BlackBerry shares soar by 12% as software sales hit record

The transformation of BlackBerry from your bombed-out, loss-making smartphone maker to the new-look software firm is definetly working: the Canadian business has reported better-than-expected quarterly profits, boosting its shares by a lot more than 12%.

The company, that has been renowned for its tiny keyboard phones along with 2010 had greater than a third of america smartphone market, was almost driven to extinction through the iPhone. By 2016 it had a lot less than 1% of the US market. A large number of workers were let go as losses mounted additionally, the business eventually gave up making phone handsets and chose to reinvent itself as the software and services specialist selling to large corporations.

In its profits update on Thursday the business said sales at its high-margin software unit had hit accurate documentation along with the outlook for the remainder of 4 seasons was robust, boosting investor confidence to use turnaround strategy. Its shares have risen 50% in 2010.

The company posted net profit of $19m (14m), after having a diminished $372m during the past year.

“There are a couple of exciting growth opportunities,” said a Morningstar analyst, Ali Mogharabi, citing BlackBerry’s progress in establishing its technology into self-driving cars.

A while back the firm announced an offer using the car parts supplier Delphi Automotive on the software computer itself for self-driving cars.

John Chen, the BlackBerry leader, told analysts on Thursday which he expected the firm to earn $5 to $25 an automobile as it expands into advanced self-driving vehicles. It can be already a major provider of in-car information and entertainment software, which Chen said generates between $1.50 and $5 per vehicle.

Most of BlackBerry’s revenue now is produced by managing phone systems for other manufacturers, even so it expects the automobile industry and industrial applications to drive a car future growth.