Fortunately for BlackBerry fans, however, these early signs show that the Priv, the company’s first Android smartphone, is selling a lot better compared to previous BlackBerry smartphones.
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It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the surge in BlackBerry’s stock is because of Wal-Mart indicating that it ran out of stock of the Priv. The device is also showing as not available on Best Buy’s site. The phone retails for $699, but is “out of stock”, according to Walmart’s website.
The BlackBerry Priv, unveiled last month, is sold in the USA through AT&T Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and the companys own website.
Amid the competitive environment of the smartphone industry, BlackBerry struggled from technical failure. Over the last decade, the meteoric demand by consumers for iPhones and Android devices brought on losses for Blackberry – a company that was once considered an eminent smartphone maker in 1990s and early 2000s.
WMT stock is up 0.8% Thursday. Thus, BlackBerry Chief Executive Officer John Chen has repeatedly threatened to quit if the device business fails to be profitable and needs to sell 5 million phones a year for the unit to break even. Chen has also said the company is already eyeing more acquisitions in software technology in a bid to reach $500 million in software revenue.
The company reports earnings on December 18.
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If BlackBerry was hoping that changing over from BlackBerry OS to Android will help change its fortunes, it may well have been correct in its assessment. Among the Blackberry Priv’s added security features is DTEK, which tracks the apps and services accessing your personal information and gives you reports on your smartphone’s security. The company, facing steadily eroding market share over the past several years, resorted to the world’s most popular mobile operating platform as a last-ditch attempt to resurrect itself from the ashes of a company that once used to be the largest smartphone brand in the world.
