BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has been taking numerous steps to convince investors that the story isn’t over yet, and it looks like what the company has been doing is working. Shares of BlackBerry have climbed by about 30% year to date, significantly outperforming the S&P 500’s 6% increase in the same time frame.
BlackBerry launches Fact Check
One of the things BlackBerry has done most recently is launch something it calls Fact Check. The company got a lot of bad press last year as it struggled to recover from its rapidly declining market share. New CEO John Chen has since revived the interest of investors, who apparently think the Canadian handset maker now has a future, despite the certain death that loomed so closely last year.
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BlackBerry’s new Fact Check portal is aimed at clearing up misconceptions about its future. The company said the portal is a place where it will hold competitors accountable for the things they say about BlackBerry, especially when they’re saying something wrong. The company wants to expose its competitors’ marketing tactics and show that it is still a leader in the mobile industry.
BlackBerry: fighting the “migration myth”
On the Fact Check portal, BlackBerry brags using real numbers to tell investors how it is really doing in the market. The company reports that since it began the EZ Pass program, over 2,600 enterprises making up 1.2 million licenses have switched over to BES 10. More than 100,000of the licenses were traded in from competitors. BlackBerry gave these same numbers with its most recent earnings report.
The company’s most recent blog post on the site aims to discredit what it says is the “migration myth.” BlackBerry reports that it has the biggest install base, “an unparalleled global infrastructure, and the deepest understanding of how to provide secure, productive mobile collaboration and communications in the enterprise space.” It states that while competitors suggest that all customers are turning their backs on BlackBerry, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The emphasis here is clearly on enterprise customers, which makes sense as CEO Chen has said they want to return to their roots with a re-focusing on enterprise customers.
Where does BlackBerry go next?
As of now, BlackBerry’s share in the U.S. smartphone market has fallen to zero. However, the company still has its eyes set on the U.S. market as it plans to release two new handsets this year. BlackBerry has already highlighted its continued success in emerging markets with its most recently released handsets.
The company also recently declared war on people who leak details about its upcoming products. BlackBerry decided that it’s best to keep things under wraps until it is ready to show new products off to potential customers.