In a conference call to announce quarterly earnings, BlackBerry confirmed rumors that it plans to release a new smartphone called the Priv that will feature a slide-out keyboard and will run the Android operating system. “It’s the answer for former BlackBerry users who miss the physical keyboards but love their apps,” CEO John Chen said. He added that the Priv will be “the most secure Android device in the market.”
BlackBerry’s earnings were less than spectacular. The company sold 800,000 devices during the quarter?about a third as many as during the same quarter last year. It posted a profit of $51 million thanks to several one-time items that boosted earnings. Without those one-time items, the company would have lost $66 million.
