Once upon a time, BlackBerry was a king in the smartphone market. The company had the most popular devices that sold millions of units world over. This all changed a few years ago as Android and iOS grew in popularity.
Right now, BlackBerry is not as popular and the company has been struggling making losses year after year. The company’s new smartphone, the BlackBerry Priv has generated a lot of buzz even before hitting retail stores. The company hopes that this buzz is translated into sales when the phone is available for purchase.
According to BlackBerry CEO John Chen who spoke at the Code/Mobile conference, the BlackBerry Priv has to succeed or the company will be forced to make some tough decisions.
At this point, BlackBerry expects to sell over 5 Million units by the end of the year. This figure includes all the company’s devices even the new, BlackBerry Priv. 5 Million may look like a small figure when you compare it to the sales figures industry giants such as Samsung post but for a company such as BlackBerry, it will determine if it will be profitable or not.
During the second quarter (Q2) of 2015, BlackBerry managed to sell only 800,000 smartphones during the three month period that is why reaching 5 Million by the end of the year is not that easy. We do not have sales figures for Q3 but I hope that the figures are positive.
One of the tough decisions BlackBerry might be forced to make if the Priv is not that successful is shut down its smartphone business. This will mean that the Priv is the last BlackBerry smartphone ever.
If BlackBerry shuts down its mobile business, it may be forced to focus on enterprise customers and mostly in providing security services. This will be a sad move for most BlackBerry enthusiasts but it will be the only way for the stop bleeding cash.
I hope BlackBerry reaches the 5 Million sales figure as I do not want the company to fold its smartphone division. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!
Source [The Verge]
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