Telecom
BlackBerry May Abandon Physical Handset for Cyber Security
With losses at £2.7bn, John Chen, interim chief executive must find a new way forward as Bloomberg Businessweek magazine’s cover showed a range of archaeological objects – a flint arrowhead, a skull – and a BlackBerry handset, which labels the company as still in the woods.
Meanwhile, Chen has already outlined a new strategy for the Canadian company in which he acknowledged that making smartphones was a thing of the past. As an alternative, the company will focus on intangible services such as offering cyber-security for businesses and not making physical handsets.
Making smartphones has not been a good business for anyone who isn’t Apple and Samsung recently, as they have squeezed the profits out of the rest of the industry, according to a report by Guardian of UK. BlackBerry, however, last Friday announced a loss of $4.4bn (£2.7bn) on revenues of just $1.2bn; only a tax rebate of $624m saved its net figures from being worse.
Those three months to the end of November marked a turning point: for the first time, BlackBerry now gets more money – 53% of revenues – from selling “services” such as sending data including email and web pages, than it does from selling handsets, which generated 40%. Software made up the other 7%.
But that has come as the company’s revenues have shrunk to levels smaller than at any time since May 2007, and the number of phones shipped, 1.9m, is the smallest since December 2006. BlackBerry, whose founders laughed at the iPhone’s lack of a keyboard, is out of the smartphone race.
In future Foxconn, which makes the iPhone, will co-design and manufacture BlackBerrys too, and hold the stock. BlackBerry will effectively become a reseller of its own phones.
“The smartphone business is brutal,” said Kevin Restivo, global smartphone analyst at the research company IDC. “It’s one where the big players – Samsung, Apple, and a few Chinese companies – are going to have success, and the others are scratching for crumbs.”
Andy Perkins, an analyst at Société Générale, told Bloomberg: “At some point it becomes uneconomic to make handsets in such small quantities.”
Chen is a turnaround artist. He was brought in to the software company Sybase, where he executed a successful reorganisation.
Since taking over barley two months ago, he has overseen a number of departures of existing senior executives, and hired some former colleagues. The obvious conclusion is that he is reshaping BlackBerry as a services and software company.
Unlike other struggling smartphone makers, BlackBerry can fall back on tens of millions of customers in large businesses, who rely on the security of its products. Chan said that 80% of Blackberry users were business customers.
That could be anywhere up to 50 million users worldwide, offering a substantial base for rebuilding any corporation, even the struggling BlackBerry.
But the data also confirmed that BB10, the operating system launched in January by Heins, has been a flop. Since March, BlackBerry’s customers have bought a total of around 17m phones, but only 5.6m have been BB10 devices.
The new products have fared poorly with consumers and the large businesses that rely on BlackBerry. Consumers have been turned off because the BB10 functions differently from the old BB7 model, while businesses have backed away because BB10 devices can’t be hooked up to the older BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) systems so many big customers use.
So while consumers have dumped them in favour of other makes, BlackBerry-using businesses have taken one of two paths: either sourcing old BB7 handsets to keep their existing users happy, or abandoning BlackBerry altogether.
Even Goldman Sachs, once a BlackBerry fortress, has begun letting some executives use iPhones for email, a move that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.
Chen has an answer to both. For consumers, BlackBerry will try to somehow make money from the millions of people who have downloaded the BBM messaging software and installed it on to iPhones and Android phones.
“Revenues might come from a per-user per-month model, or rolling out advertising,” he said on Friday. “We’re a long way from knowing how to do it.”
For businesses he will offer “mobile device management” software that will be able to control not just BlackBerrys, but also iPhones and Android phones.
But there are plenty of rivals there, and it’s not a big business – worth only about $560m (£343m) this year globally for all vendors, and growing at 12% annually, according to ABI Research. Even if a reshaped BlackBerry captures more than half of that, it would still look tiny compared to what it was.
That means, said IDC’s Restivo, that, “BlackBerry’s not out of the woods yet.” He explains: “First and foremost, Chen needs to figure out how to make money from products that have a significant customer base and are growing. The handset business isn’t growing. And how they’re going to generate significant revenue from BES and BBM, and create a company driven by those two parallel paths – right now, the path isn’t clear.”
Four people have been killed, with over 20 injured after a fire at Cairo data centre disrupted telecom services nationwide.
A fire at a major Telecom Egypt facility in Cairo on Monday has left four workers dead and at least 22 others injured, plunging parts of the capital into a communications crisis.
According to Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, spokesperson for Egypt’s Health Ministry, most injuries were due to smoke inhalation.
The blaze, which broke out at a key data centre operated by Telecom Egypt, the country’s primary fixed-line and internet provider, was brought under control later that day.
However, it caused widespread disruptions, halting phone services, affecting internet connectivity, and even interfering with digital banking operations.
Internet monitoring group NetBlocks reported that national connectivity dropped to just 62% of normal levels following the incident.
Residents across Cairo struggled with poor network access, and banks—although already closed for the day—reported interruptions in ATM services and online transactions.
In a statement on Tuesday, Telecom Egypt mourned the loss of its employees and pledged support to their families.
Amr Talaat, Egypt’s minister of Communications and Information Technology, assured the public that service restoration was underway and expected to be completed within 24 hours.
To address the disruption, the Health Ministry released alternative emergency contact numbers across Egypt’s governorates, in case its primary ambulance hotline remained unreachable.
The state-run MENA news agency reported that the fire was prevented from engulfing the entire building and nearby rooftops, thanks to the efforts of emergency responders.
A preliminary investigation suggests the fire was likely triggered by an electrical short circuit, according to a security source cited by MENA.
As the nation works to restore full connectivity, the incident has raised fresh concerns about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and the need for enhanced fire safety protocols in sensitive tech facilities.
Tech faints, Globalcom, on Tuesday unveiled three exciting digital products aimed at rewarding customers. The products, Animation World Promo, Treasure Spin and Sport Brain, also provide subscribers with the opportunity to play and win instant prizes.
Globalcom in a statement in Lagos said that the company is dedicated to providing value-added service to its ever-growing customers.
The first digital product, which is Animation World Promo, is an innovative trivia-based service aimed at challenging customers culinary knowledge of Nigerian food. With it, subscribers engage in answering food related questions, earn points and win delicious prizes.
For Treasure Spin, customers are availed the digital treasure spin experience. With each spin Glo subscribers stand a chance to win instant prizes, making every participation exciting and rewarding.
In addition, Globalcom captures the heart of football lovers with Sport Brain. Subscribers are allowed to predict football scores in matches across top leagues all around the world. Customers get to select their preferred leagues. “It’s a fun and competitive way for football lovers to test their instincts and knowledge,” the company noted.
Customers who subscribe to any of the three services stand a chance to win fantastic daily, weekly, and monthly prizes. Every day, 20 participants will receive ₦1,000 cash, ₦1,000 airtime, and 3.5GB data. On a weekly basis, five lucky winners will walk away with ₦100,000 each, while one grand prize winner will receive ₦1 million every month.
To participate, customers are required to dial *13055*2# for Animation World Promo,*13199*3# for Treasure Spin and *13199*2# for Sport Brain. Each plan can be activated either as a one-time purchase or Auto Renewal.
Globacom further explained that all products are available at an affordable subscription rate of ₦100 for a daily plan, ₦300 for weekly plan and ₦500 for monthly plan.
In concluding, the company disclosed that the services are available to all Glo prepaid and postpaid subscribers nationwide.
The Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SiBAN) has lauded Interstellar, one of its prominent members, for spearheading a major breakthrough in Africa’s financial technology space.
This follows Interstellar’s strategic partnership with the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) to roll out the PAPSS African Currency Marketplace (PACM), a blockchain-based platform designed to address the continent’s long-standing currency inconvertibility challenge.
The initiative is already being hailed as a game-changer capable of eliminating the $5 billion annual trade friction currently plaguing intra-African commerce.
According to SiBAN President, Mr Obinna Iwuno, the development affirms Nigeria’s leadership in blockchain innovation, stating that Interstellar’s PACM is not only a technological feat but also a timely response to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) mandate of seamless and cost-effective regional trade.
PACM operates on STARGATE, a blockchain-agnostic system developed by Interstellar, and leverages the Bantu blockchain network to facilitate real-time, peer-to-peer exchanges of African currencies.
The solution ensures financial inclusion by allowing businesses, SMEs, and informal traders to transact in local currencies without relying on foreign intermediaries, all while maintaining regulatory compliance.
Mr Ernest Mbenkum, CEO of Interstellar, described the solution as Africa’s roadmap to financial sovereignty. “Blockchain is not just innovation; it is empowerment,” he said.
SiBAN reaffirmed its commitment to supporting policies and partnerships that promote secure, transparent, and inclusive digital economies.
The association further called on stakeholders in government and the private sector to prioritise blockchain adoption as a driver of national development.
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