Back in 2013 there were many doom and gloom predictions for BlackBerry. Many had speculated that BlackBerry could end up selling itself or at least a bulk of its patents to other companies in order to keep it afloat, but what ended up happening was a cash injection to help the company survive. Well it looks like BlackBerry has managed to do exactly that. The company has recently churned out a couple of new handsets in the form of the BlackBerry Passport and Classic, both of which have managed to sell out via BlackBerry’s website, and the company’s recent financials look pretty good too.
Yesterday, BlackBerry reported its fiscal third quarter 2015 earnings report. The company was cash flow positive and operating earnings showed a 1 cent a share profit, although on a net basis the company was 28 cents a share in the red. After the report was announced, BlackBerry CEO John Chen spoke with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang about BlackBerry’s turnaround. When BlackBerry’s CEO was asked about his chances of completely turning around the company, the optimistic Chen said that the odds were 99% in favor of his success. The executive also piqued our interest by saying that BlackBerry would be introducing a new software product next June that will convince those using two devices, to stick with just a BlackBerry instead. When asked who was buying the new phones, he unsurprisingly said that many of those buying the BlackBerry Classic were coming from BlackBerry’s installed base. Chen noted (as we have previously) that the Classic is a perfect fit for those who love the BlackBerry Bold 9900 hardware, but want to have a device that runs the BlackBerry 10.3.1 OS build (which includes BlackBerry Assistant). The BlackBerry Passport is a different story, notes Chen. He sees new BlackBerry buyers purchasing the flagship model along with former ‘Berry owners returning to the fold.
