BlackBerry may have a major contract coming its way if a new report turns out to be true. Bloomberg hears from people “briefed on the matter,” that the next generation Ford in-car Sync system will replace Microsoft’s Windows technology in favor of BlackBerry’s QNX. Apparently this is being done after persistent customer complaints of sub-standard voice recognition and malfunctioning touchscreens. QNX is already powering similar systems in vehicles by Audi and BMW, Ford has 7 million vehicles on the road with Sync powered by Microsoft, so this could really be a lucrative deal for BlackBerry.
Some observers also believe that this signals the start of a new relationship between Ford and Microsoft. When speculation was high regarding a new Microsoft CEO, the name of Ford CEO Alan Mulally came up quite a few times, until ultimately he was passed over in favor of internal candidate Satya Nadella. It is believed that the entire episode has lead to tense relations between the two companies, though that might just purely be speculation at its finest. A spokeswoman for Ford commented that the company does not discuss details of its work with others whereas a spokesman for QNX declined to comment on this report. For those who don’t know, QNX Software Systems was purchased by BlackBerry back in 2010 for $200 million.
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