Blackberry might be alive – but is it really living?

John Chen has – compared to former CEO Thorsten Heins – no plans on selling the company (after all he took over about a month after they ditched the plan to sell). Chen's plan is rather to refocus. “Our “for sale” sign has been taken down and we are here to stay. BackBerry recently announced it has entered into an agreement to receive a strategic investment from Fairfax Financial and other institutional investors, which represents a vote of confidence in the future of BlackBerry, John Chen wrote in the letter. "In short, reports of our death are greatly exaggerated." BlackBerry's ongoing – and past – restructuring has shot a few holes through the fabric of the company, there is no denying that. Over the last two years, the company has reduced its workforce by thousands, and is not yet done with it. In September the company stated that it would lay off even more. But John Chen has a plan; he wants to bring the company back to value its heritage, or 'back to the roots', delivering enterprise-grade, end-to-end mobile solutions. “As we refocus back to our roots, BlackBerry will target four areas: Handsets, EMM solutions, cross-platform messaging, and embedded systems. And, just as important, we will continue to invest in enterprise and security related R&D during our restructuring period”, he wrote in the letter. If the company will be able to adapt to the ever-changing market, it might actually have a chance. This time at least, they've got a plan, so lets see if the company can go from being alive to living. “We know that BlackBerry devices are not for everyone. That's OK.”