Blackberry to keep the Android releases coming

Blackberry has revealed plans to launch two more Android devices this year – while also admitting it might quit the handset business.

Chief executive John Chen told The National that Blackberry would unveil two midrange Android handsets sometime in 2016.

One would have a physical keyboard and the other a full touchscreen, he added.

At the same time, Chen acknowledged that the Priv, which Blackberry released in February, was too expensive for enterprise customers.

“The fact that we came out with a high-end phone [as our first Android device] was probably not as wise as it should have been,” he said.

“A lot of enterprise customers have said to us, ‘I want to buy your phone but US$700 is a little too steep for me. I’m more interested in a US$400 device’."

Chen also told The National that Blackberry would quit the handset business if it didn’t stop losing money.

“Since I started at the company [in November 2013] I’ve been saying I’ll make the handset business profitable,” he said.

“If I can’t make it profitable because the market won’t let me, then I’ll get out of the handset business. I love our handset business, but we need to make money."

Blackberry reported a net loss of US$208 million for the 12 months to 29 February 2016 – a 31.6 percent improvement on the US$304 million loss the year before.

Revenue fell 35.2 percent, from US$3.34 billion to US$2.16 billion, while long-term debt improved 25.2 percent, from US$1.71 billion to US$1.28 billion.