A firm that will be forever associated with a once-ubiquitous mobile phone has revealed growing demand for a very different kind of technology.
In a recent earnings call, Blackberry revealed an uplift of interest in its secure communications technology driven by increased global geopolitical tensions.
John Giamatteo, managing director, discussed growing demand for its SecuSmart tech, which offers "high-security voice and messaging for iOS and Android devices."
Giamatteo said simmering global conflicts boost the need for secure comms, and made a statement which appeared to hint that Blackberry was secretly working with the intelligence services - but in fact was intended to suggest something quite different.
"Unfortunately, when war breaks out across the world, it's an unfortunate thing," Giamatteo said. "But defence contractors get a lift, because [militaries] need more secure communications capabilities.
"So we have seen over the course of the last year or two, a lot more interest in some of this SecuSmart technology. It's the most sophisticated encryption technology that exists on the planet. Literally, this is CIA, FBI, this is defence. This is the most sophisticated technology."
A Blackberry source later confirmed that this statement does not mean the company is working with secret agents, telling us: "The CEO was using the FBI and CIA illustratively to give colour to the level of encryption. He was not highlighting them as specific customers."
Although Blackberry no longer makes the button-heavy smartphone nicknamed the "Crackberry" due to its addictive qualities, it now focuses on business areas including cybersecurity and internet of things (IoT) technology, offering an operating system called QNX that is used in more than 235 million vehicles around the world.
During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, its IoT revenue hit an "all-time quarterly record $66 million" - a 25% year-over-year increase - and cybersecurity revenue rose to $92 million, a 5% uplift. Overall, total annual company revenue was $853 million, including $218 million relating to the sale of legacy patents.
"SecuSmart portfolio is all about secure communications, whether that's text, data, voice, it's no longer across just a BlackBerry device," Giamatteo said. "It's now across our iOS devices. It's now across Android devices."
Giamatteo added: "Our biggest customers are nine out of the 10 largest banks in the world. Our biggest customers are 18 out of the G20 countries in the world, [which] use some form of this rich, secure communications capability."
Blackberry's reputation for delivering robust communications security has led to long-term speculation that it is used by secretive groups ranging from spooks to drug cartel leaders.
Robert Bigman, former CISO at the Central Intelligence Agency, previously told NBC News that CIA and FBI use BlackBerry for email and message encryption.
“One of the benefits of BBM is that each message is separately encrypted with a unique key,” he said. “Another nice feature that I'm sure [drug kingpin] El Chapo enjoyed is message registration privacy. You do not need to provide or exchange phone numbers and even names when you register for the service."
