BlackBerry CEO: Priv sales have been ‘quite positive’ so far

By Jason Hahn December 20, 2015

blackberry ceo priv sales quite positive far — Image used with permission by copyright holder

BlackBerry is alive and kicking, as the Canadian mobile technology business reported a nearly 12 percent bump in revenue in its latest quarter. As for BlackBerry Priv sales, the company’s CEO said the results are good so far, though he didn’t offer any specifics.

In the three months ending November 28, BlackBerry reported global revenue of $548 million, up 11.8 percent from the previous quarter. This marked the first time in two years that the company reported two consecutive quarters of increasing revenue.

Of course, what everyone really wants to know is how the BlackBerry Priv, the company’s newest smartphone and its first foray into the Android universe, has sold in its first month. “The initial 30 days of sales has been quite positive,” said John Chen, BlackBerry’s CEO. “I don’t want to overhype things. It’s an expensive phone.”

While Chen wouldn’t give hard numbers, the company did reveal that it sold 700,000 handsets during its latest quarter. This number falls short of the 900,000 figure some analysts forecast and is down from the 800,000 handsets it sold in the previous quarter.

However, BlackBerry noted that the average price of the smartphones it sold last quarter was $315, up from $240 in the same quarter last year. Given that the BlackBerry Priv is easily the company’s most expensive device ($699), it seems safe to say that the Priv made up a sizable portion of the 700,000 devices sold last quarter.

“My first goal is to get us into a break-even position with the device business, because you really couldn’t do anything strategically with a business that continues to lose money,” Chen said during the earnings call. “We’re in that ballpark now.”

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Jason Hahn is a part-time freelance writer based in New Jersey. He earned his master's degree in journalism at Northwestern…

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