BlackBerry are to decommission the legacy services for BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10 software, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 and earlier versions, with an end of life or termination date of January 4, 2022. The company says they chose to extend service until then as an expression of thanks to loyal partners and customers.
BlackBerry is now providing dedicated EU instances of its BlackBerry AtHoc service, enabling customers to comply with EU data protection regulations and prepare for the upcoming Public Warning directives by localising personal data in additional data centres located in the Netherlands and France, as well as the existing one in the UK.
Sliced Tech has partnered with BlackBerry in Australia to host its secure communications portfolio, SecuSuite for Government. The partnership allows BlackBerry to offer a locally-hosted managed service to Australian government agencies and address data sovereignty concerns.
StradVision will utilise BlackBerry's QNX Software Development Platform within a number of next generation Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Autonomous Vehicles (AV) from South Korean automakers.
BlackBerry completed its debt refinancing Tuesday, which left Fairfax Financial holding 90% of new 1.75% BlackBerry convertible debt. On the same day, Billionaire investor Prem Watsa, leader of Fairfax Financial Holdings, upped his stake in BlackBerry by 117.99%.
Fairfax Financial Holdings (Fairfax) has acquired control of $330M of 1.75% subordinated convertible debentures issued by BlackBerry, representing 90% of BlackBerry's private placement of $365M of the debentures that closed.
BlackBerry has received approval from the Department of Defense Information Network (DoDIN) for its BlackBerry Unified Endpoint Manager software (UEM). BlackBerry UEM is the only MDM solution on the DoDIN Approved Product List.
BlackBerry has completed the redemption of all of its 3.75% unsecured convertible debentures (TSX: BB.DB.V) (the "3.75% Debentures") on September 1, 2020. None of the 3.75% Debentures were converted into common shares of BlackBerry prior to redemption.
BlackBerry has announced the amendment of the indenture governing its outstanding 3.75% unsecured convertible debentures to permit the optional redemption of the 3.75% Debentures prior to November 13, 2020.
BlackBerry has hired Brian Yearwood as a new director of licensing. Yearwood will be responsible for patent licensing matters and the settlement of patent litigation through licensing. He will provide business/financial advice and preliminary damages analysis for patent litigation matters– delivered to the litigation team and plaintiff/client and work with external damages experts to prepare damages report for litigation matters.
BlackBerry Shareholder Dorsey R. Gardner has objected to BlackBerry's recently announced recapitalisation transactions, which he argues give rise to a clear conflict of interest as they involve Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited and certain of its affiliates (collectively, "Fairfax")
The BlackBerry Security Summit 2020 will be a virtual event this year due to the covid-19 epidemic and registration is now open. The Partner Summit will take place on October 5, while the ecurity Summit will take place on October 6 and 7.
