BlackBerry Has No Plans to Do Away With Smartphone

by Christopher Freeburn | November 5, 2013 9:01 am

blackberry 630 rimm[1]Struggling mobile device maker BlackBerry’s (BBRY[2]) new CEO wants the world to know that the company won’t abandon its handset business[3].

John Chen, who has been tapped to make a last ditch try to turnaround the foundering smartphone maker, told Reuters that it would take six quarters to reverse BlackBerry’s current misfortunes. He added the company has “enough ingredients to build a long-term sustainable business,” around its once-popular handsets.

More that a decade ago, Chen took the reins at Sybase, a software maker then deeply in the red. Chen turned the company around and in 2010, SAP (SAP[4]) bought the business for $5.8 billion.

On Monday, BlackBerry announced that a $4.7 billion takeover bid from Fairfax Holding had been ended. It also said that CEO Thorsten Heins had resigned.

Though once the leading smartphone maker, BlackBerry has fallen far behind rivals Apple (AAPL[5]) and Google (GOOG[6]). Its latest round of smartphones fell flat with consumers[7].

The company’s recent problems have rattled enough customers that it recent took out newspaper ads[8] to reassure them.

Shares of BlackBerry rose modestly in pre-market trading on Tuesday.

Endnotes:

  1. [Image]: https://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/blackberry-630-rimm.jpg
  2. BBRY: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=BBRY
  3. won’t abandon its handset business: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/04/us-blackberry-offer-strategy-idUSBRE9A30PH20131104
  4. SAP: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=SAP
  5. AAPL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AAPL
  6. GOOG: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GOOG
  7. fell flat with consumers: https://investorplace.com/2013/09/t-mobile-to-stop-stocking-blackberry-phones-in-stores/
  8. that it recent took out newspaper ads: https://investorplace.com/2013/10/blackberry-takes-full-page-ads-ease-consumer-worries/

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/11/blackberry-plans-away-smartphone/