The CEO of BlackBerry, John Chen, expected a Priv powered by Android help his company.
At last we see a clearer picture on whether consumers have given another chance to BlackBerry. But things do not look great.
BlackBerry said Friday it sold 600,000 units of its phones in its fiscal fourth quarter, well below the 850,000 expected Wall Street and also below the 700,000 units sold in the previous quarter.
So far, the situation had been somewhat murky. the first phone with Android Canadian company, the BlackBerry Priv, went sale in November, but it worked in only some phone, such as aT & T in the United States. T-Mobile started selling in January, Verizon said it earlier this month. Sprint still is selling.
Beyond comments usual by CEO John Chen, things are “quite positive” and “so far, so good,” there were no other indicators how many people were buying Priv.
devotees Blackberry (at least those left) and Wall Street alike have been keen to see if the Priv resonated with consumers. In large part, this is because the future of BlackBerry phones depends on the success of Priv, which marked a dramatic turn to stop using the proprietary software company for the most used Google’s Android.
“This quarter or next could determine whether BlackBerry will remain a supplier of hardware,” said Avi Greengart, an analyst who covers consumer electronics for Current Analysis.
Chen defended the results by saying the company reduced its operating loss by half, while the phones were making more money.
“the path to profitability appears to be reasonable,” Chen said in a conference call with investors of the company Friday. BlackBerry needs to sell 3 million handsets this year to break even, he said.
Still, he acknowledged that the distribution is a challenge, since Verizon delayed the launch of Priv. BlackBerry is looking to expand to 14 operators in six countries.
The success of Priv is critical to BlackBerry, as the company has focused most of his triumph in Android. Chen said in an interview in January that it expects to launch only a new phone, or possibly two, and they also execute mobile software Google.
As part of his promise to return to relevance, BlackBerry started transformed to become a provider of software and services. Expects to grow its software business by 30 percent this fiscal year.
The entrance BlackBerry to Android world means that now competes with rival more established as Samsung and its Galaxy S7 is priced at US $ 700 and the LG G5 worth between US $ 630 and US $ 690, both full of specifications and unique features and super high-quality phones. The cell phone BlackBerry US $ 700 offers essentially the same experience, with a little more additional security software.
Chen acknowledged that the market for high-end phones is saturated and said it is considering a mid-range device. He refused to provide further details.
BlackBerry phone sales continue to be the main driver of revenue of the company. In total, the company posted a loss in its fiscal fourth quarter of US $ 238 million, or 45 cents per share, on revenue of $ 464 million.
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