BlackBerry Receives Impressive Response For Passport; Pre-Orders Reach 200K Units

BlackBerry is back on track with the reported success of BlackBerry Passport, which sold out after pre-orders reached 200,000 units.

BlackBerry, once the leader in smartphone business, is beefing up its efforts to stand on its feet once again. Challenging the odds, the Canadian smartphone maker launched its square-screened Passport phone, which received mixed reviews, but widely surpassed the company's expectations. According to the company's CEO John Chen, pre-orders of the newly launched device have reached 200,000 units since its release last week.

According to Venture Beat, Chen said the Passport was sold out within 6 hours of availability on its official website and within 10 hours on Amazon. The information was shared while Chen reported the company's first quarter earnings for 2015. BlackBerry reported $207 million loss during the quarter, which is better compared to a $950 million loss reported a year ago. This shows the company's efforts to bring its demand back to the market under the realm of the new CEO.

"We delivered a solid quarter against our key operational metrics, and we are confident that we will achieve breakeven cash flow by the end of FY15," Chen said about its first quarter earnings report, Friday. "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."

Amazon is still taking pre-orders for the device but the shipments will begin Oct. 6. BlackBerry's official store lists the Passport for $100 cheaper, but is currently out of stock. The company states the product is on backorder and will start shipping Oct. 6.

As for the smartphone's specs, Passport boasts a wide 4.5-inch square touch display with Full HD resolution, 13-megapixel rear facing camera with the latest IOS, 32GB internal storage, massive 3450mAh battery, a 2.2GHz processor and 3GB of RAM. It features a unique touch-enabled keyboard in the company's standard QWERTY style.

BlackBerry Passport sells for $599 in the U.S. and £537.37 in the U.K. through Amazon.