Chen said that he expected the company's growing software side to boost profits in the future, and sales would not dip below $500 million.
Blackberry Chief Executive Officer John Chen said revenue is plummeting as the company changes directions — but don’t worry, he has a plan.
The good news is that Chen says the dip is near the bottom as the company completes its turnaround, which includes selling more to professional customers, with sales sliding a whopping 32 percent to $660 million compared to a year earlier, according to a Bloomberg report.
Just three years ago, BlackBerry boated revenue of more than $5 billion.
Despite the fall, sales won’t decline to as low as $500 million, Chen assured gathered media at BlackBerry headquarters in Ontario, Canada. He said his priority was to stabilize the revenue.
Once the dominant force in the smartphone market, BlackBerry’s global market share is now less than 1 percent.
However, the dip in revenues has a purpose: BlackBerry is trying to change its focus and look toward software revenue, which it hopes to increase to $500 million by March 2016, and the company purchased anti-eavesdropping technology maker Secusmart to attract security-hungry customers.
Chen said revenue will show signs of recovery due to the growth in software as more carriers sign on and distribute BlackBerry devices and software, according to the report.
BlackBerry is working hard to get device sales back on stable footing as it works on the profitable software side. It unveiled new phone models and expects to release more this year.
Shares are actually up for the company, rising 1.7 percent to $9.46 at closing, although they are down 14 percent on the year.
