BlackBerry (BBRY) Trades Strong; First Android-Based Smartphone Lands in U.S., Canada

BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) shares are ramping to session highs as its first Android-based smartphone -- PRIV -- launches in the U.S. and Canada.

On BlackBerry's official blog today, CEO John Chen posted the following:

It was a Good day earlier this week. Today is a Great day. We’re making our new PRIV secure smartphone available through key partners in the U.S. and Canada. In the U.S., AT&T is offering PRIV through retail stores and online to consumers. In Canada, you can purchase our first-ever BlackBerry smartphone powered by Android starting today from Rogers, Bell,Telus, WIND, and Sasktel. And in the UK, both Carphone Warehouse and Selfridges will soon make PRIV available. You can also order PRIV from our own ShopBlackBerry.

Congratulations and many thanks to our partners that are making PRIV available today. Based on early feedback, we think customers will be intrigued by PRIV’s powerful productivity features, including the slide-out physical keyboard, 5.4-inch dual-curved screen and full-day battery life; wowed by the elegant, slim design; and reassured by advanced privacy features such as DTEK.

It goes without saying that the Android-powered PRIV also brings incredible new features to the platform and gives you full access to over one million applications, including Instagram, Spotify, Uber and BBM. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor will also let you run those apps at blazing speeds.

Today is only the first of many Great days, and many of our other carrier and retail partners will soon begin offering PRIV in more markets, including Germany, Hong Kong and the Netherlands.

Since our founding in 1984, security and privacy has been in our DNA. However, today more than ever, it informs every solution we acquire or bring to market, from PRIV and BES12 to WatchDox to AtHoc to Good Technology. Security and privacy are privileges. They should be protected. I encourage you to make the wise choice.

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