OTTAWA: BlackBerry said yesterday it fell deeper into the red in the past quarter as the struggling smartphone maker unveiled a new manufacturing partnership and a revamped organisational structure.
The Canadian firm reported a massive $4.4bn loss in its third quarter, four times higher than in the previous quarter, as smartphone sales slumped by half.
The company also unveiled a five-year partnership with Foxconn, described as “the world’s largest manufacturer of electronic products and components,” targeted at emerging countries.
Foxconn will jointly develop and manufacture a number of new devices and help manage inventory — an area where BlackBerry has struggled. Taiwan-based Foxconn is also a main supplier of one of BlackBerry’s chief rivals — Apple.
The new partnership, according to BlackBerry, demonstrates its long-term commitment to selling smartphones, after speculation that it might abandon device sales to focus software and services.
It has made repeated public pleas this past year for customers to stick with it amid forecasts of its pending demise. The Waterloo, Ontario, firm attributed the extent of its quarterly loss to a $4.6bn charge for an inventory write-down and other one-time costs.
AFP
