Ford Said to Drop Microsoft for BlackBerry's QNX in Sync System
Ford Motor Co. (F), struggling with in-car technology glitches, will base the next-generation Sync system on BlackBerry Ltd. (BBRY)'s QNX and no longer use Microsoft (MSFT) Corp.'s Windows, according to people briefed on the matter.
Context & Ripple Effects
The report lands at a low ebb for BlackBerry's hardware business: Consumer Intelligence Research Partners put its U.S. handset share at zero percent on BlackBerry 10's first anniversary in January 2014, the BBM chief Andrew Bocking has departed, and a January Pentagon-win rumor briefly moved the stock before being debunked. A marquee QNX design win at Ford would give the company a software-led narrative precisely when the device business offers none.
The pickup pattern is telling: alongside BlackBerry fan outlets like CrackBerry and BerryReview, Microsoft-focused sites WinBeta and Windows Phone Central carried the story, because the claim — sourced to people briefed on the matter and still unconfirmed by either company — cuts against both vendors. Ford's stated motivation, glitches in the current Sync system built on Microsoft's Windows, frames the swap as a reliability decision rather than a feature one.
First-order effects
- If the report holds, Microsoft loses its highest-profile automotive dashboard customer, while Ford gets a clean-slate foundation for next-generation Sync aimed directly at the glitch problems that have dogged the current system.
- BlackBerry gains a flagship QNX reference design in the world's highest-volume auto segments, converting an embedded-software asset into visible revenue momentum while handset sales register near zero in the U.S.
Second-order effects
- Rival automakers running or evaluating Windows-based systems now have a reason to re-open their platform decisions, making QNX's long-standing automotive certifications the default item on every shortlist.
- Microsoft is pushed to justify its automotive relevance through cloud and services layers rather than the in-dash operating system itself, where an embedded specialist has just taken the slot.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward car operating systems consolidating around certified embedded-software specialists rather than desktop-OS vendors, raising switching costs as vehicles become software-defined products.
- For BlackBerry, success here reinforces a structural identity shift: a company whose valuation rests less on devices than on licensing its embedded platform to industries — autos first among them — where safety certification is the moat.
The trend: BlackBerry's center of gravity is migrating from handsets to licensed embedded software, with automakers' dashboards emerging as QNX's anchor market as the phone business fades.