Cybersecurity, IoT and car software are accelerating growth
Canada’s flagship BlackBerry is picking up momentum again, according to Reuters, which reports that it has topped Wall Street estimates for first-quarter revenue. The source of this new invigoration is rising demand for its automated vehicles systems and cybersecurity services. We are still using our Blackberry at the wheel, but it’s for safety purposes now.
Soaring demand for electric vehicles and connected-car devices and software have boosted sales of BlackBerry’s auto software, which is being installed by car makers across the globe including Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In the US General Motors is offering any type of comms, as long as it’s Blackberry. Mercedes-Benz is installing it in everything from lorries to luxury saloons and Toyota is one of Blackberry’s many Japanese car making clients.
BlackBerry’s car products run everything in the automated car from advanced driver assistance systems, infotainment units and connected-car technologies that hook the car up to the internet. Financial reports said that revenue from its Internet-of-Things services (including those for cars) have taken off the fastest, their rate of growth acceleration going from nought to 19% in the last quarter, with a margin of 84%.
These days Cybersecurity sales are the iconic handset maker’s biggest money maker. In the last quarter they rose by 6% to $113 million. Its sales were fuelled by the working from home (WFH) trend and the exposure of businesses as they migrate to the cloud. The pandemic has fuelled growth in the telecoms industry, says Reuters.
While the Institutional Brokers’ estimates (IBES data) from Refinitiv say revenue fell 3.4% to $168 million for the quarter ended May 31, but this exceeded the finance experts’ average estimate of $160.7 million. Net loss widened to $181 million, or 35 cents per share, from $62 million, or 11 cents per share, a year earlier. Though BlackBerry reported a loss of 5 cents per share, this was in line with analyst estimates.