Spirits are high at BlackBerry, U.S. tech workers are moving to Canada according to a new report, and Facebook rolls out new privacy controls.
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BlackBerry’s ongoing emphasis on software and service sales is paying off. During a recent earnings call, the company’s CEO John Chen pointed to their enterprise software and services business, which rose about 19 per cent to $108 million during the fourth quarter of this year. BlackBerry ditched the smartphone market years ago after customers swapped their BlackBerries for iPhones and Android devices, and Chen says that strategy is working. He expects the total company software and services billings growth to be in the double-digits in 2019.
A new survey from MaRS, a tech hub in Toronto, suggests tech companies in the Greater Toronto Area have seen international job applications spike over the last year. Most applications came from the U.S, at 82 per cent, while 55 per cent were from India and 36 per cent from China. The survey goes on to suggest that 61 per cent of the applicants applied for tech jobs in Canada because of the country’s Global Skills Strategy Visa, a new program that expedites work visas in 10 days.
And lastly, Facebook is still performing damage control, as it released new privacy controls, including a way to download and delete data. The updates have been in the work for some time, Facebook said in a recent blog post, but the the lashback from the public following the data breach scandal with Cambridge Analytica underscored their importance.
That’s what’s trending this week. Hashtag Trending is produced by IT World Canada. Today’s episode is sponsored by Cogeco Peer 1, the company that enables businesses to unlock their IT potential. Learn more at CP1.com.