Blackberry CEO John Chen said in a Friday interview with Bloomberg TV that the company is eyeing more acquisitions in software technology as its smartphone sales continue to struggle.
According to Chen, the struggling device-maker’s efforts will be focused on a goal of reaching $500 million in software revenue. Within the last 20 months, Chen said Blackberry has made five acquisitions, including its recent deal with Good Technology and is hoping to complete more going forward.
“Devices are always an important part of our business,” Chen said. “But…we are generating a lot of business in the software world….If we don’t get a good hardware business going, we will more consider the software side.”
Though the company has been struggling to turn its handset sales figure around, most notably with the recent unveiling of its Android-based Priv smartphone, Chen has made it clear the company won’t cling to the failing segment if it can’t turn a profit soon. On Friday, though, Chen said the company is making an earnest effort with the Priv, investing “quite a bit” of marketing muscle to promote the device.
When asked Friday if a failure of Priv to meet expectations would result in Blackberry’s exit from the device space, Chen said “the market will tell us, I never rule anything out.”
So far, however, Chen said the company’s prospects of sustaining its hardware business “look good.”
Filed Under: Devices
