BlackBerry CEO John Chen is making good on his promise to turn around the company, signing a slew of deals and transforming the brand into a cybersecurity enterprise player—Chen calls it the Enterprise of Things or EoT—from a failed mobile phone-maker.
New partners include Delphi, Denso, Qualcomm, Visteon and China’s Baidu, which is expanding BlackBerry’s dominance as an operating system for autonomous and connected vehicles.
In 2013, The Globe and Mail newspaper called Chen a “turnaround artist.””BlackBerry has software developed by its QNX division that enables machines to communicate with each other wirelessly, such as systems in automobiles that can interact with dealerships,” the Canadian newspaper noted.
“We have all the ingredients to become the leader in that embedded machine-to-machine space,” Chen told the paper. “I figure with our focus and [by thinking] long term, [by doing] the right thing today, a step at a time, I think we’re going to build tremendous value for shareholders.”
By Chen’s reckoning, that day has arrived.
In announcing an autonomous auto deal with Baidu ahead of CES 2018 on Wednesday, Chen told Bloomberg News that BlackBerry can no longer be considered a turnaround story.
“I would not call us a turnaround,” he told reporter Emily Chang. “We make money, we generate growth, we are very good, in particular in the cybersecurity enterprise business, particularly banks and governments and healthcare.” Enterprise billings last quarter, he added, grew 20%.
Chen was commenting on today’s news that BlackBerry has signed a deal to provide the operating system for Baidu’s autonomous vehicles program. The Chinese software giant has turned to the Canadian BlackBerry to help realize its ambitious dreams in the automotive space, one of a number of automotive partners that Chen is currently confirming. Chen will also speak at the North American International Auto Show later this month.
“In all cases, we are providing the safety and security operating systems for the autonomous vehicle,” he told Bloomberg. “One of my strategies for growth in taking this job was to create a new category for us to dominate in [the “enterprise of things”] and while I wouldn’t use the word ‘dominate,’ we are certainly doing extremely well in that category.”
Showing just how far BlackBerry has transformed from the mobile phone business, regarding other opportunities for future growth, Chen commented that “we are going to have a platform of security for EOT or IOT management.”
More details on BlackBerry’s deal with Baidu, from the press release:
BlackBerry Limited and Baidu, Inc. announced today that the two companies will collaborate to accelerate the deployment of connected and autonomous vehicle technology for automotive OEMs and suppliers worldwide.
The companies have signed a statement of intent to make BlackBerry QNX’s industry-leading ISO26262 ASIL-D certified safety operating system (OS) the foundation for Baidu’s Apollo autonomous driving open platform. Also, BlackBerry and Baidu will work together to integrate Baidu’s CarLife, the leading smartphone integration software for connected cars in China, as well as its conversational AI system DuerOS, and high definition maps to run on the BlackBerry QNX Car (Infotainment) Platform.
“BlackBerry QNX has established itself as the OS platform for safety-certified production-based systems,” said Li Zhenyu, General Manager of Intelligent Driving Group, Baidu. “We aim to provide automakers with a clear and fast path to fully autonomous vehicle production, with safety and security as top priorities. By integrating the BlackBerry QNX OS with the Apollo platform, we will enable carmakers to leap from prototype to production systems. Together, we will work toward a technological and commercial ecosystem for autonomous driving, intelligent connectivity, and intelligent traffic systems.”
“Joining forces with Baidu will enable us to explore integration opportunities for multiple vehicle subsystems including ADAS, infotainment, gateways, and cloud services,” said John Wall, Senior Vice President and GM of BlackBerry QNX. “Baidu has made tremendous strides in Artificial Intelligence and deep learning. These advancements paired with their high-definition maps and BlackBerry’s safety-critical embedded software and expertise in security will be crucial ingredients for autonomous vehicles.”
Announced by Baidu this past April, Apollo is an open platform that provides a comprehensive, secure, and reliable solution that consists of cloud services, an open software stack, and reference hardware and vehicle platforms. It supports all major features and functions of an autonomous vehicle. Apollo has now attracted over 70 global partners, including OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, developer platforms, and technology start-ups. The project was named after the historic lunar landing program to illustrate its scale and complexity.
As the leader in safety-certified, secure, and reliable software for the automobile industry, BlackBerry currently provides OEMs around the world with state-of-the-art cybersecurity technology to protect and mitigate, hardware, software, applications and end-to-end systems from cyberattacks. BlackBerry’s pedigree in security and continued innovation has led to recent automotive design wins with Delphi, Denso, Qualcomm, Visteon and others. To learn more about the BlackBerry QNX platform and why it is the most advanced embedded software platform on the autonomous vehicle market, please visit blackberry.com/qnx.
BlackBerry is a cybersecurity software and services company dedicated to securing the Enterprise of Things. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company was founded in 1984 and operates in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Middle East, Latin America and Africa. Baidu, meanwhile, is the leading Chinese language Internet search provider. Baidu aims to make a complex world simpler through technology.
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