BlackBerry Ltd CEO Determined To Make Handsets Profitable Again

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BlackBerry CEO John Chen, in an interview with Business Insider, said he will once again make the company’s smartphone business a profitable one. Chen added that BlackBerry’s security features for enterprise on phones made by other manufacturers can make the handsets secure but that they are no comparison to BlackBerry’s handsets.

BlackBerry handsets the most secure

Chen notes that BlackBerry phones serve as an entry point for the company to market its other security products. Though the Canadian company can provide security for the iPhone and Android, Chen believes the level of security offered by a BlackBerry phone is incomparable. This could be one reason why Chen is sticking to his plan of continuing the handset business to concentrate on other aspects of the industry.

BlackBerry CEO said that the U.S. Army is still “rolling out all BlackBerry,” and if “I tell them there are no more phones, I lose that account. The question is how do you make phones profitable at the volume those people represent?”

In its latest quarterly earnings, the Canadian company announced that it sold 1.6 million handsets during the three months. When compared to Apple’s 61.2 million iPhones sales, BlackBerry sales numbers appear minute.

Handsets are an entry point for BlackBerry

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company is selling phones to governments and to companies that demand a high level of security even though it is losing out on a large consumer market share to Apple and various Android manufacturers. Chen is positive that he can drive forward BlackBerry’s small share in the consumer market to make it profitable again. As of now, he has not revealed his strategy, but it looks like Chen is concentrating on secure systems and uniquely designed handsets.

There is no doubt that BlackBerry has a strong footing among governments, law enforcement agencies and corporations. But the Canadian company needs a design that is appropriate for both consumers and enterprises. Last year, BlackBerry launched the Passport phone with a unique form factor. The BlackBerry Passport has a wide 1440×1440 resolution with a 4.5-inch screen that allows the user to read spreadsheets and memos easily without having to swipe from side to side. The phone has a physical and virtual QWERTY keyboard, 3GB of RAM and a large 3450 mAh battery. Though the Passport failed to lure in consumers, it did really kept the excitement ticking up all season.

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