Apple’s CarPlay has to ride on top of BlackBerry’s QNX platform for in-auto entertainment systems. Ford was reportedly pondering a swap from Microsoft to QNX to for its Sync platform. And it’s highly likely that the front end of Google’s Android in-vehicle efforts are also going to have a QNX play.

Asking for automotive smartphone integration as an optional extra

CNET Review: Apple won’t own the dashboard with CarPlay

So when BlackBerry CEO John Chen calls QNX one of the crown jewels of the company he’s not kidding. Here’s what Chen said in December on BlackBerry’s last earnings call:

Keep reading…