BlackBerry Takes Small Steps In Earnings; Says New Passport Phones Sold Out
BlackBerry is making small strides for a turnaround as the company reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss during its earnings call this morning for the fiscal second quarter of 2015.
The company reported a net loss of $207 million, or 39 cents per share. A year earlier, the company reported a loss of $965 million, or $1.84 per share.
The Waterloo, Ontario-based company reported a Non-GAAP loss of $11 million, or 2 cents per share, beating Wall Street's expectations of a loss of 16 cents per share.
Related: Passport To Success? BlackBerry Bets Big On Enterprise-Focused, Square-Shaped Smartphone
It wasn't all good news for BlackBerry, however, as its revenue dropped more than 40 percent to $916 million.
"We delivered a solid quarter against our key operational metrics, and we are confident that we will achieve break-even cash flow by the end of FY15," said BlackBerry CEO John Chen, in a statement. "Our workforce restructuring is now complete, and we are focusing on revenue growth with judicious investments to further our leadership position in enterprise mobility and security, driving us towards non-GAAP profitability during FY16."
Chen took over the helm of BlackBerry in November of last year, coming with a reputation of successfully turning around companies that were headed in the wrong direction.
On Wednesday, the company released its first device under Chen's tenure in the BlackBerry Passport. Chen said today that his company has sold out of preorders of the device, taking 200,000 orders between BlackBerry's website and Amazon.com.
"I'm ecstatic about the product and the direction of the company," said Rick Jordan, director of mobility sales and strategic alliances at Tenet Computer Group, a Toronto-based solution provider and longtime BlackBerry partner. "BlackBerry lost its course for a while and they just have to focus on their roots. I believe they will get there because they got the right person at the helm. They've got to get on the right path to get people back on board. They forgot about the ecosystem for some time."
The Passport features a 4.5-inch, square-shaped display, in addition to an upgraded physical keyboard that is somewhat of a hallmark sign of a BlackBerry device. BlackBerry said the display, keyboard and upgraded operating system, which comes standard on the device, are all designed to make professional users more productive.
"We have a Passport here, so I've seen it even before [the launch]. It's a real sleek device," said Jordan. "We're excited. It's really fast, the screen is square and different, but being different is a good thing too. When viewing documents or messages, it is a lot better, so I love it. It's an incredible piece of technology for sure. It is a play for corporate markets, especially with the keyboard. I can tell you, compared to the virtual keyboard, the physical keyboard is amazing. It is really refreshing to see BlackBerry focus on their roots."
PUBLISHED SEPT. 26, 2014