BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) chief executive, John Chen, has given a hint that there is a potential launch expected of a mid-range smartphone in 2016. The CEO hinted at BlackBerry’s plan which involve high-end as well as mid-range smartphones launch next year. However, he did mention that most of the company’s plans are highly dependent on the BlackBerry Priv, the company’s first Android smartphone.
Mr Chen is a software industry veteran that BlackBerry company hired so that he could save the company back in 2013. Sources claim that the CEO has already been talking to Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s Google about the plans for Blackberry to launch a series of Android smartphones to have the world’s most popular operating system.
The CEO has also asserted in one of his interviews that the BlackBerry Priv could be the start of a new smartphone line. Chen was interviewed by Bloomberg and was quoted saying that the Priv has already shown some success, and the customers should expect more smartphones from the mobile maker.
In other news, Chen has already set the stake. He has repeatedly said that he will be ready to dump the smartphone business if it fails to turn into a profitable business. It is important to take note that even though the company never breaks out earnings that it receives from its devices business, in the last two and a half years it has lost more than $6 billion. For that reason, their statistics shows that the company will have to ship 5 million smartphones next year to move into the black. That seems like a very tall directive bearing in mind that it only sold 800, 000 in the last quarter of the year.
Chen has assured BlackBerry customers that 2016 will be a make-or-break year for both the company as well as his leadership. The plans seem viable and vital considering that BlackBerry has been engaging with the top carriers around the world. All these top carriers have agreed to help in marketing Priv. The carriers include AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the US, the Canadian carriers and UK’s Carphone Warehouse is very likely to offer it too.
John Chen said that the BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s Priv will be on the receiving end of a price cut in February next year. This has come as good news to the customer since the $699 price tag is high for many.
