BlackBerry today reported a net loss (GAAP) of $670 million or $1.28 per basic share for the first fiscal quarter 2017 that ended May 31, 2016 on revenues (GAAP) of $400 million. This is due to long lived asset impairment charge of $501 million, a $57 million goodwill impairment charge and $41 million inventory-related charge.
During the conference call, CEO John Chen said that BlackBerry sold roughly 500,000 units of smartphones with an average sales price of $290, which is less than 600,000 units sold in the previous quarter.
BlackBerry software and services revenue grew to $166 million, up 21% year-over-year driven in large part by the 526 enterprise customers that purchased one of the Good Secure EMM Suites in the quarter. “This is the highest in company history,” said BlackBerry Executive Chairman and CEO, John Chen, during an investor call.
BlackBerry won more than 10,000 enterprise customers and hit $527 million in software and sales revenue for the year, topping its target of $500 million and up 113% from FY15. Chen expects software revenue to grow 30% in FY17 over the prior year. BlackBerry signed 107 new partners, an increase of 10% of its global partner count.
The CEO confirmed back in April that the company will release two mid-range Android handsets this year, one with a physical keyboard and one with a full touchscreen. Even though he didn’t say anything about the devices during the conference call, later in an interview to Bloomberg he confirmed that the lower-priced device will be have a full touch screen. More details about the phones will be announced in July.