Blackberry- Die Rallye beginnt.
BlackBerry (BBRY) announced a short while ago that Fairfax Financial Holding, the Canadian investment firm that is the smartphone maker's largest holder, will purchase an additional $250 million worth of convertible debentures, exercising an option set up when Fairfax participated in a $1 billion private placement for the company back in November.
Analysts were somewhat divided following BlackBerry's fiscal Q3 report last month over whether the company is burning through cash at a serious rate, or whether it has improved its rate of cash burn. In any event, the company ended the quarter with $2.2 billion in net cash following the capital raise.
BlackBerry stock is down 3 cents at $8.47.
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2014/01/...rons&ru=yahoo
Fairfax Financial ups investment in troubled BlackBerry
TORONTO (AP) -- Fairfax Financial Holdings said Wednesday it is buying another $250 million of convertible debt in BlackBerry in what Fairfax says is a show of confidence in the troubled smartphone maker's new management.
Fairfax, BlackBerry's largest shareholder, led an investment group that injected $1 billion into the company last fall.
The insurance and investment firm invested $250 million as part of that initial deal, which gave it an option to make an extra $250 million investment before a Monday deadline.
Fairfax President Paul Rivett told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the investment signals Fairfax's confidence in new chief executive John Chen, who took over in November in a management shake-up that coincided with Fairfax's increased investment.
"We believe the market is only just beginning to see the true potential of BlackBerry under the leadership of John and the team he has assembled," Rivett said.
Chen is credited with turning around Sybase, a data company that was sold to SAP in 2010. He has said reviving BlackBerry will be his most "complicated" challenge but that the company has plenty of cash to help him engineer a turnaround.
The CEO announced last month that BlackBerry is entering into a five-year partnership with Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that assembles products in vast factories in China. Foxconn, known for its manufacturing contract work on Apple's iPhones and iPads, will jointly design and manufacture most BlackBerry devices and manage inventory of the devices in an agreement that will offload much of BlackBerry's manufacturing costs.
Chen has said the company "is very much alive" but is putting more emphasis on Blackberry's software business than its hardware business.
The BlackBerry smartphone, pioneered in 1999, had been the dominant mobile device for on-the-go business people and other consumers before Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007. Apple's device showed that phones could handle much more than email and calls. In the years since, BlackBerry has been hammered by competition from the iPhone as well as Android-based rivals.
U.S.-traded shares in Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry Ltd. ended Wednesday up 4 cents at $8.54.
CEO Says BlackBerry Sued Typo Because The Keyboard 'Is Our Identity'
BlackBerry is still fighting for its rightful place in in the smartphone market, especially when it comes to keyboards.
Last Friday the company filed a lawsuit against Typo, an LA-based startup that makes a physical keyboard accessory for the iPhone. Co-founded by American Idol presenter Ryan Seacrest, the $99 device snaps onto the iPhone 5 and 5S like a normal case, but extends the phone by half an inch in length with a physical keyboard. The lawsuit describes the Typo as “a blatant infringement against BlackBerry’s iconic keyboard.”
John Chen, who stepped in as BlackBerry’s new CEO on Nov. 4, spoke publicly about the lawsuit for the first time in an interview with Forbes this week, saying the lawsuit was simply an attempt to protect BlackBerry’s rights.
“[The] keyboard is our identity,” he said. “If you copy our keyboard, of course we need to assert that right… If somebody wants to license it they’re welcome to do that, but they can’t just take it.”
Physical QWERTY keyboards have been a legacy feature for years for BlackBerry phones, and people who continue to use its devices in the face growing competition from Apple AAPL +0.6% and Samsung, say they still love the keyboard and can’t live without it.
Hence Typo could be a problem for BlackBerry if it takes off. The keyboard starts shipping later this month, and while Typo won’t share pre-order numbers, it claims to have sold out of its first batch of devices.
Other handset manufacturers like Nokia Nokia and Samsung have created phones with physical keyboards too, but it was also hard not to notice during demonstrations of the Typo keyboard at CES, that the gadget appeared, effectively, to turn an iPhone into a BlackBerry.
In his recent review oft the Typo, Sascha Segan at PC Mag called it “the best alternative for people who desperately miss popular QWERTY phones,” but added that for all of Typo’s vigorous denials of copying BlackBerry, “it’s just like typing on a BlackBerry Bold… the subtle sculpting on the edges to prevent mis-typing gives it away.”
Typo’s CEO and co-founder, Laurence Hallier, dismissed Chen’s comments. “He says he has a monopoly on keyboards?” Hallier said on the sidelines of CES 2014. “We don’t believe we’ve violated any of BlackBerry’s patents, and we did do due diligence. We’re gong to defend this vigorously.”
Hallier says he found out about the lawsuit last Friday morning after reading about it in press reports, then got a copy of the lawsuit later that day.
He started the company two years ago with Seacrest when the two were at a restaurant and marveled at the four separate smartphones they had laid out on the table before them. Each had one phone for typing, and another for apps. Hallier and Seacrest have been the startup’s primary backers, putting a total $1 million into the company to date.
Assuming the lawsuit blows over, Hallier hopes to have a tablet product ready this year.
Keyboards will play a key role in BlackBerry’s forthcoming products, as the company sticks it out in the consumer smartphone business with a renewed focus on enterprise mobility. Chen recently tied up a non-exclusive manufacturing partnerships with Foxconn which could see BlackBerry release a new touch-screen smartphone under $200 later this year, as well as a phone with a traditional keyboard that will be designed by BlackBerry.
“It’s not a negative message per se,” Chen said of the Typo lawsuit. “The keyboard is going to be a big part of our future.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/01/09/...is-our-identity/
RBC Capital upgraded BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) from Underperform to Sector Perform with a price target of $10.00 (from $6.00).
Die ersten Analysten haben sich bereits positiv geäußert.
Shorties hoffen noch immer auf einen Rücksetzer.
Die Luzi kommt in Fahrt.
Logisch ist das ganze nicht aber.....
Kein Verkauf unter 30!
Besonders interessante Passage:
As 2013 came to a close, BlackBerry shorts raced to cover, something we've seen with other tech giants such as Apple and Intel as well. Despite analyst estimates plunging since the latest earnings report, the Foxconn deal seems to have inspired some hope in this name. The billion plus in cash from the two investment deals has eased some concerns about the company's financial situation going forward. Right now, the momentum seems to be carrying this name higher, and a few more positive analyst notes and some short covering could combine to get BlackBerry back into the double digits. I do think some of the company's results will disappoint, but we're a long time from the next earnings report. For now, this name feels like it wants to go higher in the short term.
http://www.theflyonthewall.com/permalinks/...aign=theflyonthewall.com
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