BBM reaches 40 million downloads as BlackBerry faces massive losses
BBM for iOS and Android has reached 40 million downloads in 60 days, and that’s about the extent of the good news to emerge from BlackBerry’s latest fiscal report. The floundering company reported $4.4 billion in losses on revenue that has dropped by over 50 percent from the same period last year. The latest only digs a deeper hole for the once-proud BlackBerry after posting a loss of $1 billion for the second quarter of the fiscal year.
BlackBerry’s latest response? An increased partnership with Foxconn, which will see the Chinese production house sharing in the development and manufacturing of new BlackBerry devices as well as manage inventory. The arrangement allows BlackBerry to retain the name and rights to its product lineup while reducing its hand in the actual hardware portion of the business.
As might be expected, BlackBerry stock took a hit that was greater than anticipated following news of continued losses, but there seems to be some hope stemming from the Foxconn partnership. Will it be enough to save a company that can’t seem to get back on track? A deal with Foxconn is a smart move in some respects (ignoring the stigma of labor rights issues surrounding the company’s manufacturing plants). In lieu of BlackBerry deciding it would no longer seek partners in a deal to sell the company, it might have been their best option.
Between a deal with Foxconn and decent performance by BBM on third-party platforms, can BlackBerry make a comeback? What do you think?