BlackBerry CEO John Chen's software gamble paying off

It seems as if BlackBerry chief John Chen’s software gamble is paying off. The company, which has made its software focus quite clear now, announced revenue from its software business soaring 153 percent year-over-year to $137 million in the first quarter of FY 2016, ended May 30, 2015. The company’s quarterly revenue was $658 million in the period, slightly lower than the last quarter. [caption id=“attachment_1178947” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Reuters[/caption] The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 40 percent for hardware, 38 percent for services and 21 percent for software and technology licensing. BlackBerry said it had 2,600 enterprise customer wins in the quarter. Approximately 45 percent of the licenses associated with these deals are cross-platform. During the first quarter, the company recognised hardware revenue on approximately 1.1 million BlackBerry smartphones with an ASP of $240. In Q1, BlackBerry completed its acquisition of WatchDox, a provider of secure enterprise file-sync-and-share solutions that allows users to protect, share and work with their files on Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and PCs. The company has bought three security-focused software companies since July to help reduce its dependence on shrinking smartphone sales. In addition to BlackBerry’s existing partnership with Foxconn, the company also entered into joint development and manufacturing agreements with Wistron Corporation and Compal Electronics. “I am pleased with the strong performance of our software and technology business. This is key to BlackBerry’s future growth,” said Executive Chairman and CEO John Chen. “Our financials reflect increased investments to sales and customer support for our software business. In addition, we are taking steps to make the handset business profitable. We believe these actions are prudent and necessary to grow the business and we believe the remaining milestones in our strategic plan are achievable.”