Blackberry CEO on Why His Company Beat Earnings Estimates
Blackberry’s turnaround is in full swing, and the company’s CEO told Cheddar he’s expanding its software, cybersecurity, and automotive services to drive growth in 2018.
“Our software are now embedded into a lot of the chipset or optimizers of people like Qualcomm,” John Chen said in an interview Wednesday. “The strength comes in from that.”
Blackberry shares jumped to near three-year highs Wednesday, after the company reported earnings and revenue in the latest quarter above analyst estimates. While sales fell 25 percent from a year ago, the drop wasn’t as bad as expected. And profit came in at 3 cents a share, while analysts were expecting the company to break even.
The company was a pioneer in the smartphone market, but lost ground to rivals like the iPhone and Samsung products. But it’s shifted into new areas.
Chen said that, while Blackberry has been in the auto industry for about a decade, it began making a “major push” into the space four years ago.
“We focused on designing new components of cars like lane-changing, advanced driver assistance, telematics that talk to the internet,” he said.
The chief exec says 60 million cars on the road currently operate on Blackberry software.
Cheeze, Inc. is a media platform that hopes to help photographers to tell stories through the use of NFT’s. Simon Hudson, founder and CEO of Cheeze, Inc. joined Cheddar News to explain the process as well as teasing its "Women of Authenticity" display for Women’s History Month. "We've made it very simple and focused very hard on reducing all of the friction to bring their items to the blockchain." Hudson explained. He also addressed reports that cloud software giant Salesforce could be getting into the NFT marketplace.
Samsung unveiled its latest product lineup, including a new family of Galaxy S22 smartphones featuring the S22 Ultra with a larger screen, more powerful camera, and the Samsung S Pen stylus. The company also revealed its latest tablet, the Tab S8 Ultra, featuring a 14.6" screen, expanded storage, and 4K video capability. Cheddar News was able to showcase each device as Allison Johnson, reviews writer at The Verge, joined Closing Bell to discuss the new releases, the standout features, and more.
