Good news for BlackBerry Limited's (NASDAQ: BBRY) smartphone lovers! The beleaguered Canadian smartphone manufacturer has recently struck a licensing deal with Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) to bring the Amazon Appstore to its customers with the BlackBerry 10.3 operating system, scheduled to be launched this fall. Following this development, the company's shares jumped 3.0% yesterday.
This deal will open roads for BlackBerry 10 device users to access more than 240,000 Android applications from the Amazon Appstore, including popular ones like Groupon, Netflix, Minecraft, Pinterest and Candy Crush Saga.
BlackBerry and Amazon will be jointly working with the former's application developer community to help it transfer its apps to the Amazon Appstore. Amazon's promotional tools will ensure that BlackBerry's apps get maximum visibility on the app store.
ENTER TO WIN $500 IN STOCK OR CRYPTO
Enter your email and you'll also get Benzinga's ultimate morning update AND a free $30 gift card and more!
Once a market leader in the smartphone industry, BlackBerry has seen its handset business suffer lately owing to stiff competition from Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone and devices powered by Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android platform.
Of late, BlackBerry has been focusing more on its enterprise business. In order to offset rising losses in its smartphone business, BlackBerry recently decided to enter the lucrative machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless communications market. Management has undertaken “Project Ion” to help business enterprises provide a seamless connection between people, devices and machines for greater value addition.
Last week, the company struck a three-year deal with mobile payment company, EnStream LP, to deliver an advanced secure platform for monetary transactions that take place between banks and customers.
We believe such value-added services for its customers will not only enable the company to improve its top line but will also help minimize losses in the long term.
BlackBerry currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
AMAZON.COM INC (NASDAQ: AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report
APPLE INC (NASDAQ: AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
BLACKBERRY LTD (NASDAQ: BBRY): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research