BlackBerry to outsource smartphone manufacture as sales slump
BlackBerry built a reputation for innovative smartphone technology and in 1999 rolled out its RIM 950 allowing on-the-go wireless email.The move announced on Wednesday signals a strategic shift for the company.The Canadian company said it will now focus on growing its software business."We believe that this is the best way to drive profitability in the device business," chairman and CEO John Chen said in a statement on Wednesday.
BlackBerry shifts away from its smartphone foundation
Two decades after it unveiled its first keyboard-equipped pager, the company that invented the smartphone is hanging up.BlackBerry Ltd., which once captured the devotion of the world's business and political elites with its line of devices, took another massive step in its transformation into a software-first company on Wednesday, announcing that it will stop designing and manufacturing the handsets that were the foundation of its brand for security and mobility.The company will concentrate on software for other companies' devices.While BlackBerrys will still exist, they will be made by other manufacturers that will pay royalties on the sales.
BlackBerry avoids smartphone risk with outsource move - CEO
WATERLOO, Ontario BlackBerry Ltd's decision to outsource the development of its smartphones helps it avoid the risks of a competitive market and focus on its more lucrative businesses of software and managing rival devices, its chief executive said on Wednesday.The company's shares (BB.TO)(BBRY.O) rose 5 percent as investors welcomed a further shift away the money-losing handset business, in which BlackBerry had gone from being a market leader to trailing far behind rivals like Apple Inc (AAPL.O).In a model for how it plans to keep BlackBerry-branded handsets in the market, the company said it had signed a deal with Indonesia's BB Merah Putih to manufacture, distribute and promote new devices in that country, its largest handset market.BlackBerry said it was in late-stage discussions for a similar deal in China and working on several India initiatives.
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