BlackBerry will shift focus to mid-range smartphones

BlackBerry will shift focus back to mid-range smartphones after admitting that its recent attempt at a flagship Android device sold poorly due to the high price tag.

BlackBerry CEO John Chen told The National during an interview that the company plans to launch two mid-range Android handsets this year, one with BlackBerry's signature physical keyboard and one with just a touchscreen.

The news comes after BlackBerry announced it had sold just 600,000 devices during the three months ending in March despite launching its flagship BlackBerry Priv in November. The company has not provided the exact Priv sales figures.

Chen acknowledged that the Priv was too high-end a product, with enterprise customers baulking at its US$700 ($915) price tag. BBStore Australia sells the Priv contract-free at $1249.

He said a lot of enterprise customers have told the company they are interested in buying a BlackBerry but are more interested in devices in the US$400 range.

The poor first-quarter sales numbers have meanwhile renewed speculation that the company may consider exiting the smartphone market altogether, relying instead on its secure messaging and related software services.

Chen said the company is willing to pull out of the handset market if it can not achieve profitability with the segment, but noticed that the handset division has shown some signs of improvement last quarter.

BlackBerry's decision to bring out a smartphone powered by Android rather than its own operating system was itself considered by market watchers to be a sign that a withdrawal from the handset business is likely.

Image courtesy of Enrique Dans under CC