<p>Helped by "1-million sales" of its latest offering BB10 smartphones, BlackBerry made a surprise turnaround in the last quarter of fiscal ended March 2, 2013, posting a profit of USD 98 million and said its co-founder Mike Lazaridis has decided to step down.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The struggling smartphone maker in a release said it shipped "6 million smartphones, including approximately 1 million BlackBerry 10 units" during the fourth quarter.<br /><br />The Nasdaq-listed company had posted losses in the previous three quarters of the 2013 fiscal while for the same period last year, it had reported a loss of USD 125 million.<br /><br />BlackBerry also announced that Lazaridis has decided to retire as Vice-Chairman and Director of the company.<br /><br />"Lazaridis co-founded BlackBerry nearly 30 years ago and served as a co-CEO of the company until last year when he was elected Vice Chair of the Board. Lazaridis will step down from the BlackBerry Board effective May 1, 2013," it said.<br /><br />In the same month last year, BlackBerry's another co-founder Jim Balsillie had resigned as Director from its board.<br /><br />BlackBerry said it shipped about 370,000 PlayBook tablets during the fourth quarter.<br />"Revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 was approximately USD 2.7 billion, down 36 per cent from USD 4.2 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2012," it said.<br /><br />To revamp its flagging sales and take on rivals Apple and Samsung, the Waterloo, Ontario, based company in January this year launched its latest software BB10 offering more applications for users.<br /><br />It also re-christened itself as 'BlackBerry' from Research in Motion (RIM) in January.<br />BlackBerry has a subscriber base of around 76 million by the end of fourth quarter, the company said.<br /><br />For the 2013 fiscal, BlackBerry's revenues stood at USD 11.1 billion, down 40 per cent from USD 18.4 billion in fiscal 2012.<br /><br />The company, however, reported a net loss of USD 646 million for 2013 fiscal, against a net profit of USD 1.2 billion in the previous financial year.<br /><br />On the outlook, it said "The company will be increasing its marketing investment in the first quarter of fiscal 2014 in support of the global launch of BlackBerry 10."<br />This also includes the anticipated 50 per cent sequential increase in marketing spending, it added.<br /><br />"... the company believes it will approach break even financial results in the first quarter based on its lower cost base, more efficient supply chain, and improved hardware margins," it said.<br /><br />BlackBerry was founded in 1984 by Mike Lazaridis, Douglas Fregin and Jim Balsillie.<br />Earlier this month, Lazaridis and Fregin announced that they have come together again to establish Quantum Valley Investments, a USD 100 million private fund, to support breakthroughs in quantum information science.</p>
<p>Helped by "1-million sales" of its latest offering BB10 smartphones, BlackBerry made a surprise turnaround in the last quarter of fiscal ended March 2, 2013, posting a profit of USD 98 million and said its co-founder Mike Lazaridis has decided to step down.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The struggling smartphone maker in a release said it shipped "6 million smartphones, including approximately 1 million BlackBerry 10 units" during the fourth quarter.<br /><br />The Nasdaq-listed company had posted losses in the previous three quarters of the 2013 fiscal while for the same period last year, it had reported a loss of USD 125 million.<br /><br />BlackBerry also announced that Lazaridis has decided to retire as Vice-Chairman and Director of the company.<br /><br />"Lazaridis co-founded BlackBerry nearly 30 years ago and served as a co-CEO of the company until last year when he was elected Vice Chair of the Board. Lazaridis will step down from the BlackBerry Board effective May 1, 2013," it said.<br /><br />In the same month last year, BlackBerry's another co-founder Jim Balsillie had resigned as Director from its board.<br /><br />BlackBerry said it shipped about 370,000 PlayBook tablets during the fourth quarter.<br />"Revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 was approximately USD 2.7 billion, down 36 per cent from USD 4.2 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2012," it said.<br /><br />To revamp its flagging sales and take on rivals Apple and Samsung, the Waterloo, Ontario, based company in January this year launched its latest software BB10 offering more applications for users.<br /><br />It also re-christened itself as 'BlackBerry' from Research in Motion (RIM) in January.<br />BlackBerry has a subscriber base of around 76 million by the end of fourth quarter, the company said.<br /><br />For the 2013 fiscal, BlackBerry's revenues stood at USD 11.1 billion, down 40 per cent from USD 18.4 billion in fiscal 2012.<br /><br />The company, however, reported a net loss of USD 646 million for 2013 fiscal, against a net profit of USD 1.2 billion in the previous financial year.<br /><br />On the outlook, it said "The company will be increasing its marketing investment in the first quarter of fiscal 2014 in support of the global launch of BlackBerry 10."<br />This also includes the anticipated 50 per cent sequential increase in marketing spending, it added.<br /><br />"... the company believes it will approach break even financial results in the first quarter based on its lower cost base, more efficient supply chain, and improved hardware margins," it said.<br /><br />BlackBerry was founded in 1984 by Mike Lazaridis, Douglas Fregin and Jim Balsillie.<br />Earlier this month, Lazaridis and Fregin announced that they have come together again to establish Quantum Valley Investments, a USD 100 million private fund, to support breakthroughs in quantum information science.</p>