What changed in this filing

/stocks — the workspaceLOADING

Item 1. Business

2024-04-04 compared with 2023-03-31 · 116 added, 101 removed, 159 unchanged (58% of the section changed)

The Company provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world.

The Company secures more than 500 million endpoints including more than 215 million vehicles.

Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the Company leverages artificial intelligence (“AI”) and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety and data privacy, and is a leader in the areas of endpoint security, endpoint management, encryption, and embedded systems.

The Company was incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) (“OBCA”) on March 7, 1984 and commenced operations at that time.

The Company has amalgamated with several of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, the last amalgamation occurring through the filing of articles of amalgamation under the OBCA on November 4, 2013.

A heritage of innovation

Founded in 1984, the Company is a leading provider of intelligent security software and services to enterprises, governments and leading OEMs around the world.

Its products secure 17 of the G20 governments and enable more than 235 million vehicles.

Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the Company has two core divisions, each addressing large and growing market opportunities.

Its Cybersecurity division is a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity and data privacy.

It is a leader in endpoint security, endpoint management, secure communications and critical event management.

The Company’s IoT division is a leader in embedded software where the Company believes it is the world’s leading automotive foundational software supplier.

Its customers include leading automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers that use its products in vehicles, as well as top medical OEMs.

The Company’s solutions are implemented into all the top 10 automotive OEMs, top 7 Tier 1 suppliers, 24 of the 25 top EV OEMs, and 9 of the 10 top medical OEMs.

The Company was incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) (“OBCA”) and has amalgamated with several of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, the last occurring through the filing of articles of amalgamation under the OBCA on November 4, 2013.

The Company’s common shares trade under the ticker symbol “BB” on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”).

6 unchanged sentences

Secusmart GmbH Duesseldorf, Germany

Security Software Industry

Industry Background:

Large and growing market opportunities

Cybersecurity

As the digital transformation of enterprises continues to advance, workforces are becoming more decentralized, mobile and remote, and data and applications are increasingly migrating to the cloud.

6 unchanged sentences

In particular, changes to data privacy laws in the United States, Europe and other jurisdictions are compounding the challenges faced by organizations by increasing their responsibilities for securing their data as well as that of their customers.

At the same time, a shortage of talented cybersecurity professionals means that existing security operations teams struggle to contend with the velocity of cyberattacks and the complexity and demands of many available solutions.

This landscape of growing vulnerability and accountability has created opportunities for secure communications platforms, endpoint cybersecurity and management solutions, embedded systems, enterprise applications, analytic tools and related services that help enterprises to secure their connected endpoints, enhance functional safety, maintain data privacy and demonstrate compliance with applicable regulations.

The Company is widely recognized for its intelligent security software and services and believes that it delivers the broadest set of security capabilities in the market to connect, protect and manage IoT endpoints.

The Company leverages its extensive technology portfolio to offer best-in-class cybersecurity, safety and reliability to enterprise customers primarily in government and regulated industries, to small and medium-sized businesses, and to original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) in automotive, medical, industrial and other core verticals.

The Company’s goal is to offer smarter security solutions that are more effective, require fewer resources to support and produce a better return on investment for customers than competing offerings.

To achieve this vision, the Company continues to extend the functionality of its AI-focused BlackBerry Spark® software platform and safety-certified QNX® Neutrino® real time operating system and is commercializing its new BlackBerry IVY™ intelligent vehicle data platform.

The Company’s go-to-market strategy focuses principally on generating revenue from enterprise software and services as well as from embedded software designs with leading OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers.

The Company intends to drive revenue growth and to achieve margins that are consistent with those of other enterprise software companies.

The world is rapidly moving to one where everyone and everything can be intelligently connected at the edge.

This evolution is being enabled by the proliferation of IoT devices, increasing device sophistication and compute power, and powerful software that can bring these devices to life.

Industries of all types, from automotive and manufacturing to healthcare and robotics, are experiencing the profound impact of this evolution, as intelligent edge devices deliver unprecedented capabilities by making immediate, context-aware decisions locally.

The Company believes the benefits of the intelligent edge are real and immense, promising enhanced security, reduced latency, and rigorous efficiency, and position the intelligent edge as a technological pillar that it expects will shape the digital landscape of the future.

This rapid evolution can be attributed to increasing connectivity, decreasing sensor and hardware component costs, and continuous innovation that leverages edge data.

The associated surge in data generation and computing power at the edge is creating new ways for businesses to provide impactful applications that rely on real-time data processing and insights.

As a result, software-defined IoT devices are improving safety, security, and reliability by allowing for dynamic updates, which enables greater flexibility to scale and adapt to evolving customer demands or industry requirements.

While all industries are experiencing the shift toward the intelligent edge, the Company believes these trends are most prevalent in the automotive industry, as evidenced by the growth and complexity of software-defined vehicles (“SDVs”).

Powered by continual advancements in IoT hardware such as the move from microcontrollers to microprocessors, modern vehicles increasingly operate on highly sophisticated and interconnected software stacks and the data produced by vehicles is proliferating at a rapid rate.

The entire automotive value chain, from OEMs to Tier 1 suppliers, will need foundational software to capture, synthesize, analyze and monetize this massive volume of real-time data to develop innovative solutions that deliver safer, more efficient and more fulfilling driving experiences.

These trends are not just present in automotive, but are also being seen in industrial automation, healthcare and robotics.

The Company further believes that increased and evolving regulatory requirements as well as consumer expectations will create further demand for high-performance SDVs and other IoT devices.

With increasing compute capabilities and system complexity, there is an imperative for high-performance foundational software that maintains the highest level of functional safety and security of systems at the edge.

Products and Services:

The Company has multiple products and services from which it derives revenue, which are structured in three groups:

Cybersecurity, IoT (collectively with Cybersecurity, “Software and Services”) and Licensing and Other.

Addressing market needs and opportunities

The Company has a rich pedigree in innovation and has developed a range of products and services that assist customers in addressing their needs as their industries evolve, which are structured in three groups:

Cybersecurity, IoT (collectively with Cybersecurity, “Software & Services”) and Licensing and Other.

Cybersecurity

The Cybersecurity business consists of BlackBerry Spark, BlackBerry® SecuSUITE® and BlackBerry® AtHoc®.

The Company’s core secure software and services offering is its BlackBerry Spark software platform, which integrates a unified endpoint security (“UES”) layer with BlackBerry unified endpoint management (“UEM”) to enable secure endpoint communications in a zero-trust environment.

BlackBerry UES is a set of complementary cybersecurity products offering endpoint protection platform (“EPP”), endpoint detection and response (“EDR”), mobile threat defense (“MTD”), zero-trust network access (“ZTNA”) and user and entity behavior analytics (“UEBA”) capabilities.

The BlackBerry Spark platform is informed by the Company’s AI and machine learning capabilities, continuous innovations, professional cybersecurity services and threat research, industry partnerships and academic collaborations.

The platform features industry-leading threat prevention modules to help organizations cope with the significant growth of cyberattacks and operates on a single agent across all endpoints, administered from a single console, leveraging a single crowd-sourced threat data lake and managed in one cloud environment.

BlackBerry Spark solutions are available through the BlackBerry® Cyber Suite and the BlackBerry Spark® Unified Endpoint Management Suite, which are also marketed together as the BlackBerry Spark® Suite, offering the Company’s most comprehensive range of tailored cybersecurity and endpoint management options.

The BlackBerry UES Suite offers leading Cylance® AI and machine learning-based cybersecurity solutions, including:

CylancePROTECT®, an EPP and available MTD solution that uses an automated, prevention-first approach to protect against the execution of malicious code on an endpoint;

CylanceOPTICS®, an EDR solution that provides both visibility into and prevention of malicious activity on an endpoint;

CylanceGUARD®, a managed detection and response solution that provides 24/7 threat hunting and monitoring;

CylanceGATEWAY™, an AI-empowered ZTNA solution, and CylancePERSONA™, a UEBA solution that provides continuous authentication by validating user identity in real time.

The Cybersecurity business consists of Cylance® cybersecurity and BlackBerry unified endpoint management (“UEM”) solutions, collectively known as BlackBerry Spark, SecuSUITE® and BlackBerry® AtHoc®.

BlackBerry’s Cylance cybersecurity solutions include:

CylanceENDPOINT™, an integrated endpoint security solution that leverages the Cylance AI model and OneAlert EDR console, to prevent, detect and remediate cyber threats at the endpoint, including on mobile;

CylanceGUARD®, a managed detection and response solution that provides 24/7 threat hunting and monitoring, as well as integrated critical event management communications during a cyber incident;

CylanceEDGE™, an AI-powered continuous authentication zero trust network access solution that provides secure access to applications and data loss prevention;

and CylanceINTELLIGENCE™, a contextual cyber threat intelligence service.

The Company also offers incident response, compromise assessment and containment services to assist clients with forensic analysis, state of existing systems and remediation of attacks.

These solutions are designed to provide a continuous state of resilience for the Company’s customers and support the outcomes they require by:

1 unchanged sentence

and (iii) reducing complexity and overhead costs associated with security operations.

The Company also offers incident response, compromise assessment and containment services to assist clients with forensic analysis, state of existing systems and remediation of attacks.

The BlackBerry UES Suite natively integrates with BlackBerry® UEM and also works with UEM solutions from other vendors.

The BlackBerry Spark UEM Suite includes the Company’s BlackBerry UEM, BlackBerry® Dynamics™ and BlackBerry® Workspaces solutions.

BlackBerry UEM is a central software component of the Company’s secure communications platform, offering a “single pane of glass”, or unified console view, for managing and securing devices, applications, identity, content and endpoints across all leading operating systems.

BlackBerry Dynamics offers a best-in-class development platform and secure container for mobile applications, including the Company’s own enterprise applications such as BlackBerry® Work and BlackBerry® Connect for secure collaboration.

The BlackBerry Spark platform also includes BBM Enterprise, an enterprise-grade secure instant messaging solution for messaging, voice and video.

The Company’s UEM offerings include BlackBerry® UEM, BlackBerry® Dynamics™, BlackBerry® Workspaces, and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM®) Enterprise.

BlackBerry UEM employs a containerized approach to manage and secure devices, third party and custom applications, identity, content and endpoints across all leading operating systems, as well as providing regulatory compliance tools.

secure collaboration.

BlackBerry Workspaces is a secure Enterprise File Sync and Share (EFSS) solution.

BBM Enterprise is an enterprise-grade secure instant messaging solution for messaging, voice and video.

BlackBerry SecuSUITE is a certified, multi-OS voice and text messaging solution with advanced encryption, anti-eavesdropping and continuous authentication capabilities, providing a maximum level of security on conventional mobile devices for government and businesses.

BlackBerry AtHoc and BlackBerry Alert are secure, networked critical event management solutions that enable people, devices and organizations to exchange critical information in real time during business continuity and life safety operations.

The platforms securely connect with a diverse set of endpoints to distribute emergency mass notifications, improve personnel accountability and facilitate the bidirectional collection and sharing of data within and between organizations.

BlackBerry AtHoc serves the requirements of the public sector market while BlackBerry Alert targets the commercial sector.

The IoT business consists of BlackBerry Technology Solutions (“BTS”) and BlackBerry IVY.

BlackBerry AtHoc is a secure, networked critical event management solution that enables people, devices and organizations to exchange critical information in real time during business continuity and life safety operations.

The platform securely connects with a diverse set of endpoints to distribute emergency mass notifications, improve personnel accountability and facilitate the bidirectional collection and sharing of data within and between organizations.

The IoT business consists of BlackBerry Technology Solutions (“BTS”), BlackBerry Radar® and BlackBerry IVY®.

The principal component of BTS is BlackBerry QNX, a global provider of real-time operating systems, hypervisors, middleware, development tools, and professional services for connected embedded systems in the automotive, medical, industrial automation and other markets.

A recognized leader in automotive software, BlackBerry QNX offers a growing portfolio of safety-certified, secure and reliable platform solutions and is focused on achieving design wins with automotive OEMs, Tier 1 vendors and automotive semiconductor suppliers.

These solutions include the Neutrino® operating system and the BlackBerry QNX® CAR platform, the most advanced embedded software platform for the autonomous vehicle market, as well as other products designed to alleviate the challenges of compliance with ISO 26262, the automotive industry’s functional safety standard.

Additionally, the Company’s secure automotive over-the-air software update management service allows OEMs to manage the life cycle of the software and security in their vehicles.

These solutions include the BlackBerry QNX real-time operating system, QNX® Hypervisor for Safety and QNX® Software Development Platform (SDP), as well as other products designed to alleviate the challenges of compliance with ISO 26262, the automotive industry’s functional safety standard.

The QNX pre-certified microkernel operating system is specifically tailored for safety-critical embedded systems and toolchains that are pre-qualified for building these systems.

The QNX Hypervisor for Safety prevents safety systems from potential impact of malfunction in other systems.

These products help drive a faster time to market and also reduce developer friction.

BlackBerry QNX is also a preferred supplier of embedded systems for companies building medical devices, train-control systems, industrial robots, hardware security modules, building automation systems, green energy solutions, and other mission-critical applications.

In addition to BlackBerry QNX, BTS includes BlackBerry Certicom® cryptography and key management products, and the BlackBerry Radar® asset monitoring solution.

The Company believes its close collaboration with customers has provided it with significant industry expertise, enabling it to understand specific customer requirements and more quickly and effectively develop high impact solutions to meet the evolving needs of its customers.

In addition to BlackBerry QNX, BTS includes BlackBerry® Certicom® cryptography and key management products.

BlackBerry Certicom leverages patented elliptic curve cryptography to provide device security, anti-counterfeiting and product authentication solutions.

6 unchanged sentences

BlackBerry IVY allows automakers to safely access a vehicle’s sensor data, normalize it, and apply machine learning at the edge to generate and share predictive insights and inferences.

Automakers and developers will be able to use this information to create responsive in-vehicle services that enhance driver and passenger experiences.

BlackBerry IVY supports multiple vehicle operating systems and hardware, as well as multi-cloud deployments in order to ensure compatibility across vehicle models and brands.

The Company recently announced the first design win for BlackBerry IVY and expects to release the platform for general availability in May 2023, with in-vehicle installations to begin during the 2025 model year.

Automakers and developers will be able to use this information to create responsive in-vehicle applications and services that enhance driver and passenger experiences.

BlackBerry IVY supports multiple operating systems and hardware platforms, as well as multi-cloud deployments, in order to ensure compatibility across vehicle models and brands.

The Company announced the first design win for BlackBerry IVY in January 2023 and released the platform for general availability in May 2023.

The BlackBerry Cybersecurity and IoT groups are complemented by the enterprise and cybersecurity consulting services offered by the Company’s BlackBerry® Professional Services business.

7 unchanged sentences

As of February 29, 2024, the Company owned approximately 6,200 worldwide patents and applications.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, the Company announced its entry into a patent sale agreement with Catapult IP Innovations (“Catapult”) for the sale of substantially all of the Company’s non-core patent assets.

On March 21, 2023, the Company announced that Catapult had been unable to secure financing that would have enabled it to complete the transaction on acceptable amended terms and that, as a result, the Company had terminated its agreement with Catapult.

The Company also announced its entry into a new patent sale agreement with Malikie Innovations Limited for the sale of a similar portfolio of non-core patent assets for $170 million in cash on closing, an additional $30 million in cash by no later than the third anniversary of closing and potential future royalties in the aggregate amount of up to $900 million (the “Malikie Transaction”).

Closing is subject to regulatory approval and other customary conditions.

Pursuant to the terms of the Malikie Transaction, the Company will receive a license back to the patents being sold, which relate primarily to mobile devices, messaging and wireless networking.

The Malikie Transaction will not impact customers’ use of any of the Company’s products, solutions or services.

In May 2023, the Company completed the sale of a portfolio of non-core patent assets to Malikie Innovations Limited for $170 million in cash on closing, an additional $30 million in cash by no later than the third anniversary of closing and potential future royalties in the aggregate amount of up to $700 million (the “Malikie Transaction”).

The Company’s Other business generated revenue from SAF charged to subscribers using the Company’s legacy BlackBerry 7 and prior BlackBerry operating systems, for which support and maintenance ceased as of January 4, 2022.

Sales, Marketing, Distribution and Customers

The Company primarily generates revenue from the licensing of enterprise software and sales of associated services, including its endpoint management and cybersecurity solutions, BlackBerry QNX software for the embedded market, technology licensing and professional consulting services.

The Company focuses on strategic industries with vertical-specific use cases, including regulated enterprise markets such as financial services, government, healthcare, professional services and transportation, and other markets where embedded software and critical infrastructure are important, such as utilities, mining and manufacturing.

The Company licenses the BlackBerry Spark platform, including its individual components and complementary third-party applications, through a geographically-dispersed direct sales force, value-added resellers, managed security service providers and alliance partners.

Cybersecurity

The Company licenses its Cybersecurity products, including complementary third-party applications, through a geographically-dispersed direct sales force, value-added resellers, managed security service providers and alliance partners.

The Company continues to build its global partner programs to bolster its direct sales and marketing efforts.

The Company also licenses its enterprise software and services through global wireless communications carriers, which are able to bill separately for BlackBerry UEM services, and other distribution partners around the world.

The Company licenses BlackBerry QNX and BlackBerry Certicom technology and provides professional engineering services to OEM customers in the automotive, mobile and other embedded software markets via a direct sales force and indirectly through channel partnerships.

1 unchanged sentence

The Company markets and sells its BlackBerry Radar secure asset monitoring products and services to enterprise users through its internal sales force as well as through third party distribution channels.

Competitive Strengths

The Company experiences seasonal patterns in its revenue, primarily due to Cybersecurity customers placing a higher percentage of renewal orders in the second half of the fiscal year as compared to the first half of the fiscal year.

This gives rise, in turn, to similar seasonality in the Company’s operating margin and operating cash flow, the latter of which is also impacted by variable incentive plan payments in the first half of the fiscal year.

Competition and Competitive Strengths

The Company is engaged in markets that are highly competitive and rapidly evolving.

Frequent new product introductions and changes to endpoints, operating systems, applications, security threats, industry standards and the overall technology landscape result in continuously evolving customer requirements for mobile solutions.

The Company competes with a broad range of vendors in each of its businesses.

Key competitive factors important to the Company across its businesses include product features (including security features), relative price and performance, product quality and reliability, compatibility across ecosystems, service and support, and corporate reputation.

1 unchanged sentence

Cybersecurity

The BlackBerry Spark platform establishes comprehensive security controls in any connected IoT environment and meets a growing market demand for a solution that integrates unified endpoint security and endpoint management capabilities in a single console with visibility across all endpoints.

The platform is differentiated through its use of a zero-trust architecture that uniquely combines intelligent security with a user experience that requires little to no support from end users or IT administrators, simplifying management and reducing costs.

The BlackBerry Cyber Suite leverages Cylance AI, machine learning and automation to provide improved cyber threat prevention and remediation, and can help users to understand risks, make contextual decisions and dynamically apply policy controls with no user interruption, mitigating risks before they materialize.

The Company’s Cybersecurity portfolio includes comprehensive security controls for any connected IoT environment, across all endpoints.

The portfolio is differentiated through its use of a zero-trust architecture that uniquely combines intelligent

security with a user experience that requires little to no support from end users or IT administrators, simplifying management and reducing costs.

The Cylance cybersecurity solutions leverage Cylance AI, machine learning and automation to provide improved cyber threat prevention and remediation, and can help users to understand risks, make contextual decisions and dynamically apply policy controls with no user interruption, mitigating risks before they materialize.

The Company trains its AI model against data lakes containing billions of files so that it learns to autonomously convict, or not convict, files prior to their execution.

1 unchanged sentence

Additionally, detection and response decisions are pushed down to the endpoint, minimizing response latency so that a minor security event can be addressed before it becomes a widespread incident.

BlackBerry Protect has earned Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (“FedRAMP”) authorization.

The BlackBerry Spark UEM Suite includes leading unified endpoint management, secure business productivity, application containerization, secure collaboration and digital rights management capabilities.

CylanceENDPOINT’s Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) has earned Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (“FedRAMP”) authorization.

The Company’s Cylance cybersecurity technology competes with various types of providers, including:

traditional signature-based antivirus vendors and identity management;

vendors whose business focuses almost solely on EPP;

EDR vendors, which primarily focus on continuous monitoring and human response to advanced security threats;

companies that provide endpoint systems management;

and large network security providers, which have entered the market primarily through acquisition.

BlackBerry UEM endpoint management includes leading unified endpoint management, secure business productivity, application containerization, secure collaboration and digital rights management capabilities.

BlackBerry UEM has earned National Information Assurance Partnership (“NIAP”) certification and is an approved mobile device management solution on the U.S.

Department of Defense Information Network’s Approved Product List.

The Spark platform is also differentiated by the inclusion of a sophisticated network operations center in the BlackBerry infrastructure.

With the BlackBerry UEM Suite, the Company competes with other MDM and UEM providers.

The Company’s Cybersecurity portfolio is also differentiated by the inclusion of a sophisticated network operations center in its infrastructure.

The Company pioneered the use of this architecture to route messages reliably and efficiently to and from mobile devices, and over time has expanded capabilities to enable end-to-end secure communications between endpoints and applications and enterprise networks.

1 unchanged sentence

It has also earned NIAP certification and NATO Communications and Information Agency security accreditation, and has been placed on the National Security Agency’s Commercial Solutions for Classified Program component list of products certified for use on classified systems.

The BlackBerry AtHoc and BlackBerry Alert platforms are mobile and scalable, integrate with legacy systems and support on-premise and cloud-based deployments.

With available incident management and encrypted end-to-end instant messaging capabilities, the platforms offer a suite of secure crisis communication services to meet the growing number of use cases for emergency or mass notifications.

The BlackBerry AtHoc platform is both mobile and scalable, integrating with legacy systems and supporting on-premise and cloud-based deployments.

With available incident management and encrypted end-to-end instant messaging capabilities, the platform offers a suite of secure crisis communication services to meet the growing number of use cases for emergency or mass notifications.

BlackBerry AtHoc has received FedRAMP certification and is the leading provider of network-centric, interactive crisis communication to the U.S.

3 unchanged sentences

government personnel.

In the embedded software industry, systems are becoming increasingly connected and complex, with software being used for functions that were previously performed by hardware, driving new functional safety considerations.

BlackBerry QNX is recognized for attaining the highest levels of security certifications and approvals for many of its embedded products and is the leader in safety-certified, secure and reliable software for the automotive industry.

BlackBerry QNX is a trusted supplier of operating systems, hypervisors, development tools and support to automotive OEMs and Tier 1 vendors and to the general embedded market.

BlackBerry QNX technology is embedded in over 215 million vehicles.

The Company is engaged in markets that are highly competitive and rapidly evolving.

The Company competes with a broad range of vendors in each of its businesses.

See “Competitive Strengths” above for a discussion of how the Company believes it differentiates itself from competitors in its various businesses.

With the BlackBerry UEM Suite, the Company competes primarily with providers of enterprise software solutions.

BlackBerry’s UES Technology, including the BlackBerry Cyber Suite, competes with various types of providers, including:

traditional signature-based antivirus vendors and identity management;

vendors whose business focuses almost solely on EPP;

EDR vendors, which primarily focus on continuous monitoring and human response to advanced security threats;

companies that provide endpoint systems management;

and large network security providers, which have entered the market primarily through acquisition.

The BlackBerry QNX automotive business competes principally with providers of embedded software that employ customized Linux open-source operating systems for the transportation and logistics industry, and with Google’s Android Automotive OS.

The Company recently announced a number of new products that it believes will enable it to maintain its strong market position and open up new potential revenue streams.

The QNX Software Development Platform (SDP) 8.0 is a new, high performance, highly scalable real time operating system.

The fifth-generation kernel architecture builds on decades of development and a field-proven safe and secure platform, while maintaining its POSIX API to provide an instantly productive environment for both QNX and Linux® developers.

QNX SDP 8.0 adds support for ARM v9 and GCC 12 and delivers near-linear performance scaling with CPU core counts, enabling developers to fully realize the power and opportunities of increasingly advanced processors for generations to come.

The QNX Accelerate portfolio of cloud-based tools, including the QNX RTOS and Hypervisor, enables developers to develop mission-critical embedded systems and applications from anywhere worldwide, accelerating development cycles and reducing time to market for new, innovative solutions.

The QNX Accelerate portfolio offers little to no difference between running in the cloud versus on real hardware.

QNX® Sound is an innovative development platform that decouples audio and acoustics software from the vehicle hardware to give audio designers and engineers complete creative freedom to deliver new and exciting in-vehicle sound experiences.

The BlackBerry QNX automotive business competes principally with other providers of embedded foundational software, including Linux open-source operating systems.

See Part 1, Item 1A “Risk Factors - The Company faces intense competition”.

2 unchanged sentences

The Company dedicates a major portion of its R&D investments to the development of software products and services for its Cybersecurity and IoT solutions.

Solutions include leading security capabilities at each level of the platform in order to address

the needs of enterprise IT departments and end users for securing devices, applications, content and work data at rest and in transit.

Solutions include leading security capabilities at each level of the platform in order to address the needs of enterprise IT departments and end users for securing devices, applications, content and work data at rest and in transit.

The Company makes significant investments to support its cybersecurity solutions and is committed to hiring and retaining top data scientists and engineers in the areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

6 unchanged sentences

The platform also includes SDKs for BlackBerry UEM, BlackBerry Workspaces, BlackBerry AtHoc and other products.

To support BlackBerry UES products, the Company offers the BlackBerry Endpoint ISV Technology Integration program featuring an application programming interface (“API”) development platform that enables developers and ISVs to develop robust extensible security integrations for BlackBerry UES, creating results-based offerings for targeted use cases.

To support Cylance Cybersecurity products, the Company offers the BlackBerry Endpoint ISV Technology Integration program featuring an application programming interface (“API”) development platform that enables developers and ISVs to develop robust extensible security integrations, creating results-based offerings for targeted use cases.

Completed integrations are shared with the user community and promoted to market partners and AWS Marketplace opportunities.

In addition, the Company maintains the BlackBerry AtHoc Development Partner Program, which invites partners to integrate with the BlackBerry AtHoc service and allows them to create alerts based on more event types or to leverage alerting capabilities based on critical events from within other systems.

The primary development platform for BlackBerry QNX-based systems is the QNX® Software Development Platform (SDP), which includes the QNX Neutrino Realtime Operating System and the QNX Momentics® Tool Suite.

The QNX SDP is complemented by QNX® Hypervisor, QNX® OS for Safety, QNX® Hypervisor for Safety, QNX® Acoustics Management Platform and QNX® Platform for Digital Cockpits and other products.

The primary development platform for BlackBerry QNX-based systems is the QNX Software Development Platform, which includes the QNX Neutrino real-time operating system and the QNX Momentics® Tool Suite.

The QNX SDP is complemented by QNX Hypervisor, QNX® OS for Safety, QNX® Hypervisor for Safety, QNX Sound and other QNX products.

Expanding the Company’s automotive product portfolio, the BlackBerry IVY platform includes an in-vehicle runtime for cost-efficient data processing and a set of SDKs which enables developers to process vehicle signals and generate meaningful insights that are used to unlock new use cases on both BlackBerry QNX and Linux-based vehicle platforms.

8 unchanged sentences

Although the Company applies for patent protection primarily in Canada, Europe and the United States, the Company has filed, and will continue to file, patent applications in other countries where there exists a strategic technological or business reason to do so.

To broadly protect the Company’s inventions, the Company has a team of in-house patent attorneys and also consults with outside patent attorneys who interact with employees, review invention disclosures and prepare patent applications on a broad array of core technologies and competencies.

To broadly protect the Company’s inventions, the Company has a team of in-house patent attorneys and also consults

with outside patent attorneys who interact with employees, review invention disclosures and prepare patent applications on a broad array of core technologies and competencies.

As a result, the Company owns rights to an array of patented and patent pending technologies which include, but are not limited to, cybersecurity, cryptography, machine learning, artificial intelligence, operating systems, acoustics, messaging, enterprise software, automotive subsystems, networking infrastructure and wireless communications.

As of February 29, 2024, the Company owned approximately 6,200 worldwide patents and applications.

The Company does not expect that the sale of its portfolio of primarily legacy patents under the Malikie Transaction will negatively impact its strategy of protecting its new innovations through patent filings.

The Company does not expect that the sale of its portfolio of primarily legacy patents under the Malikie Transaction negatively impacted its strategy of protecting its new innovations through patent filings.

It is the Company’s general practice to enter into confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements with its employees, consultants, contract manufacturers, customers, potential customers and others to attempt to limit access to, and distribution of, its proprietary information.

9 unchanged sentences

To honor this commitment, the Company maintains a variety of programs to identify, execute and maintain sustainable initiatives and to reduce its direct and indirect environmental impact.

In fiscal 2022, these programs enabled the Company to achieve carbon neutrality across its Scope 1, Scope 2 and material Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and the Company maintained its carbon neutral status as at the end of fiscal 2023.

In fiscal 2020, the Company joined the United Nations Global Compact (“UNGC”) and committed to the ten principles of the UNGC and to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are relevant to the Company’s business.

In fiscal 2022, these programs enabled the Company to achieve carbon neutrality across its Scope 1, Scope 2 and calculated Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and the Company maintained its carbon neutral status as at the end of fiscal 2024.

In its procurement activities, the Company engages with its suppliers to conduct due diligence into the source of the so-called “conflict minerals” (which currently include the minerals from which gold, tantalum, tin, and tungsten are derived) that are necessary to the functionality or production of the Company’s hardware products, principally for the BlackBerry Radar business.

The Company also seeks to make a positive impact in the communities in which it operates by investing in strategic charitable partnerships, supporting charitable endeavours by employees, and building community relationships through local offices.

The Company has formalized a number of policies to reflect its commitment to responsible business practices, including a Privacy Policy, Supplier Code of Conduct, Human Rights Policy, Equal Employment Policy and Supplier Diversity Policy, and periodically issues a corporate responsibility report.

The Company has formalized a number of policies to reflect its commitment to responsible business practices, including a Privacy Policy, Supplier Code of Conduct, Human Rights Policy, Supplier Diversity Policy, Health and Safety Policy and Environment and Sustainability Policy, and periodically issues an ESG report.

Through the report, the Company provides visibility on its environmental, social and governance initiatives such as mitigating its corporate carbon footprint and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving water sanitation and fostering diversity.

14 unchanged sentences

Information about our Executive Officers

The Company made one executive officer appointment during fiscal 2023, naming Phil Kurtz as Chief Legal Officer.

The Company made two executive officer appointments during fiscal 2024, naming John Giamatteo as Chief Executive Officer and President, Cybersecurity and Jennifer Armstrong-Owen as Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer.

The following table sets forth the name, province or state, and country of residence of each executive officer of the Company and their respective positions and offices held with the Company and their principal occupations during the last five years.

Name and Residence Current Position with Company Principal Occupation During the Last Five Years (other than Current Position with Company)

California, USA

Chief Executive Officer;

Executive Chair/Director

Jennifer Armstrong-Owen

Washington, USA

Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer

Senior Vice President, People, OfferUp (2023-2024);

Senior Vice President, People, SeekOut (2021-2023);

Vice President, People, Chef Software (2018-2020)

Marjorie Dickman

5 unchanged sentences

Senior Vice President and Head of Product, HERE Technologies (2019-2020)

Senior Vice President, Head of Core Map Group, HERE Technologies (2016-2019)

John Giamatteo

President, Cybersecurity President and Chief Revenue Officer, McAfee (2013-2020)

Chief Executive Officer;

President, Cybersecurity;

Director President and Chief Revenue Officer, McAfee (2013-2020)

Ontario, Canada Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary (2021-2022);

Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary (2015-2021)

Ontario, Canada Chief Financial Officer Deputy Chief Financial Officer (2019), Vice President and Corporate Controller (2014-2019)

Nita White-Ivy

California, USA Chief Human Resources Officer

California, USA Chief Marketing Officer

Ontario, Canada Chief Financial Officer Deputy Chief Financial Officer (2019)

Human Capital

2 unchanged sentences

however, employees of certain foreign subsidiaries in Europe are represented by works councils.

The Company offers employees a fair, equitable and competitive total rewards program, designed to recognize and reward both individual and company performance.

The Company offers employees an equitable and competitive total rewards program, designed to recognize and reward both individual and company performance.

The Company provides a range of financial and benefit programs such as its employee share purchase program, employee recognition programs, retirement savings plans, family-friendly leave policies, health and wellness programs, employee and family assistance program, as well as corporate discounts, all designed to support the overall wellness of the Company’s employees and their families.

2 unchanged sentences

The Company strives to maintain an environment where people are valued, have a sense of belonging, and feel they can bring their authentic selves to work, every day.

The Company is committed to maintaining a respectful and productive work environment free from discrimination and harassment, supported by training in unconscious bias and inclusive language, outreach and partnership programs such as the Company’s Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and Indigenous students awards programs,

and development opportunities such as the Taking the Stage program for female and aspiring leaders.

The Company does not tolerate, condone, or ignore workplace discrimination or harassment or any unlawful behavior and investigates all complaints regarding such conduct in a timely manner.

The Company is committed to maintaining a respectful and productive work environment free from discrimination and harassment, supported by training in unconscious bias and inclusive language.

The Company does not tolerate, condone, or

ignore workplace discrimination or harassment or any unlawful behavior and investigates all complaints regarding such conduct in a timely manner.

The Company believes career development is unique and personal for each employee.

The Company offers career development and growth in many forms such as job shadowing, job rotation, stretch assignments, enhanced scope or responsibility, networking, lateral movement, promotions, and volunteering.

The Company encourages opportunities for employees to broaden their scope and understanding of the business, and to build additional skills to attain their career aspirations.

The Company encourages employees to broaden their scope and understanding of the business, and to build additional skills to attain their career aspirations.

Employees are supported in their growth and development through the Company’s tuition and educational reimbursement programs, subsidies for professional association memberships, a global mentorship program, career planning resources, and various training programs.

The Company is honored to have the efforts of our talented and dedicated employees recognized through numerous awards, including Forbes Canada’s Best Employers (2022), Best & Brightest Companies to Work for in the Nation (2016-2022), Best & Brightest Companies to Work for in Wellness (2016-2022), Canada’s Top Employers for Young People (2021-2023), Canada’s Greenest Employers (2016-2022), Great Place to Work Germany (2022), Great Place to Work – Ireland’s Best Workplaces in Tech (2022), and Singapore Health Award (2022), among others.

The Company is honored to have the efforts of our talented and dedicated employees recognized through numerous awards, including Forbes Canada’s Best Employers (2022-2023), Best & Brightest Companies to Work for in the Nation (2016-2023), Best & Brightest Companies to Work for in Wellness (2016-2023), Canada’s Top Employers for Young People (2021-2024), and Canada’s Greenest Employers (2016-2023), among others.

The Company also takes pride in its award-winning paid co-op and intern student program, through which the Company invests in the personal and professional development of the next generation of BlackBerry talent.

Building upon its culture of teamwork, the Company is a proud and committed civic leader.

BlackBerry employees are passionate, mobilized and empowered by their involvement in corporate-run community initiatives to actively participate in volunteer activities and environmentally friendly initiatives where they live and work.

BlackBerry employees are passionate regarding their involvement in corporate-run community initiatives to actively participate in volunteer activities and environmentally friendly initiatives where they live and work.

Together with its team of community-minded employees, the Company believes there is great potential to make lasting local impacts.

7 unchanged sentences

Access to our Annual Reports on Form 10-K and 40-F, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and 6-K, Current Reports on Form 8-K, supplemental financial information, earnings press releases, and amendments to these reports filed with or furnished to the SEC may be obtained free of charge as soon as is reasonably practical after we electronically file or furnish them through the Investors section of our website at www.blackberry.com/ca/en/company/investors.

In addition, our filings with the SEC may be accessed through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and our filings with the Canadian Securities Administrators (“CSA”) may be accessed through the CSA’s System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (“SEDAR”) at www.sedar.com.

Except for the documents specifically incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, information contained on the SEC or CSA websites is not incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and should not be considered to be a part of the Annual Report.

1 unchanged sentence

Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business