BlackBerry will try to do a complete turnaround and try to make a comeback in the smartphone industry-and it plans to do that by not launching too many new devices.
BlackBerry CEO John Chen was given a huge task to revamp the struggling company after failing to capture the touchscreen market in November 2013.
One year after his arrival in BlackBerry, the company has pushed efforts to gain its hold back: selling assets including real estate in its hometown of Waterloo, Ontario and expanded app offerings and buying small companies.
"Once we turn this company to profitability again, I will do everything I can to never lose money ever again," Chen told Reuters in an interview this week.
"That is definitely something I am very focused on doing," Chen added.
The 59-year old executive had humble beginnings-he started at Sybase, a struggling database software firm that Chen rescued and sold later to SAP for $5.8 billion back in 2010.
"If you look at my track record at Sybase, I think we made money for some 60 quarters in a row, even when the dotcom bubble blew up we were profitable. I like that philosophy," said Chen, who feels optimistic about the future of BlackBerry.
"We will survive as a company and now I am rather confident," he said.
"We're managing the supply chain, we are managing inventories, we are managing cash, and we have expenses now at a number that is very manageable. BlackBerry has survived; now we have to start looking at growth," he added.
Prem Watsa, major shareholder of BlackBerry said that Chen "came in and very quickly stabilized it and laid out a roadmap to breakeven," noting that Chen came at a time when BlackBerry was losing more than $1 billion.
Meanwhile, after failing to capture the touchscreen market, BlackBerry returns to its roots and launch the BlackBerry Classic phone.
"BlackBerry Classic reflects that. It is classic BlackBerry-complete with a top row of navigation keys and a trackpad. It's the device that has always felt right in your hands and always felt right in your busy day," Chen wrote.
BlackBerry will also launch its latest mobile device management platform that will allow companies to securely manage devices not just running on BlackBerry's OS, but also Android, Windows and Apple's iOS.
