“We will have BlackBerry devices on an ongoing basis,” says BlackBerry CEO John Chen. “I always wanted to ensure we keep having the iconic devices. I just need to find a way to be efficient to make money. I think we found the model.”
BlackBerry reported a net loss of $372 million and stated it will outsource the manufacturing of its smartphones to a third party. The company accumulated smartphone sales of 461,000 with average selling price of $296 (USD).
During the quarterly conference call, BlackBerry’s CFO said the handset division had about $35 million in operating expenses in Q2 and the savings from outsourcing handset development will be “reasonable.”
Unfortunately, with the saving comes a human cost.
In an interview with BNN, Chen was asked the question of job cuts, noting, “if there is any, it will be very limited. People within the logistics and repair areas that might be affected but it’s not going to be a big sum. The engineers we need.”
Update: According to CNBC, Chen says “fewer than 100 jobs will be cut” in its hardware division.
[source] BNN [/source]
