BlackBerry announced that it had made a string of small security deals to show that that it had some street cred in that market.

The outfit said it had signed a five-year, multimillion-dollar deal to run emergency notifications for the US Senate and expanded a deal with the US Coast Guard to cover staff in Washington, D.C. BlackBerry also announced a partnership allowing corporate coders to translate apps for use with BlackBerry systems, and a deal for its QNX software to be used in electric locomotives being developed in Turkey.

But the updates failed to impress investors, who pushed BlackBerry shares down 2.1 percent. Which is a bit sad, it appears it is damned if it does get security contacts and damned if it doesn’t.

Analysts have been telling the press it is Blackberry’s fault for hanging on to its practically defunct smartphone business. If the company is going to be a security software company it should be one. While it has handsets, it is a consumer handset company.

BlackBerry CEO John Chen, who earlier this year set a September deadline for handsets to turn a profit, said more software deals are on the way.

"A lot of the things that we laid down the groundwork for a year, year and half ago is all paying off now," Chen added.

BlackBerry's adjusted revenue from software overtook diminished handset sales last quarter.