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BlackBerry Ltd.
Shares of BlackBerry Ltd. skyrocketed in very active trading Tuesday, after the security software services company announced it was joining forces with Amazon Web Services Inc. to develop and sell BlackBerry’s intelligent vehicle data platform, known as “IVY.”
BlackBerry said the multiyear, global agreement with Amazon.com Inc.’s AMZN, +2.08% cloud services business will allow auto makers to use IVY to securely read vehicle sensor data and create actionable insights from that data.
“This software platform promises to bring an era of invention to the in-vehicle experience and help create new applications, services and opportunities without compromising safety, security or customer privacy,” said BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen.
BlackBerry’s stock BB, +38.50% BB, +38.03% soared 44.6% in afternoon trading, putting it on track for the highest close since June 2019. Trading volume spiked to 215.0 million shares, compared with the full-day average of 3.8 million shares, and enough to make the stock the most actively traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
The stock is also headed for the second-biggest one-day gain since it went public in February 1999, and for the best day for investors since in it ran up 51.0% on Dec. 23, 2003.
BlackBerry said its IVY platform could use vehicle data to recognize driver behavior and hazardous driving conditions, or heavy traffic, and then recommend the driver enable relevant safety driving features.
The company said IVY could also allow drivers of electric vehicles, who choose to share the vehicle’s battery information with third-party charging networks, to reserve a charging connector and tailor charging times based on the driver’s location and travel plans.
BlackBerry Ltd.
“Data and connectivity are opening new avenues for innovation in the automotive industry, and BlackBerry and AWS share a common vision to provide auto makers and developers with better insights so that they can deliver new services to consumers ,” Chen said.
BlackBerry’s stock has now rallied 32.2% year to date, while the ETFMG Prime Cyber Security exchange-traded fund HACK, +1.38% has climbed 22.8% and the S&P 500 index SPX, +1.44% has advanced 13.6%.
BlackBerry started out as a mobile communications and handheld device company named Research In Motion. The company officially changed its name to BlackBerry, effective Jan. 30, 2013, to coincide with the launch of its mobile computing platform, BlackBerry 10. The company officially transitioned from a hardware company to a software and services company in 2017.
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As an example of the company’s transformation, the company reported fiscal second-quarter 2020 software and services revenue of $151 million, or 58.3% of total revenue of $259 million. When the stock soared 51.0% on Dec. 23, 2003, it was after the company reported fiscal third-quarter revenue of $153.9 million, of which 56% was from handhelds and 9% was from software licenses.
