Jon Chen
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BlackBerry inches towards safety despite smartphone slump
From the looks of BlackBerry's newest earnings report, it looks as if CEO Jon Chen's plan to transform the company into a software-and-services company might actually be working. The company posted a quarterly net loss of $207 million, pocket change compared to the $950 million that the other guy lost in the same period the year before. The reason for the healthier spreadsheet is thanks to growth in the company's services arm, which managed to sell 3.4 million licenses of its BlackBerry Enterprise Service in three months - nearly three times the amount sold during the previous three months.
BlackBerry steadies the ship but smartphone sales continue to evaporate
BlackBerry's plan to cut costs and shift to services is starting to pay dividends. While the company's latest financial earnings report shows it's still suffering losses, they aren't as bad as expected. It certainly wasn't thanks to its smartphones, which were once BlackBerry's main source of revenue, as they fell to just 2.6 million units from 3.4 million in the last quarter. This time around, the Canadian smartphone maker didn't divulge how many BB7 and BB10 handsets it sold, suggesting the newer OS just isn't tempting consumers and businesses to part with their iPhones and Android devices. For reference: BB7 smartphone sales more than doubled those of BlackBerry 10 last quarter.
