Friday, December 20, 2013

BlackBerry loses $4.4 billion

As expected, my day has started off fast and furious thanks to BlackBerry's announcement this morning that it lost $4.4 billion U.S. in its most recent fiscal quarter. The devastating result, part of its scheduled quarterly analyst call, illustrates just how steep a climb the company faces as it tries to recover from one of the most wrenching collapses in consumer electronics history and reshape itself as an enterprise-focused company. Here's a quick peek into what I was up to today:

Published:
Yahoo! Canada Finance: I wrote this initial article and updated it numerous times through the day: BlackBerry posts US$4.4 billion loss in Q3; shares soar
Media work:
  • CTV Canada AM: Spoke with Marci Ien via FaceTime from the kitchen. I'll post video once it's available online.
  • BBC Radio 5 Live: Chatted with Adam Parsons and Mickey Clark on the Wake up to Money program. Audio here. (Fun fact: it was 12:50 a.m. here, 5:50 a.m. there. Transatlantic radio absolutely rules.)
  • CBC The National: Contributed clips for a report by Aaron Saltzman.
  • CBC Radio: Interviewed by Meegan Read for nationally distributed package
  • Global National: Appearing on tonight's newscast.
  • CTV News Channel: Spoke live with Dan Matheson at 8:15 p.m. ET from the CTV London studios.
  • IT World Canada: Spoke with Nestor Arellano for his article Foxconn deal seen as hope for BlackBerry's turnaround
  • CJAD 800 Montreal: Discussed BlackBerry as part of my weekly tech segment (Fridays at 2, on cjad.com) with Anne Lagace Dowson.
  • 570News Kitchener/Waterloo: Spoke live with Glenn Pelletier on the Gary Doyle Show.
  • 680 CJOB Winnipeg: Chatted live with Richard Cloutier.
  • NewsTalk 1010 Toronto: Spoke about BlackBerry and the future of technology with Friendly Fire's John Downs.
The story is, of course, a difficult one, and it's arguably one of the most wrenching narratives I've followed in my career. But journalistically, I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing. Filing a story, doing live TV from my kitchen and then tossing the dog his stuffed snowman for a minute before diving back into the day...that's a pretty neat way to live, and I need to stop more often and realize how lucky I am to have this life.

Onward...

2 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Good job, Carmi.
~

Pat Tillett said...

You are good at it and it fulfills you. I'm happy for you!