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BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo says the famous name opens doors that a software brand alone would not. The price is ten minutes of explanation at the start of almost every meeting.
BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo keeps a famous name on purpose, even though the company behind it no longer makes the phones that made the name famous. In a recent conversation with Fortune, reported in its CEO Daily newsletter, he argued that recognition is a practical business asset, not nostalgia.
The exchange began with the obvious question. Why stay attached to a name that many people still associate with a fallen phone maker? Fortune put that question to BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo directly, in a piece prompted by the Interbrand 2026 Best Global Brands list, where Apple held the top spot.
That story is a software story now. Fortune describes a company making more than $600 million (USD) and growing this year, compared with close to $20 billion (USD) at its height, from BlackBerry Secure Communications and QNX software. QNX, according to Fortune, powers more than 275 million smart vehicles.
In Brief
- BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo told Fortune that the BlackBerry brand gets him more meetings, because a recognised name stands out.
- The cost, in his account, is about ten minutes of recalibration at the start of conversations with investors, media and customers.
- BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo leads a company built on QNX embedded software and Secure Communications, not phones.
- He joined BlackBerry as president in 2021 and became chief executive in 2023, according to Fortune.
- His verdict, as reported by Fortune, is that the brand is a story of resilience and reinvention.
BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo and the 10 minute recalibration
“I get more meetings because of the brand,” he told Fortune. BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo contrasted that with introducing himself from QNX alone, which, in his account, would prompt listeners to ask, in effect, QNX what.
BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo then described the tax that comes with the benefit. He told Fortune that he has to spend the first ten minutes of every conversation, whether with an investor, a member of the media or a customer, recalibrating people on who the company is and what it is doing now.
The reaction, he said, is usually positive once the explanation lands. Fortune reports him saying that people more often than not respond with surprise and goodwill, glad to hear the company is doing well. Goodwill for survival is not the same as a buying decision, however, and ten minutes spent on identity is ten minutes not spent on the product.
Brand recognition buys attention, and attention is scarce. It does not buy understanding, and understanding is what closes a software sale. BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo keeps both halves visible: the name starts the conversation, and then he does the explaining himself.
BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo: what QNX and Secure Communications sell
What follows the ten minute explanation has to carry the company. QNX is a real-time operating system and embedded software platform built for systems where timing must be predictable and failure must be contained. In cars it sits behind digital cockpits, driver assistance and safety functions.
The commercial shape of that business is a royalty pipeline. BlackBerry announced on October 20, 2026 that its QNX royalty backlog had passed $1.2 billion (USD), up by more than $250 million (USD) in two quarters. The backlog is estimated future royalty revenue, and the company warns it may not indicate actual future revenue.
BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo has tied that pipeline to two named drivers: wider adoption of the QNX Software Development Platform 8.0, and the first design win for Alloy Kore, the QNX based automotive operating system, valued at more than $100 million (USD) in estimated future royalties. Coverage named the customer as Coretura, the Daimler Truck and Volvo Group joint venture.
The second business, BlackBerry Secure Communications, sells the other half of the old BlackBerry promise: messages and alerts that must not be intercepted or lost. Its products include device management, encrypted voice and messaging for governments and enterprises, and the AtHoc critical event alerting system.
The revenue picture needs care, because Fortune’s framing and the fiscal figures describe different periods. Fortune puts the company at more than $600 million (USD) and growing this year. Earnings coverage put fiscal 2026 total revenue at $549 million (USD), with QNX at $268 million (USD) and Secure Communications at $259 million (USD).
Coverage of the September 2026 results put the raised fiscal 2027 outlook at $616 million (USD) to $636 million (USD).
A name from the phone era
The name BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo inherited carries a full rise and fall. BlackBerry, then Research In Motion, built the phone that defined business mobile email, then lost that market to Apple and Android touchscreens and app ecosystems. Fortune notes the books, the case studies and a film about co-founders Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis now streaming on Netflix.
His reading of that history, as reported by Fortune, refuses the cautionary tale frame. To him, the brand is less a warning about missing market shifts than a testament to resilience and reinvention. BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo credits the founders with the foresight to buy QNX Software Systems from Harman International for $200 million (USD) in 2010.
Its lasting value was in embedded systems that outlived the phones, which BlackBerry stopped developing in 2016.
“BlackBerry will endure,” Giamatteo told Fortune, in the closing line of the piece as republished. Endurance no longer means selling a device with its name on the front. It means car makers, robot builders and government buyers continuing to pay for software most users never see, under a name most users remember for something else.
BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo and the case for staying public
Fortune also asked, in effect, why a company of this size stays listed at all, with all the quarterly exposure that brings. BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo’s answer, as reported, compared being a public company to a thorough medical examination at every quarterly result. He then concluded that, on balance, it is probably better to be public.
BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo has a visible reason to tolerate that scrutiny in 2026. Market coverage put the shares up about 142% over the year at the time of his October CNBC appearance, and the fiscal second quarter brought record QNX revenue of about $80 million (USD), up 27% from a year earlier, according to coverage of the company’s results.
There is also a brand reason to stay public. A listed company must explain itself four times a year, in public, with numbers. That public record is a second, written recalibration, and it gives the next meeting a document to point to.
It does not remove the ten minute tax.
Quick Answers
Does BlackBerry still make phones?
No. BlackBerry stopped developing its own phones in 2016. The company now sells embedded software through QNX and secure communications through BlackBerry Secure Communications.
What does BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo actually sell now?
He sells QNX embedded software for safety critical systems in vehicles, robots, medical devices and industrial machines, plus Secure Communications products including device management, encrypted messaging and critical event alerting.
Why keep the BlackBerry name if the phones are gone?
Because, in BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo’s account to Fortune, the name gets him more meetings than an unfamiliar software name would. The trade is ten minutes of explanation at the start of each conversation.
Is the $1.2 billion backlog the same as revenue?
No. The QNX royalty backlog is BlackBerry’s estimate of future royalty revenue from design wins, based on royalty rates and projected volumes. BlackBerry warns it may not indicate actual future revenue.
Final Word
BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo has made an unusually honest case for a famous name. He does not pretend the name sells the software, and he does not hide the ten minutes it costs. He argues only that it starts conversations that would otherwise not happen.
The limits matter just as much. The vehicle figure is a cumulative company claim, not an audited count. The backlog is an estimate, not revenue.
The robotics and robotaxi expansion Fortune mentions is a direction with named platforms and partnerships, not a disclosed fleet.
Watch the next quarterly results for the next hard test. If QNX revenue keeps growing and the backlog keeps converting into recognised royalties, the ten minute tax will look like a bargain.
A famous name can get a chief executive into the room. Only the software, and the numbers behind it, can keep the company there.
Sources / Attribution
- Fortune, CEO Daily, Diane Brady, “BlackBerry’s CEO on keeping a famous name: ‘I get more meetings because of the brand,’” October 29, 2026. Full text read via the JBizNews republication, which states the story was originally featured on Fortune.com. The Fortune page itself was blocked to text fetch.
- BlackBerry / QNX, ACCESS Newswire release, October 20, 2026, via Morningstar: QNX royalty backlog above $1.2 billion (USD), backlog definition, QNX SDP 8.0 and Alloy Kore first design win.
- Trefis, “A Look At BlackBerry’s QNX Business,” 2014, and VDC Research, on the 2010 sale of QNX Software Systems from Harman International to Research In Motion for $200 million (USD).
- InsiderFinance, “BlackBerry Earnings: Q4 Revenue Rises, Stock Jumps,” April 2026, and earnings coverage summarised by AI Timeline, for fiscal 2026 revenue of $549 million (USD), QNX $268.0 million (USD) and Secure Communications $258.9 million (USD).
- Espresso / Cafecito Tech, “BlackBerry Q2 Beat, QNX Record, Stock Dip 7%,” September 2026, for Q2 fiscal 2027 QNX revenue of $80.3 million (USD), up 27%, and the raised fiscal 2027 revenue outlook of $616 million (USD) to $636 million (USD).
- PetaTech24, “BlackBerry QNX Robots: 5 Proven Growth Signals to Watch,” October 27, 2026, for the QNX robotics pipeline, Nvidia integration and backlog treatment.
External references: Fortune, BlackBerry CEO profile, October 29, 2026 and Morningstar / ACCESS Newswire, QNX royalty backlog release, October 20, 2026 and Trefis, QNX business history and 2010 acquisition.
