BlackBerry’s new COO feels optimistic about the company’s future

When it comes to BlackBerry, the outlook by many people is a negative one. The company has undergone several changes in CEOs until they landed on John Chen, and safe to say that the company is still struggling somewhat. That being said, BlackBerry has recently appointed themselves a new COO in the form of Marty Beard and according to a recent Q&A he had with The Wall Street Journal, he seems optimistic about BlackBerry’s future.

Despite facing significant challenges from Apple Inc. and Android smartphones, BlackBerry Ltd. is poised to take advantage of an emerging market for Web-connected devices, said new COO Marty Beard. From mobile phones, to connected cars and medical machines, BlackBerry sees the Internet of Things devices as the next green field in mobile. Mr. Beard’s job is to help the company sell software that helps manage and secure those devices. BlackBerry said it will target its technology towards the government, financial, health care and energy sectors. Mr. Beard, who joined the company July 21 after serving three years as CEO of cloud software maker LiveOps Inc.,spoke to reporters at a media event here Tuesday. This is an edited transcript of the interview.