Blackberry 2013 Annual Report Download - page 18

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NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS
Overview
A global leader in wireless innovation, the Company revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry
solution in 1999. Today, the Company aims to inspire the success of its millions of customers around the world by continuously
pushing the boundaries of mobile experiences. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, the Company operates offices in
North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Effective January 30, 2013, the Company began to operate around the world
under the iconic name BlackBerry. The Company will seek shareholder approval to change the legal name of the Company to
BlackBerry at the Company’s Annual and Special Meeting to be held in July 2013. On Monday, February 4, 2013, the Company
commenced trading under its new ticker symbols “BB” on The Toronto Stock Exchange and “BBRY” on the NASDAQ Global Select
Market.
The Company believes the global smartphone and tablet markets are still in their growth phases. Some of the Company’s main
competitors include Apple Inc., Google Inc., HTC Corporation, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Microsoft Corporation, Nokia
Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company, Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc.
and ZTE Corporation.
The Company maintains a strong balance sheet with negligible debt and approximately $2.9 billion in cash, cash equivalents and
investments as of March 2, 2013. In fiscal 2013, the Company had annual sales of $11.1 billion. Net loss from continuing operations
was $628 million, or $1.20 per share.
11
• Launched a number of new smartphones including the BlackBerry Bold™ 9650, BlackBerry Bold™ 9780, BlackBerry
Curve™ 3G, BlackBerr
y
Pearl™ 3G, BlackBerr
y
Torch™, and the BlackBerr
y
St
y
le™;
• Announced the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, the Company’s first professional-grade tablet, based on the BlackBerry Tablet
OS;
• Introduced a number of new services, including BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express, BlackBerry Mobile Voice System 5
with Voice over Wi-Fi callin
g
, BlackBerr
y
Balance, and the BBM Mobile Giftin
g
Platform;
• Made a number of acquisitions, including QNX Software Systems which provides the technology behind the BlackBerry
10 OS and the BlackBerr
y
Pla
y
Book OS 2.0;
• Maintained strong growth in international markets with approximately 54.6% of BlackBerry users based outside of North
America; and
• Saw ongoing strong adoption of BlackBerry service in prepaid markets around the world and BlackBerry becoming the
number one selling smartphone brand in the United States, Canada, Latin America Source: IDC Worldwide Mobile Phones
Quarterly Tracker – Final Data – Q4 2010) and the United Kingdom (Source: GfK RT, Smartphones, Volume Sales , 2010
and Q4 2010) for calendar 2010.