BlackBerry phone sales drop to 1.6 million

BlackBerry sold 1.6 million smartphones in the quarter, continuing the decline in sales. However, the manufacturer made a profit due to an increase in software sales. The group focuses more on revenue from software.

BlackBerry sold 1.6 million smartphones in its fiscal fourth quarter, up from 1.9 million in the previous quarter and 3.4 million a year ago. However, the average selling price per device rose from USD 180 to USD 211, which indicates that the company was able to sell more high-end devices such as the Passport. The decline in the total number of devices sold comes as no surprise: the Canadian company’s strategy is to earn more with software.

Those sales rose 20 percent year-on-year to $67 million, and that strategy appears to be paying off. BlackBerry’s quarterly profit came in at $28 million, compared to a loss of $148 million a year ago. However, sales fell from $786 million to $660 million.

In addition to software, BlackBerry plans to grow in security, internet-of-things and cross-platform services, such as the BlackBerry Experience Suite of apps, coming to Android, iOS and Windows.

The fiscal year for BlackBerry runs from March 1 to the end of February. Q4 2015 is therefore at BlackBerry the period from December 1 to February 28, 2015.