BlackBerry's hoped-for turnaround fails to materialise
Chief executive remains defiant as slow sales of 'turnaround' phone prompt stampede out of its stock and dire predictions of company's demise
Thorsten Heins, the president and chief executive of BlackBerry, recalls that a year ago, when he announced a delay in the introduction of a new line of phones, he was told his company was "finished". Not so, he argued then; give us time to get this thing right.
The phones - BlackBerry 10s - are now on the market. But judging by the sales figures and earnings that BlackBerry announced on Friday, the phones have not turned BlackBerry's fortunes around; quite the opposite.
In the first full quarter of selling the make-or-break BlackBerry 10, BlackBerry reported that it shipped 6.8 million phones, of which only about 2.7 million were the new models.
Apple sells as many iPhones in a week as BlackBerry 10s were shipped over three months.
"For many, going into these earnings, it was seen as the end of the new beginning," said Anil Doradla, an analyst at investment bank William Blair & Co in Chicago. "Now, coming out of the earnings, it looks like the beginning of the end."
BlackBerry's share price plummeted nearly 28 per cent on Friday after it reported an unexpected US$84 million loss and revealed the early shipping figures of its new phone.