Blackberry shares rose nearly 10 percent after a U.S. Department of Defense announcement that they will use 80,000 phones for a new mobile program for unclassified work.
The program will use the Blackberry phones in one of its new secure networks, accounting for 98 percent of devices supported by the network. Other mobile device companies like Apple and Samsung will have 1,800 devices on the network. The Pentagon expects to expand the network to 100,000 devices by the end of the year.
Defense Information Systems Agency will oversee the program, which will make it easier for Pentagon personnel to access unclassified documents.
The program will be rolled out in a couple of months, and currently supports mobile apps, including a Microsoft Office editor. DISA is in the process of vetting nearly a hundred more applications.
The order seems to have breathed new life into a company which lost billions of dollars last year on account of slipping sales, loss of corporate clients and a lackluster lineup of products.
The stock was trading at $9.96, up 9.5 percent as of Tuesday afternoon.
[FOX Business]
