BlackBerry last week posted an unexpected first quarter loss after disappointing sales of its new phones.
The company experienced a 20 percent fall in shares. The Waterloo, Ontario firm announced that the loss added up to US$84m in the first quarter which was ending in June a sum which they compared it with a loss of US$518m in the same period a year earlier.
Canadian Smartphone manufacturer’s Revenues reached US$3.1bn, up nine percent; however, analysts expected a seven cent per share profit instead of a 13 cents per share loss.
The results come after blackberry released its new Smartphone’s based on the new BlackBerry 10 platform, which was seen as its best hope at regaining traction after suffering staggering losses in market share in recent years.
The Canadian group confirmed that it had shipped a total of 6.8m Smartphone in the quarter, 13 percent more than in the previous quarter. The shipments included 2.7m new touch screen Z10s and Q10s (The Q10 model was released earlier this year).
“I can’t imagine anyone is happy with Blackberry’s performance except maybe Blackberry competitors,” said industry analyst Jeff Kagan, “Can Blackberry turn things around with their new Q10, the keyboard device that just launched? Hopefully yes, but to tell you the truth hopes are dimmed by this first quarter performance.”