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BlackBerry’s struggle to re-establish themselves in the modern day smartphone market takes another step in software this weekend, with   the rollout of the next major point release   of the BlackBerry 10 operating system. BB OS 10.2 brings a new addition to the BlackBerry Hub with Priority Hub (to highlight important messages sent to you over a number a networks), better previewing from the idle screen, tweaks to the keyboard, and a significant number of other minor changes. As BlackBerry looks for a white knight to come in and support the company, suitors will want to focus on three areas of the Operating System roll-out to see how BlackBerry is handling this vital part of a modern The first is  competence . There are millions of BB10 handsets out there, and all of them are eligible for this update, and the faithful BlackBerry fans will want the code as quickly as possible. BlackBerry is taking it slowly. Just as the launch of BBM on iOS and Android had a queue...

. BlackBerry Messenger may be where the company wants to push its resources. But enterprise software is where BlackBerry has to make its money BlackBerry knows who is paying the bills. And it isn't  people buying their smartphones.  BlackBerry's revenue these days comes mostly from its enterprise clients that use its services for security and management of mobile devices and applications. In its most recent quarter, almost half of the company's revenue came from its Services division as sales of its smartphones plummeted. BlackBerry serves these enterprises through its BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 hardware that enterprises install and maintain. But hardware of any sort may be an untenable solution for BlackBerry going forward. The future of BlackBerry, if there is one, is going to be in software for the enterprise. BlackBerry has some vague notions that it can turn its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service into a powerhouse messaging service that ...

BlackBerry Ltd.  appears to have finally found a savior , and if all the details are worked out, the company will go private in a deal led by its largest sharehlder, Fairfax Financial, valued at $4.7 billion, or $9 a share, sometime in November. Though a nice upside for a stock that got pummeled by  last week’s whopper of an earnings warning , it’s a huge comedown from BlackBerry’s  BBRY   +0.23%   former status as the pioneering smartphone maker that was revered for its secure network and high-quality handsets. The deal price is also less than one-quarter of the market value that the company commanded just three years ago. Click to Play BlackBerry agrees to $4.7B deal Beleaguered smartphone maker BlackBerry struck a deal to sell itself to a group led by Fairfax Financial for about $4.7 billion in cash. Ryan Knutson joins digits. BlackBerry may not be dead yet, but its drastic reversal of fortune is probably going to make for some good busines...