The ailing Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry has finally admitted defeat: after years of struggling to turn around its phone business, the company said today it’ll stop designing its own smartphones and pivot focus on software. Any future hardware efforts will rely on partners as the company ceases internal development of smartphones, Recode reports.
BlackBerry CEO John Chen said in a statement:
The company plans to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to partners. This allows us to reduce capital requirements and enhance return on invested capital.
He added that BlackBerry would exit the phone business if it could not make it profitable. The ailing company recently released a rebadged Alcatel phone, the DTEK50, and has been offering up pieces of its phone software for use on Android devices.
BlackBerry today reported a net loss of $372 million on revenue of $334 million, essentially breaking even. During the second quarter, the company more than doubled its software revenue year over year. BlackBerry expects 30 percent revenue growth in its software and services business for the fiscal year.
Source: Recode