BlackBerry Sells 6M Smartphones, Reports $98M Profit

BlackBerry announces its better-than-expected fiscal fourth quarter results. The Canadian handset maker has sold 6 million smartphones, and one million of those devices consist of the company's flagship Z10 handsets. The one million Z10 handsets do not indicate the number of units bought by consumers as it pertains to those that were sold or shipped to carriers.

BlackBerry Z10 has recently launched in the United States, so the reported figure for this fourth quarter, a period of three months which ended on March 2, 2013, does not include sales from the U.S. launch.

Moreover, 370,000 units of PlayBook tablets have been reported sold and are still selling due to discounting.

Fiscal fourth quarter profits reported by BlackBerry reach $98 million, which is equivalent to 19 cents per share. Compare this with the loss amounting to $125 million in 2012.

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins told CNET that the true measure of the company's success or failure would become evident after a span of two quarters.

With its recent launch in the United States, all eyes are on Z10's consumer reception. BlackBerry has endured a decline in its stock when the U.S. launch was perceived to have been less phenomenal than what was expected. But the earnings have more than exceeded expectations. According to Thomson Reuters, analysts predicted, on average, a loss of 29 cents per share on revenue amounting to $2.85 billion.

Mark Sue, an analyst at RBC Capital, explained the spectacular difference between Wall Street's projection for a loss and BlackBerry's reported profit as the result of strong gross margins. BlackBerry Z10 is considered a more profitable mobile device compared to older models. Also, BlackBerry said that it had started its cost-savings program a quarter early, thus hastening the return to profitability.

"To say it was a challenging environment to deliver strong results could be the understatement of the year," BlackBerry CEO Heins said in a conference call with CNET. "But getting back to a profitable quarter is just the starting line, not the finish line." Heins also shared the news that 55 percent of BlackBerry Z10's customers came from a competitor's platform.

However, BlackBerry is losing its hold on its subscriber base. The Canada-based manufacturer lost 3 million subscribers, which leaves it with a total subscriber base of 76 million. Heins said that the subscriber losses came from the "prepaid" segment and that the corporate demand for BlackBerry products still appeared strong.

The Z10 is just one of the pieces of the unraveling journey of the company formerly known as Research In Motion. There's still the BlackBerry Q10, a keyboard-enabled mobile device. BlackBerry has also introduced its Secure Workspace for Android and iOS, which is marketed as an update to the BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10. Secure WorkSpace allows users to securely handle business-related and personal data on smartphones and tablets. And meanwhile, there's Lenovo hinting on a possible BlackBerry takeover. (KOM) Link. Link.