Blackberry close to safety

According to BlackBerry's newest earnings report,
it looks as if CEO Jon Chen's plan to transform the
company into a software-and-services company might
actually be working. The company posted a quarterly
net loss of $207 million, pocket change compared to
the $950 million that the other guy lost in the same
period the year before. The reason for the healthier
spreadsheet is thanks to growth in the company's
services arm, which managed to sell 3.4 million
licenses of its BlackBerry Enterprise Service in three
months - nearly three times the amount sold during
the previous three months.
BlackBerry's quiet revolution comes at the expense of
its smartphone business, however, where sales dipped
down to 2.1 million for the quarter, down from 2.6
million in June . The way the business is split now, it's
a near 50-50 split between devices and services,
although we imagine that balance to tip in favor of the
latter over time. That is, unless the company's new
hip-to-be-square Passport phone rejuvenates
BlackBerry's standing with the business community.
There's even good news to be found in the corporate
piggy-bank, since the cash and investment balance
increased, albeit only by $11 million. Still, given that
investors were expecting BlackBerry to post a loss-
per-share of $0.16 , the fact that the actual figure was
$0.02 shows that some (small) celebration is in order.
It's also a sign that the company is still on course to
actually start making money at some point next year.
SOURCE: BlackBerry (MarketWatch)