After years of steady decline, smartphone manufacturer BlackBerry has shown the first signs of recovery, with its shares jumping 11 percent on surprisingly strong third-quarter earnings. Posting a double-digit improvement in adjusted revenue, the company has shown a near 200 percent sales bounce out of its software-and-services division. The company's $557 million revenue further exceeded Wall Street's expectation of $489 million, according to NASDAQ.
BlackBerry also reported a loss of $89 million in the third quarter which ended on Nov. 28. Excluding restructuring charges and other one-time items, the company only lost about $15 million, or $0.03 a share, besting analysts' predictions of a $0.14 loss per share.
The primary driver for the company's surge in stocks is the BlackBerry Priv, its do-or-die bold experiment. As the company's first android-powered device, the Priv featured a sliding keyboard and stock android. The unit was received warmly, accounting for a significant chunk of the company's device revenue growth, reports GMS Arena.
BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen believes that the Priv might be the handset that would determine the company's future in smartphone manufacturing. "We're planning on other Android phones, but it all hinges on how we do with the Priv. I've said that if we cannot make money we're going to get out of the phone business, and I mean hardware. We have tons of software that absolutely could run, not only on Android phones, but Apple and Windows phones too," he said, according to Reuters.
The chief executive stated, however, that regardless of what happens, BlackBerry is not going anywhere.
"We will remain in the phone business one way or the other," Chen said.
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