TORONTO — BlackBerry shares surged the most in more than three years after the U.S. Department of Defense said the company’s smartphones will account for 98 percent of devices in one of its new networks.
About 80,000 BlackBerrys and 1,800 phones and tablets based on Apple’s iOS software and Google’s Android operating system will start being hooked up to the Department of Defense’s management system at the end of this month, the Defense Information Systems Agency said in a statement last week.
After tumbling 33 percent last year, the stock has gained 40 percent this year.
The Waterloo, Ontario-based company has been losing market share to Apple and Android devices for years as its devices failed to carry the same features and range of consumer-focused applications as the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy range. John Chen, who took over as chief executive officer in November, is reorienting the company toward its core of business and government users, pledging to predominantly make models fitted with BlackBerry’s traditional physical keyboard in the future.
The report shows that Samsung Electronics, the biggest maker of Android devices, and Apple are not making the inroads into military smartphone procurement that many expected because they can’t always meet the security specifications the Pentagon wants, Doug Pollitt, a broker at Toronto-based Pollitt & Co, said by phone.