BlackBerry surprises with quarterly profit, ships 1M Z10 phones
BlackBerry on Thursday said demand for its new flagship Z10 handset helped produce a net income of $98 million ? a minor surprise during a transitional quarter for the previously spiraling company.
While the Canadian smartphone maker, formerly known as Research in Motion, surprised by posting a profit, its quarterly revenue of $2.7 billion was still seen as a disappointment. In addition, the company only shipped 6 million total smartphones, while a million of those were its new Z10.
A poll of Wall Street analysts by Thomson Reuters had forecast BlackBerry to post a loss of about 29 cents per share. In the same quarter a year ago, the company had lost $118 million.
Still, the Z10 shipments were a relatively positive sign for the company's revamped BlackBerry 10 platform. That device launched a few weeks before the end of the quarter, and only in Canada, the U.K. and United Arab Emirates. It began expanding to the U.S. last week.
While BlackBerry was once a dominant player in the smartphone market, major shifts in recent years have made it a fringe competitor. For example, Apple sold nearly eight times as many iPhones last quarter as BlackBerry shipped smartphones in its latest print, demonstrating the gap between the two companies.
"We have implemented numerous changes at BlackBerry over the past year and those changes have resulted in the company returning to profitability in the fourth quarter," said Thorsten Heins, BlackBerry's president and CEO. "With the launch of BlackBerry 10, we have introduced the newest and what we believe to be the most innovative mobile computing platform in the market today. Customers love the device and the user experience, and our teams and partners are now focused on getting those devices into the hands of BlackBerry consumer and enterprise customers."
As of the end of the company's fourth fiscal quarter of 2013, which concluded on March 2, BlackBerry had about $2.9 billion in cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments.
"As we go into our new fiscal year, we are excited with the opportunities for the BlackBerry 10 platform, and the commitments we are seeing from our global developers and partners," Heins said. "We are also excited about the new, dynamic culture at BlackBerry, where we are laser-focused on continuing to drive efficiency and improve the Company?s profitability while driving innovation. We have built an engine that is able to drive improved financial performance at lower volumes, which should allow us to generate additional benefits from higher volumes in the future."
While the Canadian smartphone maker, formerly known as Research in Motion, surprised by posting a profit, its quarterly revenue of $2.7 billion was still seen as a disappointment. In addition, the company only shipped 6 million total smartphones, while a million of those were its new Z10.
A poll of Wall Street analysts by Thomson Reuters had forecast BlackBerry to post a loss of about 29 cents per share. In the same quarter a year ago, the company had lost $118 million.
Still, the Z10 shipments were a relatively positive sign for the company's revamped BlackBerry 10 platform. That device launched a few weeks before the end of the quarter, and only in Canada, the U.K. and United Arab Emirates. It began expanding to the U.S. last week.
While BlackBerry was once a dominant player in the smartphone market, major shifts in recent years have made it a fringe competitor. For example, Apple sold nearly eight times as many iPhones last quarter as BlackBerry shipped smartphones in its latest print, demonstrating the gap between the two companies.
"We have implemented numerous changes at BlackBerry over the past year and those changes have resulted in the company returning to profitability in the fourth quarter," said Thorsten Heins, BlackBerry's president and CEO. "With the launch of BlackBerry 10, we have introduced the newest and what we believe to be the most innovative mobile computing platform in the market today. Customers love the device and the user experience, and our teams and partners are now focused on getting those devices into the hands of BlackBerry consumer and enterprise customers."
As of the end of the company's fourth fiscal quarter of 2013, which concluded on March 2, BlackBerry had about $2.9 billion in cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments.
"As we go into our new fiscal year, we are excited with the opportunities for the BlackBerry 10 platform, and the commitments we are seeing from our global developers and partners," Heins said. "We are also excited about the new, dynamic culture at BlackBerry, where we are laser-focused on continuing to drive efficiency and improve the Company?s profitability while driving innovation. We have built an engine that is able to drive improved financial performance at lower volumes, which should allow us to generate additional benefits from higher volumes in the future."
Comments
I wish them luck!
If it wasn' for the lack of ecosystem, the Z10 is certainly the second most appealing smartphone to me.
Who the hell bought the other 5million 2YO smartphones?
Anyway, Good luck blackberry. F*ck the analysts and media always trying to push the ones that try new and good things down.
Hmmm... and the shares were less than $8 per a few weeks ago. Might have been sensible to have picked up a few for shits and giggles.
I wish them luck too
Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records!
Quote:
Originally Posted by FreeRange
It was 1,000,000 shipments, not sales. With a new device, its called filling the channels.
according to complaints made by european carriers, apple does exactly the same...
carriers get a quota to sell, if they don't sell them, the carrier has to eat the cost
i.e. apple shipped, called them sales, but no way to know how many were actually bought by end-users
it's called screwing the carriers, which i heartily approve of, they screw their users enough
Originally Posted by Chandra69
Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records! Inflated records!
Take a look at my reply, hope it might give you some knowlegde about that country lol http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/156668/apple-said-to-triple-retail-operations-in-india-by-2015
Quote:
Originally Posted by umumum
carriers get a quota to sell, if they don't sell them, the carrier has to eat the cost
Ummm..... do you have a point you're trying to make here? You just defined "actual sales" for Apple, since the carrier has to "eat the cost". Not shipments. (Btw, do you see a lot of "buy one get one free deals" on the iPhone where you live? On which carrier? When?).
Also, you're exaggerating the EU situation, which calls into question your credibility. (i) It is not a formal "complaint" yet; (ii) The competition guys have proactively taken this on, and are at the exploratory stage to see if there's something here; (iii) It's only the smaller carriers that are 'complaining'. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/business/global/iphone-contracts-with-carriers-under-scrutiny-in-europe.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
This is not a forum for FUD (which, in my book, is an acronym for F'in Useless Data). Thanks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by helicopterben
I know you are on a spring break so your school is closed but make a good use of your time if you cannot afford a Vacation.
Also take a look at my reply, hope it might give you some knowlegde about that country lol http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/156668/apple-said-to-triple-retail-operations-in-india-by-2015
Ha ha hhaa! I love you man!
Take a look at my reply, hope it might give you some knowlegde about that country lol http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/156668/apple-said-to-triple-retail-operations-in-india-by-2015
Definitely you are also from a third-world country. No doubt about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chandra69
You're definitely on spring break.
Quote:
Originally Posted by island hermit
You're definitely on spring break.
You definitely belong to the same country as helicopterben
They have a ecosystem it just lacks a multitude of quality apps.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dasanman69
They have a ecosystem it just lacks a multitude of quality apps.
Yep, that's what I actually meant to say. Compared to iOS and Android, it is as good as inexistent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rabbit_Coach
I wish them luck!
If it wasn' for the lack of ecosystem, the Z10 is certainly the second most appealing smartphone to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pedromartins
Who the hell bought the other 5million 2YO smartphones?
Anyway, Good luck blackberry. F*ck the analysts and media always trying to push the ones that try new and good things down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andysol
Curious as to how they generate $2.7 billion.
I wish them luck too
I join this chorus; let's hope they are slowly on the way to recovery. It will be good news for all parties involved - competitors and consumers.
Why not? Microsoft is bragging their WinPhones are outselling the iPhone in certain countries.
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2013/03/28/idc-windows-phone-outsold-iphone-during-q4-in-argentina-russia-south-africa-ukraine-india-and-poland/
Blackberry success in this space just helps push Android (as a brand) further down to cheap/low margin handsets.