurity, safety and reliability to enterprise customers primarily in government and regulated industries, to small and medium-sized businesses, and to original equipment manufacturers ('OEMs') in automotive, medical, industrial and other core verticals.

The company's go-to-market strategy focuses principally on generating revenue from enterprise software and services as well as from embedded software designs with leading OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. The company intends to drive revenue growth and to achieve margins that are consistent with those of other enterprise software companies.

Products and Services

The company has multiple products and services from which it derives revenue, which are structured in three groups: Cybersecurity, IoT (collectively with Cybersecurity, 'Software and Services') and Licensing and Other.

Cybersecurity

The Cybersecurity business consists of BlackBerry Spark, BlackBerry SecuSUITE and BlackBerry AtHoc.

The company's core secure software and services offering is its BlackBerry Spark software platform, which integrates a unified endpoint security ('UES') layer with BlackBerry unified endpoint management ('UEM') to enable secure endpoint communications in a zero-trust environment. BlackBerry UES is a set of complementary cybersecurity products offering endpoint protection platform ('EPP'), endpoint detection and response ('EDR'), mobile threat defense ('MTD'), zero-trust network access ('ZTNA') and user and entity behavior analytics ('UEBA') capabilities. The BlackBerry Spark platform is informed by the company's AI and machine learning capabilities, continuous innovations, professional cybersecurity services and threat research, industry partnerships and academic collaborations. The platform features industry-leading threat prevention modules to help organizations cope with the significant growth of cyberattacks and operates on a single agent across all endpoints, administered from a single console, leveraging a single crowd-sourced threat data lake and managed in one cloud environment. BlackBerry Spark solutions are available through the BlackBerry Cyber Suite and the BlackBerry Spark Unified Endpoint Management Suite, which are also marketed together as the BlackBerry Spark Suite, offering the company's most comprehensive range of tailored cybersecurity and endpoint management options.

The BlackBerry UES Suite offers leading Cylance AI and machine learning-based cybersecurity solutions, including: CylancePROTECT, an EPP and available MTD solution that uses an automated, prevention-first approach to protect against the execution of malicious code on an endpoint; CylanceOPTICS, an EDR solution that provides both visibility into and prevention of malicious activity on an endpoint; CylanceGUARD, a managed detection and response solution that provides 24/7 threat hunting and monitoring; CylanceGATEWAY, an AI-empowered ZTNA solution, and CylancePERSONA, a UEBA solution that provides continuous authentication by validating user identity in real time. These solutions are designed to provide a continuous state of resilience for the company's customers and support the outcomes they require by: (i) complementing, extending, or fully managing security capabilities with the company's experts and extended technology ecosystem, (ii) enabling the workforce in a way that is fast, easy and satisfying, while providing security visibility, controls and peace of mind; and (iii) reducing complexity and overhead costs associated with security operations. The company also offers incident response, compromise assessment and containment services to assist clients with forensic analysis, state of existing systems and remediation of attacks. The BlackBerry UES Suite natively integrates with BlackBerry UEM and also works with UEM solutions from other vendors.

The BlackBerry Spark UEM Suite includes the company's BlackBerry UEM, BlackBerry Dynamics and BlackBerry Workspaces solutions. BlackBerry UEM is a central software component of the company's secure communications platform, offering a 'single pane of glass', or unified console view, for managing and securing devices, applications, identity, content and endpoints across all leading operating systems. BlackBerry Dynamics offers a best-in-class development platform and secure container for mobile applications, including the company's own enterprise applications, such as BlackBerry Work and BlackBerry Connect for secure collaboration. The BlackBerry Spark platform also includes BBM Enterprise, an enterprise-grade secure instant messaging solution for messaging, voice and video.

BlackBerry SecuSUITE is a certified, multi-OS voice and text messaging solution with advanced encryption, anti-eavesdropping and continuous authentication capabilities, providing a maximum level of security on conventional mobile devices for government and businesses.

BlackBerry AtHoc and BlackBerry Alert are secure, networked critical event management solutions that enable people, devices and organizations to exchange critical information in real time during business continuity and life safety operations. The platforms securely connect with a diverse set of endpoints to distribute emergency mass notifications, improve personnel accountability and facilitate the bidirectional collection and sharing of data within and between organizations. BlackBerry AtHoc serves the requirements of the public sector market while BlackBerry Alert targets the commercial sector.

IoT

The IoT business consists of BlackBerry Technology Solutions ('BTS') and BlackBerry IVY.

The principal component of BTS is BlackBerry QNX, a global provider of real-time operating systems, hypervisors, middleware, development tools, and professional services for connected embedded systems in the automotive, medical, industrial automation and other markets. A recognized leader in automotive software, BlackBerry QNX offers a growing portfolio of safety-certified, secure and reliable platform solutions and is focused on achieving design wins with automotive OEMs, Tier 1 vendors and automotive semiconductor suppliers. These solutions include the Neutrino operating system and the BlackBerry QNX CAR platform, the most advanced embedded software platform for the autonomous vehicle market, as well as other products designed to alleviate the challenges of compliance with ISO 26262, the automotive industry's functional safety standard. Additionally, the company's secure automotive over-the-air software update management service allows OEMs to manage the life cycle of the software and security in their vehicles.

BlackBerry QNX is also a preferred supplier of embedded systems for companies building medical devices, train-control systems, industrial robots, hardware security modules, building automation systems, green energy solutions, and other mission-critical applications.

In addition to BlackBerry QNX, BTS includes BlackBerry Certicom cryptography and key management products, and the BlackBerry Radar asset monitoring solution.

BlackBerry Certicom leverages patented elliptic curve cryptography to provide device security, anti-counterfeiting and product authentication solutions. BlackBerry Certicom's offerings include its managed public key infrastructure ('PKI') platform, key management and provisioning technology that helps customers to protect the integrity of their silicon chips and devices from the point of manufacturing through the device life cycle. BlackBerry Certicom's secure key provisioning, code signing and security credential management system services protect next-generation connected cars, critical infrastructure and IoT deployments from product counterfeiting, re-manufacturing and unauthorized network access.

BlackBerry Radar is a family of asset monitoring and telematics solutions for the transportation and logistics industry. The BlackBerry Radar solution includes devices and secure cloud-based dashboards for tracking containers, trailers, chassis, flatbeds and heavy machinery, for reporting locations and sensor data, and for enabling custom alerts and fleet management analytics.

The company has partnered with Amazon Web Services, Inc. ('AWS') to develop and market BlackBerry IVY, an intelligent vehicle data platform leveraging BlackBerry QNX's automotive capabilities. BlackBerry IVY allows automakers to safely access a vehicle's sensor data, normalize it, and apply machine learning at the edge to generate and share predictive insights and inferences. Automakers and developers will be able to use this information to create responsive in-vehicle services that enhance driver and passenger experiences. BlackBerry IVY supports multiple vehicle operating systems and hardware, as well as multi-cloud deployments in order to ensure compatibility across vehicle models and brands. The company recently announced the first design win for BlackBerry IVY and expects to release the platform for general availability in May 2023, with in-vehicle installations to begin during the 2025 model year.

The BlackBerry Cybersecurity and IoT groups are complemented by the enterprise and cybersecurity consulting services offered by the company's BlackBerry Professional Services business. BlackBerry Professional Services provides platform-agnostic strategies to address mobility-based challenges, providing expert deployment support, end-to-end delivery (from system design to user training), application consulting, and experienced project management. The company's cybersecurity consulting services and tools, combined with its other security solutions, help customers identify the latest cybersecurity threats, test for vulnerabilities, develop risk-appropriate mitigations, maintain IT security standards and techniques, and defend against the risk of future attacks.

Licensing and Other

Licensing and Other consists primarily of the company's patent licensing business and legacy service access fees ('SAF').

The company's Licensing business is responsible for the management and monetization of the company's global patent portfolio. The patent portfolio continues to provide a competitive advantage in the company's core product areas, as well as providing leverage in the development of future technologies and licensing programs in both core and adjacent vertical markets. The company owns rights to an array of patented and patent pending technologies which include, but are not limited to, operating systems, networking infrastructure, acoustics, messaging, enterprise software, automotive subsystems, cybersecurity, cryptography and wireless communications. As of February 28, 2023, the company owned approximately 37,500 worldwide patents and applications.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, the company announced its entry into a patent sale agreement with Catapult IP Innovations ('Catapult') for the sale of substantially all of the company's non-core patent assets. On March 21, 2023, the company announced that Catapult had been unable to secure financing that would have enabled it to complete the transaction on acceptable amended terms and that, as a result, the company had terminated its agreement with Catapult. The company also announced its entry into a new patent sale agreement with Malikie Innovations Limited for the sale of a similar portfolio of non-core patent assets. Pursuant to the terms of the Malikie Transaction, the company will receive a license back to the patents being sold, which relate primarily to mobile devices, messaging and wireless networking. The Malikie Transaction will not impact customers' use of any of the company's products, solutions or services.

The company's Other business generated revenue from SAF charged to subscribers using the company's legacy BlackBerry 7 and prior BlackBerry operating systems, for which support and maintenance ceased as of January 4, 2022.

Sales, Marketing, Distribution and Customers

The company primarily generates revenue from the licensing of enterprise software and sales of associated services, including its endpoint management and cybersecurity solutions, BlackBerry QNX software for the embedded market, technology licensing and professional consulting services. The company focuses on strategic industries with vertical-specific use cases, including regulated enterprise markets such as financial services, government, healthcare, professional services and transportation, and other markets where embedded software and critical infrastructure are important, such as utilities, mining, and manufacturing.

The company licenses the BlackBerry Spark platform, including its individual components and complementary third-party applications, through a geographically-dispersed direct sales force, value-added resellers, managed security service providers and alliance partners. The company continues to build its global partner programs to bolster its direct sales and marketing efforts.

The company also licenses its enterprise software and services through global wireless communications carriers, which are able to bill separately for BlackBerry UEM services, and other distribution partners around the world.

The company licenses BlackBerry QNX and BlackBerry Certicom technology and provides professional engineering services to OEM customers in the automotive, mobile and other embedded software markets via a direct sales force and indirectly through channel partnerships. The licenses are primarily monetized as royalties on units shipped and through project development seats, tools and maintenance fees.

The company markets and sells its BlackBerry Radar secure asset monitoring products and services to enterprise users through its internal sales force, as well as through third party distribution channels.

Third Party Software Developers

The company offers the BlackBerry Development Platform, an enterprise-grade toolset, which enables application developers and ISVs to build secure, powerful and customized solutions for almost every use case and to commercialize them on the BlackBerry Marketplace for Enterprise Software, which contains over 130 enterprise applications and solutions. The platform includes the BlackBerry Dynamics software development kit ('SDK'), which allows developers to integrate BlackBerry security into their enterprise applications, resulting in a managed application where corporate data is protected. The platform also includes SDKs for BlackBerry UEM, BlackBerry Workspaces, BlackBerry AtHoc and other products.

To support BlackBerry UES products, the company offers the BlackBerry Endpoint ISV Technology Integration program featuring an application programming interface ('API') development platform that enables developers and ISVs to develop robust extensible security integrations for BlackBerry UES, creating results-based offerings for targeted use cases. Completed integrations are shared with the user community and promoted to market partners and AWS Marketplace opportunities.

In addition, the company maintains the BlackBerry AtHoc Development Partner Program, which invites partners to integrate with the BlackBerry AtHoc service and allows them to create alerts based on more event types or to leverage alerting capabilities based on critical events from within other systems.

The primary development platform for BlackBerry QNX-based systems is the QNX Software Development Platform (SDP), which includes the QNX Neutrino Realtime Operating System and the QNX Momentics Tool Suite. The QNX SDP is complemented by QNX Hypervisor, QNX OS for Safety, QNX Hypervisor for Safety, QNX Acoustics Management Platform and QNX Platform for Digital Cockpits and other products.

Expanding the company's automotive product portfolio, the BlackBerry IVY platform includes an in-vehicle runtime for cost-efficient data processing and a set of SDKs which enables developers to process vehicle signals and generate meaningful insights that are used to unlock new use cases on both BlackBerry QNX and Linux-based vehicle platforms.

Intellectual Property

Although the company applies for patent protection primarily in Canada, Europe and the United States, the company has filed, and will continue to file, patent applications in other countries where there exists a strategic technological or business reason to do so. As of February 28, 2023, the company owned approximately 37,500 worldwide patents and applications.

Regulation

The company collects and uses a wide variety of information for various purposes in its business, including to help ensure the integrity of its services and to provide features and functionality to customers. This aspect of the company's business is subject to a broad array of evolving privacy and data protection laws, including the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, the proposed Canadian Consumer Privacy Protection Act, regional privacy frameworks, such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Privacy Framework, and national and state laws within the United States, including the California Privacy Rights Act.

The company is also subject to numerous international trade laws and regulations, including without limitation, tariffs, trade sanctions, export controls and technology transfer restrictions, as well as anti-corruption legislation, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Canada's Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act.

The U.S. Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act also requires the company to comply with certain due diligence and disclosure obligations with respect to the use of conflict minerals.

Research and Development

The company's adjusted research and development expenses were $198 million in the year ended February 28, 2023.

Competition

The BlackBerry QNX automotive business competes principally with providers of embedded software that employ customized Linux open-source operating systems for the transportation and logistics industry, and with Google's Android Automotive OS.

History

The company was founded in 1984. The company was incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) in 1984. It was formerly known as Research In Motion Limited and changed its name to BlackBerry Limited in 2013.