Against all odds, the CEO of the company is projecting profits for the company by next year.
The uniquely shaped square BlackBerry Passport smartphone, which went on sale on Wednesday had already sold out in several places by Thursday and Friday, marking a striking new interest in the mobile devices produced by that brand, when compared to previous launches.
The store on the company’s own website and on Amazon.com were both indicating that they were sold out.
Only a few hours after the BlackBerry Passport, with its querty keyboard, was originally launched on Wednesday, it had already sold out in several important locations where it was available for purchase. Moreover, the company has also announced that an additional 200,000 back orders are now waiting for their own devices to become available. This, according to John Chen, the CEO of the company, when he spoke in an earnings call.
The specific number of BlackBerry Passport smartphones that were sold online was not disclosed.
That said, the official company website at ShopBlackBerry.com had announced that it had already sold out of its smartphones within the span of the first six hours. Amazon.com was not far behind it, having sold out of its own stock within a period of 10 hours from the launch. The online orders for backordered devices had already reached 200,000 by early Friday.
The device comes with a premium price tag of $599, unlocked, which is steep in terms of a smartphone in general, but is a bargain when compared to other big name premium mobile devices such as those from Apple and Samsung.
Chen reported “That’s extremely good receptivity,” when discussing the sales of the smartphone. That said, it was not the only good news that the CEO had to report, as he also indicated that the company had experienced a second quarter that was “very solid”. That quarter saw an earnings loss of $11 million (the equivalent to 2 cents per share). However, when compared to the first quarter of the year, when the share was down by 11 cents, it is clear that the improvements are significant.
Following the release of the BlackBerry Passport, Chen has forecasted that by mid-year, next year, the company will have become profitable once more.
