Blackberry out at Mercedes?

[Jericoke]

As we gear up for the Canadian Grand Prix, reporters who have no clue about Formula One have started reporting on Formula One.

This meandering piece in the Toronto Star (Canada's largest daily newspaper, mind you) is about the CEO of Blackberry
http://www.thestar.com/autos/2015/05/29/my-first-car-a-high-tech-guy-meets-his-match.html

Towards the end there's a brief mention of their $45 million contract ending with Mercedes, and no real interest in following it up.

(The same issue had an interview with Bernie.  As a bonus I'll list everything interesting in it:

• ummm
• nothing

)

[lkjohnson1950]

Seeing that every financial rag I read has Blackberry teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, they probably can't afford to re up with Merc.

[Scott]

Seeing that every financial rag I read has Blackberry teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, they probably can't afford to re up with Merc.

Then they are rags indeed.  Blackberry has about $5b liquid, and though their sales are down to about 10m units per year, they also own some of the most lucrative patents in the mobile world, More than a hundred of them if the podcast I listened to yesterday is to be believed (CBC).  The re-branded company is hunkering down and being run by one of the best turn-around specialists in the world. 

They probably won't ever again be the powerhouse they briefly were in mobile hardware, but they are nowhere close to down for the count in technology.

[cosworth151]

Most of the young people I run into in this business think of BlackBerry in the same way they think of Commodore and the TRS80.

[Ian]

My son wouldn't give you a thank you for a Blackberry either.

[Jericoke]

Most of the young people I run into in this business think of BlackBerry in the same way they think of Commodore and the TRS80.

Blackberry has 'pivoted'.  They are focusing on embedded services.  Starting with 2016 their software will be in all Fords (replacing Microsoft)

While many businesses have stopped issuing Blackberries to employees, the software that connects those iPhones and Samsungs to the corporate email and networks is still Blackberry.  Where security counts, people still use Blackberry phones.

[Alianora La Canta]

It does sound like a company which needs a different marketing strategy to formerly. It's not difficult for me to envisage them switching from Mercedes to, say, McLaren (because McLaren has arguably the best B2B sponsorship team in F1 - and that is part of the reason it's failed to land sponsors, because B2B's been flat for the past few years regarding extravagant expenses like F1).