Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) decided to postpone its plan to upgrade the phones for its 55,600 employees to the latest smartphone and operating system of BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) as reported by the Financial Post.
People with knowledge of the issue said that the bank is worried about the future of the Canadian smartphone manufacturer and it might not be able to support its device over the long-term.
Morgan Stanley’s phone upgrades
According to one of the sources, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) usually upgrades the smartphones for its employees more than five months after BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) introduces its latest smartphone. Instead of upgrading its corporate devices, the bank management preferred to keep using the BlackBerry 7 after the Canadian smartphone manufacturer announced that it is seeking strategic alternatives, such as a sale or taking the company private.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) wants to make sure that BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) will continue to support the BlackBerry 10.
Roger Entner, analyst at Recon Analytics LLC opined, “If you think the company will be sold or disappears, why buy a couple hundred new devices? When something breaks, you might not get support. It’ll probably put a damper on purchases of BlackBerry devices.”
Univision ordered BlackBerry phones
Last August 27, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) received 2,000 orders for its BlackBerry Q10 smartphone from Univision Communications. The Hispanic broadcaster is replacing all the phones currently used by its employees.
The Canadian smartphone manufacturer announced that it received one million orders for BlackBerry 10 from an unidentified customer last March. The company said the order came from its “established partners.” The company also received big orders for its latest device from Canadian Tire Corporation Limited (TSE:CTC) (TSE:CTC.A) in April.
Employees started pilot program to test BlackBerry
According to the Financial Post, one of the banks in the United States with more than 100,000 employees started a pilot program where 100 of its employees are testing and monitoring the performance of the BlackBerry 10 before deciding to upgrade.
Earlier this month, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) received authority to operate (ATO) on the networks of the United States Department of Defense (DoD). The company is the first mobile device management (MDM) provider granted with ATO. The Canadian smartphone manufacturer’s vice president of communications, Adam Emery, previously stated that BlackBerry is not a device-only company. He emphasized that the company aims to do more and it is focused on expanding its enterprise service.
