BlackBerry had a very good week. Since the United States Department of Defense announced that they’ve approved the use of 80,000 BlackBerry devices, the company’s stock closed at over 9% Tuesday, January 21st.
After having a bad year with disappointing sales of the BlackBerry 10, the company has shifted their customer base to government and enterprise, where they’ve found a good following. They’re also focusing on emerging markets overseas such as Indonesia, where the company’s products are still popular. Taking themselves out of the market saturated by Android and iPhone users allows them to be top dog in the public sector, an area the other phone makers aren’t catering to.
BlackBerry also made a bold move by criticizing Samsung’s security vulnerability in a recent blog post. Author John Sims blasts the company for giving hackers easy access to their Androids, particularly the Galaxy S4. He notes a potential security flaw that researchers found in Samsung’s Knox enterprise software for mobile devices. Even with Samsung releasing a statement that they are working on fixing these security issues, Sims was also quick to point out that BlackBerry is “the only enterprise mobility management vendor and handset maker that has received the Department of Defense ‘Authority to Operate’ certification.” *
BlackBerry is proving that they are far from down and out. If this week is a predictor of things to come, BlackBerry’s stock will continue to rise.
*It should be noted that Samsung’s Knox system was in fact approved by the Department of Defense last year.
