Blackberry Sales Fail Again
Blackberry Sales Fail Again
Blackberry's massive android gamble has reported failed. It's looking like the sun is setting on BlackBerry's smartphones.BlackBerry's fiscal fourth quarter resultsshows another fall in handset sales to just 600,000 units in the last fiscal quarter.
There is a chance for sales to pick up during the rest of 2016, but it is an extremely worrying sign for BlackBerry's hardware department. According to Wall street, it was expected to sell a target of 850,000 units but there is a drop of 14.3 percent on the sales in the previous quarter. Blackberry's CEO John Chen had previously said that BlackBerry would need to sell three million handsets to reach the break point.
The finish line is hardly in-sight for the Canadian smartphone manufacturer. The initial sales around the Android-powered BlackBerry Priv has not reached the expect levels of marketing. BlackBerry's reported upcoming devices this year are likely to continue using Android, but are also going to target the ultra-competitive mid-range devices. Chances are highly unlikely for BlackBerry to stand out in the mid-range market. Comparing the Priv to other smartphone manufacturers' flagship devices, the former was more expensive than comparable handsets. Coming handsets for 2016 will more have lesser impact, and goodwill from the press and of course less retail space.
BlackBerry retains a strong portfolio of services that is showing significant growth in 2016, with security-focused applications now running on Android it has a portfolio that can bring continued revenue to the company.But its time as a relevant handset manufacturer is coming to an end. Either they need to bring down their price point or the ship is already sinking.
