BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) CEO John Chen recently unveiled BES 12 at a recent event, and after that he has been the center of attraction for the media. The CEO has put all his efforts into bringing the company back to its roots, with primary focus on the enterprise mobility management.
BlackBerry deserved to be saved
In a recent conversation with Canadian Business, Chen discussed a number of obstacles in its journey towards growth. According to Chen, he took the role of the CEO at BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) because he found the history of BlackBerry impressing, and was very much intrigued by it. He believed that the company has done a lot for both the computing market as well as phones, and hence deserved to be saved.
“I can’t guarantee success [for BlackBerry], but it is doable,” he added. Despite all odds, Chen believes, “a year from today, we’ll be generating profit.”
Chen told that he met many of the employees and customers of the company for gauging its strengths, and this was the time he began with company’s turnaround. He realized that innovative products were the core strength of the company and he needed to maintain that. “I realized that if we don’t have innovative products, it doesn’t really matter if our distribution channel is broken,” said Chen.
Hopes attached to BBM, QNX
BBM and QNX are the two products that are at the prime focus of Chen. Though WhatsApp is a tough competitor with annual revenue of $15 million and 600 million users, Chen still has faith in BBM for better performance in the future.
“I have 91 million active users on BBM and I expect to make almost $100 million in revenue next year from zero,” says Chen. The company has planned to introduce BBM Protected especially for the enterprise customers, and Chen believes this will drive up the revenue for the company. BlackBerry holds more than 44000 patents under the new BlackBerry Technology Solutions, which includes QNX. The patents are aimed towards the future and a lot more about licensing, says Chen.
Chen is also working out its kinks internally. The company wants to better prioritize decision making and is working on the same. The CEO believes that BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has performed better in terms of the turnaround, and is ahead of the schedule.
