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BlackBerry CEO Says Smartphone Biz Is On a Timer

Aug 28, 2015, 12:03 PM by Eric M. Zeman

John S. Chen, CEO of BlackBerry, admitted that its recent handsets have not sold as well as he hoped. "By any definition it is not a runaway success," said Chen to Re/Code of BlackBerry's smartphone business. Chen put some of the blame on the lack of apps. The Blackberry World app store "[is] not competitive to Google Play or the iTunes store," said Chen. "We're working hard at that." BlackBerry handsets are able to run Android apps, but even that doesn't help. Recent reports have suggested the company is preparing a BlackBerry handset with Android on board, but Chen said, "It is a little more complex [than that], which is why it is not done." BlackBerry has already made significant cuts to its hardware business this year and plans to release just one or two handsets per year. Even so, the company may consider exiting smartphones altogether. "If I can't make money on the phone, I will be out of that telephone handset business. There is a timeline; I won't tell you when."

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Comments

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This forum is closed.

linkfeeney

Aug 31, 2015, 6:15 PM

fighting chance?

if they switch over to android OS, they still might have a fighting chance!

Pandemic187

Aug 28, 2015, 2:55 PM

RIP Blackberry

It gave so much to the smartphone industry but it will never be competitive like it was once was, especially given that they have put a definite deadline on realizing that success.

Versed

Hopefully the new Venice will give them some more life support, doubtful they will become a dominate player, but at least be relevent.

gfondeur

Lol
I'm being hearing that doom and rip bs for years now,

...

Pandemic187

I'm not dooming anything. The CEO literally said they might exit the smartphone business if things don't improve. Are you telling me things are going to improve? Because that would require a very sudden turnaround after years of just barely staying af...
(continues)

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