BlackBerry Is Selling a New Device -- But It’s Not a Phone

(Bloomberg) -- BlackBerry Ltd. found a customer for its fleet-tracking device, taking a first step into the crowded market for monitoring cargo trucks and trains.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company will install 500 units of the BlackBerry Radar on trailers owned by Oakville, Ontario-based trucker Caravan Group. The Radar is a box that sticks on the back of a tractor-trailer container and frequently updates its owner on the trailer’s temperature, location and whether the door is open or closed. A spokeswoman for BlackBerry declined to say what the deal was worth.

The Radar is part of Chief Executive Officer John Chen’s campaign to find ways to take the company’s existing patents and expertise and apply them to new industries. Still, the market is crowded with well-established companies like Orbcomm Inc. and Fleetmatics Group Plc. Telecom giant Verizon Communications Inc. agreed to buy Fleetmatics last month for $2.4 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gerrit De Vynck in Toronto at gdevynck@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz, Andrew Pollack