'BlackBerry has survived, now we look at growth,' says CEO John Chen

One year on from taking over smartphone firm, BlackBerry CEO John Chen believes the worst is over

BlackBerry CEO John Chen believes the worst is behind the Canadian smartphone firm and is concentrating on returning the company to profitability, even if it means focusing on producing fewer devices.

That's what he told Reuters in a recent interview, one year on from taking the role of CEO at the struggling smartphone company.

"Once we turn this company to profitability again, I will do everything I can to never lose money ever again," Chen said. "That is definitely something I am very focused on doing."

But Chen's comments come shortly after City Index Group CIO Mike Lear told Computing that the firm has seen a huge drop in demand for its BlackBerry app, with its market share down from 15 per cent to just 0.8 per cent.

Chen said he would repeat the success he'd had at Sybase, a struggling database software firm where he previously served as CEO. Chen took over when the company looked down and out before selling it to SAP for $5.8bn a decade later.

"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," Chen explained, before going on to describe how he believes the worst is now behind 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."

Chen said he believes the BlackBerry Passport, the firm's unconventionally designed square smartphone, has been a success for the company.

"I'm happy in the receptivity of the design. I'm happy that this product is a successful product, but we did not make that many of them, so it is in limited supply almost everywhere," he said.

BlackBerry hasn't yet announced its product line-up for 2015, but Chen hinted that consumer-focused devices will not feature in its plans.

"I'm not going to build a general purpose device, simply because it is a 5-inch touchscreen," he said, referring to the sheer number of lowcost smartphone handsets available on the market at the moment.

"The Chinese can build one for 75 bucks, I can't get enough parts together for 75 bucks," he added.

It isn't the first time that a BlackBerry executive has suggested that efforts to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung are misguided.

Speaking in London earlier this year, Markus Mueller, senior vice president regional managing director for Europe, admitted that "maybe consumer wasn't a battle we could've won".