BlackBerry sells fewer smartphones again

BlackBerry has not yet managed to turn the tide of bad economic data, according to the presentation of the quarterly figures. Again, fewer smartphones were sold than in the previous quarter, although the software division did better.

The quarterly figures can be found on the BlackBerry website and were presented Friday night by CEO John Chen. In total, about 600,000 smartphones were sold in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2016. That’s less than last quarter’s 700,000, and sales have more than halved compared to the same period last year.

Despite the poor sales figures, BlackBerry also had some positive news to report. Software revenue in the past quarter amounted to USD 153 million, converted approximately EUR 140 million, which is a doubling in one year. Still, BlackBerry had to record a 30 percent drop in sales across the board. The net loss was $18 million.

BlackBerry has been struggling with disappointing business results for some time and has seen smartphone sales decline for some time. This is partly because it is not possible to gain much market share with the BlackBerry OS 10 operating system. An Android smartphone, with the name Priv, which was recently released does not appear to have caused a turnaround. As a differentiation, BlackBerry has recently focused more emphatically on software, which is bearing fruit. According to Chen, the software used for the Priv should eventually also be licensed to other smartphone makers; the company probably wants to tap into an additional source of income with this.

The decline in BlackBerry smartphone sales has been going on for many years. Last year, Chen said he would consider stopping making smartphones if sales don’t improve. However, no decision has been taken on this to date.