BlackBerry Ltd., working to win back investor confidence, unveiled the first part of its plan to compete in the emerging world of Web-connected electronics with a platform that keeps track of shipping containers and vehicles.
The Internet of Things product pulls together the company’s device-management technology and its QNX operating system, already embedded in 50 million vehicles, BlackBerry said in a statement today.
Chief executive officer John Chen is diversifying the Waterloo, Ontario-based company after its share of the global smartphone market fell to less than 1%. The Internet of Things, which refers to the spread of Web-connected everyday electronics, will be a major source of growth in the future, Chen said last month.
“As to when it’s going to shore up the top line, it’s probably going to take a little while but it’s not going to be a long while,” Chen said today in an interview on CNBC. The platform is going through trials at hospitals, connecting medical devices, he said.
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The shares slipped 0.5% to $10.57 at 1:57 p.m. in New York. They rose 48% last year.
Companies using the platform could keep track of vehicles running BlackBerry’s software and measure how drivers use air conditioning, media content and even seat and steering wheel positions, according to BlackBerry’s website.
The system could also be used to keep track of specific shipping containers or pallets fitted with transmitting devices to help organize supply chains.
The Internet of Things is considered by many as the next stage in allowing consumers and businesses to communicate with the various other electronic devices in their lives.
BlackBerry says it will use technology developed by the its QNX Software Systems division, which already makes interactive infotainment systems built into vehicle dashboards.
Bloomberg.com, with files from The Canadian Press
Source:: National Post
