The Company Apple Spent $10 Billion Trying to Kill- And Lost

The Company Apple Spent $10 Billion Trying to Kill- And Lost

BlackBerry didn’t die.

It quietly moved into your car.

If you think BlackBerry disappeared with the physical keyboard, check your dashboard. Chances are, you’re driving a vehicle powered by its software—right now.

This is one of the most overlooked pivots in modern tech history.

From Mocked Phones to Mission-Critical Software

While the world laughed at BlackBerry’s failed smartphone era, the company was executing a total reinvention.

BlackBerry stopped selling hardware.

Instead, it went all-in on QNX.

QNX is a real-time operating system designed for environments where failure isn’t an option. Today, it runs:

• Infotainment systems

• Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS)

• Vehicle security and safety controls

And it’s embedded inside cars from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Ford, Tata, Mahindra—and 24 of the top 25 EV makers worldwide.

This isn’t consumer software.

It’s software that can’t crash.

Software Margins Beat Hardware Ego

Unlike phones, car software isn’t a race to the bottom.

BlackBerry’s QNX business delivers:

• ~80% gross margins

• ~30% EBITDA margins

No factories.

No inventory risk.

No hype cycles.

Just deeply embedded software that automakers can’t easily replace.

This is the part most people miss: once QNX is designed into a vehicle platform, it stays there for years—sometimes decades.

Apple Tried. Volkswagen Tried. Both Failed.

Here’s where the story gets wild.

• Apple burned ~$10 billion on Project Titan trying to build a car OS.
  → Shut down.

• Volkswagen spent ~$12 billion attempting a rival in-house platform.
  → Missed deadlines, internal chaos, leadership reshuffles.

Meanwhile, BlackBerry—written off as “dead”—was already there.

Quietly.

Reliably.

Everywhere.

Why Automakers Trust BlackBerry

Cars are no longer mechanical products.

They’re rolling data centers.

That means:

• Safety certification

• Deterministic performance

• Cybersecurity at the kernel level

QNX was built for nuclear plants, medical devices, and military systems long before cars became computers.

Apple builds beautiful ecosystems.

BlackBerry builds systems that cannot fail.

Automakers noticed.

The Real Lesson

The internet remembers you for your failures.

Markets pay you for your pivots.

BlackBerry didn’t win by nostalgia or branding.

It won by choosing the unsexy layer of the stack—and owning it completely.

You don’t see BlackBerry anymore.

Because it’s doing its job.

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#Cybersecurity #AutomotiveTech #EmbeddedSystems #SoftwareEconomy #BlackBerry