14 DAY TRIAL // BlackBerry’s CEO John Chen loves to give interviews so, more often than not, he sits down with representatives of the media and talks about all sorts of stuff, some more interesting than others.
Recently, Mr. Chen met up with FOX Business reporters and responded to a few questions related to the future of the company he presides over.
If you follow the tech industry, you’re probably familiar with BlackBerry’s rise-and-fall story. Once at the top of the smartphone game, BlackBerry lost its grip over the market when Apple started pushing out iPhone models.
In the FOX interview, Chen admitted that BlackBerry has started shifting focus from making handsets to its software products and security features. The thing is, the Canadian company is still among the few to offer really secure devices and Chen is betting big on this niche.
The executive officer has also revealed that the company is spending over 100 million per year on security services and has acquired companies that specialize in secure voice communications, information compartmentalization (work/personal), and recently AdHoc, a company that has a contract with the US Department of Defense and Homeland Security and specializes in secure messaging software.
Don't expect a whole lot of BlackBerry handset models in the future
Furthermore, Chen admitted that BlackBerry wants to cut down on the amount of handsets it rolls out yearly. So instead of seeing the company launch about 4 models per year, Blackberry fans will only get one or two.
Last but not least, the device maker confirmed that it plans to offer a little “something” to those clients who have an iPhone for personal use and a BlackBerry for work. We don’t have any information on this topic yet, but we’re pretty sure something will leak soon.
If we’re to listen to the rumor mill, BlackBerry is gearing up to introduce its first Android-based handset, dubbed Venice. This is allegedly a slider device coming with a curved glass and pretty cool specs. We should be seeing the phone launch under the AT&T banner sometime in November, but this remains to be seen.
Earlier, BlackBerry’s CEO said the company would only build an Android handset if it found a way to make it secure.