Has BlackBerry hit rock bottom? Look at the following chart for BlackBerry’s stock price and value.
BlackBerry’s stock right now is around $6.06, which is up from $5.89 (all time low?).
It is crazy. BlackBerry has millions of users, with a strong history in the global Enterprise/IT market, with secure software and infrastructure, and communication-and other kinds of apps for Mobile. For years, BlackBerry have had a little gem that not many people talk about. If you have been in Mobile for a while, you will remember a company called Certicom and their IP around Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), which was acquired by BlackBerry around 2009 or so, and that (for better or worst) even the NSA uses and recommends.
ECC is a very strong encryption algorithm with great characteristics, especially when it comes to Mobile, which is even more important after the rumors around RSA-encryption and NSA backdoors. Some of ECC’s advantages include: (1) Shorter keys are as strong as long key for RSA, (2) Lower on CPU consumption, and (3) Lower memory usage, when compared to other algorithms.
BlackBerry should be maximizing/monetizing ECC in major ways. The following is from The Case for Elliptic Curve Cryptography (NSA):
Despite the many advantages of elliptic curves and despite the adoption of elliptic curves by many users, many vendors and academics view the intellectual property environment surrounding elliptic curves as a major roadblock to their implementation and use. Various aspects of elliptic curve cryptography have been patented by a variety of people and companies around the world. Notably the Canadian company, Certicom Inc. holds over 130 patents related to elliptic curves and public key cryptography in general.
BlackBerry should turn the above into an opportunity.
I think having Mr. Chen run the BlackBerry is a good thing — I’ve the feeling he will do better than any of the previous CEOs; there is hope for BlackBerry. He should focus on their core assets and skills: from Enterprise to mobile, mobile device management (MDM), and security (ECC). One thought is to exit the hardware space and focus on Software — as Mr. Andreessen well said: “software is easting the world”.
/CEO
Related to this:
* BlackBerry: Not dead yet! Seriously
* BlackBerry’s Potential Biggest Patent Asset: Elliptic Curve Cryptography