Blackberry Q4 fiscal results are out and they might give Blackberry just enough air to try their best one last time in the smartphone sphere. The Canadian company switched to Android last year with the launch of PRIV, but the expected sales landmark couldn’t be reached which means the road isn’t easy ahead.
Blackberry sold only 600,000 PRIV units, company’s first Android smartphone, ending this quarter on 29th Feb. The number is definitely something to worry about, but what make matters worse is that company sold 100,000 units less compared to same quarter last year.
Even though the hardware mobile division isn’t performing, the company CEO, John Chen stressed they are close to breaking even. And as far as the plans to exit smartphone business are concerned, he promised to make the hardware division profitable by the end of September 2016.
“I truly believe that we’re very, very close in being able to break even or start making money in devices. As you all know, and I said many times if we – despite all the efforts that we put in, if we cannot make money on the device business and it becomes a burden due to consolidation then I will have to get out of that particular business but that’s not a big secret, I say it,” explains Chen.
John Chen also confirmed if they aren’t able to reach targets set for September, there will be a serious consideration regarding being a software company only, reported Softpedia.
He also said that the company plans to launch a new Android handset around $350 and will need to sell around 3 million smartphones at an average price of $300 to break even. Overall, the hardware division must make at least $900 million in fiscal 2017.