BlackBerry’s introduction of two new phones namely the Classic and the Passport has failed to cause its competitors any concern as the company continues to see sales plummet in the handset market.
The Canadian company sold only 1.1 million phones in its first quarter, a fall of 500,000 from the previous quarter. BlackBerry reported a loss of $28 million or 5 cents a share from revenues of $658 million.
This represents an improvement on last year’s numbers where for the same period under review, BlackBerry made a loss of $60 million, or 11 cents a share on revenues of $966 million.
BlackBerry’s boss John S. Chen is focused on transforming BlackBerry into a company focused on selling software.
The software and patent licensing business of BlackBerry grew 150 percent to $137 million over the previous quarter
Chen is holding out hope for BlackBerry’s latest offerings, the Passport and the Classic.
He said sales of the Classic, which uses the company’s new operating systems while emulating BlackBerry’s traditional physical design were still rising.
“Why are we in the handset business? I think we have a chance to make money in the handset business,” said Chen.
BlackBerry plans to introduce more new phones later this year.