BlackBerry’s CEO assured us that his company isn’t dead yet

You may have written off BlackBerry’s smartphone business, but its CEO John Chen hasn’t. BlackBerry’s global smartphone market share has dwindled dangerously close to 0%, and the company only sold 1.6 million phones in the last quarter it reported. Compare that to the 61.2 million iPhones Apple sold last quarter. In an interview with Business Insider, Chen said he’ll make BlackBerry’s smartphone business profitable again. Under Chen, who took over as CEO about 18 months ago, BlackBerry has refocused its business toward enterprise and governments instead of normal consumers. You can still go into your carrier’s store and buy a BlackBerry phone, but most are being sold to large organizations. If things are so bleak, then why does BlackBerry continue to make smartphones at all? Chen says BlackBerry phones are the entry point for customers into the company’s security business. BlackBerry can still provide a secure backbone for other devices like iPhones and Android phones, but Chen says you get the most security with a BlackBerry phone. There are a lot of important customers that still need that level of security.