Apple Inc to open 22,000-square-foot office across from BlackBerry’s QNX in Ottawa suburb, sources say

Apple Inc., among the world’s most-recognized technology companies, will open an office in Kanata, the Ottawa Citizen reported.

According to several sources in the Ottawa real estate community, the Cupertino, Calif., tech giant has leased a 22,000-square-foot space after searching within the capital area since at least October.

Apple has repeatedly refused comment on its Ottawa expansion, and on Wednesday again wouldn’t discuss be it office – relatively modest at about 2.5 times how big a typical Apple retail store – may be the beginning of any planned larger presence within the capital.

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The office is next door from QNX Software Systems, a wholly owned division of BlackBerry Ltd. and a leading developer from the automotive software that is among the tech industry’s hottest fields.

Ottawa Apple executive Sbastian Marineau-Mes is a former key QNX executive who left that company after a lengthy legal battle. Marineau-Mes, whose responsibilities included QNX’s auto software platforms and the BlackBerry 10 operating system, was originally hired by Apple in September 2013, but his departure was delayed after BlackBerry, citing non-compete clauses in his contract, fought the hiring in court.

According to profiles around the online network LinkedIn, several members of Marineau-Mes’s team have since left QNX for Apple. Among them are Payam Moradshahi, now listed as an iOS embedded bring-up engineer at Apple after spending almost six years at QNX, and Wadih Shaib, now a software engineer at Apple who spent near to seven years at QNX/BlackBerry.

Marineau-Mes did not return requests through the Citizen seeking comment on the new offices or Apple’s intentions in the Ottawa area.

In an argument, QNX described reports of Apple’s arrival in Ottawa, the positioning now held by Marineau-Mes and also the lack of employees towards the California company “rumours” and “speculation.”

As its parent company continues to sputter, QNX has proven itself the bright spot within the organization as it continues to gain share of the market among automotive manufacturers. Over the past 33 years QNX has pioneered software to permit cars to complete from connecting to cellphones and playing music to autonomous driving. QNX software programs are installed in more than 50 per cent of all cars sold all over the world.

Apple is on a mission to build its own automobile. Its Project Titan has reportedly hired staff from Tesla Motors, Texas Instruments, Volkswagen, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler.

Apple’s research and development budget jumped to US$8.07 billion U.S. in 2015, a 34-per-cent increase over 2014.