BlackBerry admits BB10 smartphone failures after £2.7bn Q3 loss

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AppId is over the quota

BlackBerry has admitted its BlackBerry 10 OS smartphones failures, after the company’s third quarter earnings announcement.

The Canadian smartphone manufacturer announced a third quarter net loss of $4.4 billion (£2.7 billion), including a huge write-down of assets.

Along with the huge net loss, the company’s revenues dropped by 56 per cent for the quarter from $2.73 million (£1.67 million) to $1.9 million (£1.16 million).

At its peak, BlackBerry was the top mobile phone manufacturer in the market, but has struggled to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung.

During the company’s third financial quarter, it only managed to sell 1.9 million phones, compared to 3.7 million the previous quarter.

The BlackBerry 10 OS and its new flagship smartphones, the BlackBerry Q10 and BlackBerry Z10, were meant to completely rejuvenate the brand and entice more customers to move from Android and iOS.

However, the BB10 smartphones were continually delayed and failed to lure enough customers to support the struggling manufacturer.

“The most immediate challenge for the company is how to transition the devices operations to a more profitable business model”, said new BlackBerry CEO, John Chen.

BlackBerry has now signed a five-year deal with Foxconn, the world’s larger electronics manufacturer. The two companies will develop and manufacture select new BlackBerry products, with Foxconn looking after the inventory.

“This partnership demonstrates BlackBerry’s commitment to the device market for the long-term and our determination to remain the innovation leader in secure end-to-end mobile solutions,” added Chen.

“Partnering with Foxconn allows BlackBerry to focus on what we do best – iconic design, world-class security, software development and enterprise mobility management – while simultaneously addressing fast-growing markets leveraging Foxconn’s scale and efficiently that will allow us to compete more effectively.”

Read more: Best smartphones of 2013

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HTC Mini One returns to the sale in the United Kingdom after the ban

HTC has won a stay order that will see the return of HTC Mini UK retailers following a short selling ban.

With the Mini One HTC that was pulled from British stores last Friday December 6 having considered unlawfully to invade a Nokia held the patent, an Appeal Court today ruled that the spinoff a HTC from 4.3 inches can return to sale.

"HTC is pleased that the Court of Appeals granted a stay order in respect of our products", announced an official spokesperson of HTC. "We immediately will resume shipment of all our devices in the United Kingdom, including the entire family HTC One."

They added: "Similarly, customers should feel confident in their ability to promote and sell all HTC devices. Although we intend to aggressively challenge the validity of decision Nokia patent EP 0 998024, we will continue to work with our suppliers of chips on workarounds to ensure minimum disruption to our business in the future. "

Last week it was speculated that the flagship HTC One you wish to be removed from sale in the United Kingdom have also been found to infringe Nokia patented technologies, although an appeal HTC prevented the rival Samsung Galaxy S4 disappearing from retailers.

In banning the HTC Mini One from the sale last week, a judge UK around a potentially imminent arrival to a new flagship HTC One follow-on.

"HTC soon will launch a new flagship phone that can't be assumed to violate and therefore be captured by the injunction," Judge Richard Arnold said during the trial of the original patent.

He added: "However, I accept that there is a period between now and February or March 2014 when HTC is vulnerable".

Next, read all the latest Samsung Galaxy S5 and voices

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Samsung Galaxy S5 to feature fingerprint scanner after all?

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AppId is over the quota

Despite recent reports to the contrary, it has been suggested that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S5 handset will play host to an integrated fingerprint scanner.

A move that would see the eagerly awaited Samsung Galaxy S5 echo Apple’s recent smartphone addition aboard the iPhone 5S, biometric sensor specialist Fingerprint Cards has told Reuters that it “expects” Samsung to launch “at least one, probably even two” fingerprint reading phones in 2014.

While it is widely expected that the flagship Samsung Galaxy S5 will become the first of these to host the privacy improving technology, the second looks set to be the stylus hosting Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

Although highlighting Samsung specifically, Johan Carlstrom, CEO of Fingerprint Cards told the news outlet that he expects multiple manufacturers to follow Apple’s suit and add fingerprint readers to their phones during the coming year.

"I think at least seven or eight will launch a phone with a touch sensor in 2014," the industry specialist said.

Having highlighted his beliefs that two new Samsung handset will run fingerprint sensors, he added: "Samsung is well known for having multiple suppliers for most components and our goal is to be selected as one of their sensor suppliers already in 2014."

With Apple the first to make the move to a fingerprint scanner hosting phone, Carlstrom has claimed that the Cupertino company will be followed by a fleet of copycat offerings.

"It was an industry breakthrough and certainly opens the flood gates and starts a new industry,” he said. "We are just at the beginning of the growth phase.”

Back in September, Samsung seemed to rubbish claims that it would bestow its next flagship phone with an integrated fingerprint scanner.

“We are not yet developing the technology,” an official Samsung spokesperson is reported to have told Korean news outlets when questioned on a fingerprint scanner hosting Samsung Galaxy S5.

Read More: iPhone 6 rumours

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