RBC Capital Markets says 700,000 BlackBerry Passport and Classic handsets were sold last quarter

Securities firm RBC Capital Markets cut in half its estimate of the number of BlackBerry Passport and BlackBerry Classic handsets that the manufacturer sold last quarter. The securities firm now believes that BlackBerry sold 700,000 units of both models in the latest three month period, down from the 1.4 million that it originally expected. RBC's analysts now see 3.2 million Passports and Classic handsets getting sold during fiscal 2016, down from a previous estimate of 6.5 million units. Just the other day, BlackBerry CEO John Chen said that he would get the company back into the black when it comes to handsets.

RBC remains bullish on BlackBerry, saying that the focus with the company should be on software, not hardware. In a note to clients, RBC said, "We’re slashing our estimates on BlackBerry hardware units, but it’s not the focus anyway." BlackBerry expects software revenue to hit $600 million for 2016 after raking in $67 million in the first quarter. That was a sequential gain of 20% from the fourth quarter.

RBC says that BlackBerry needs to work with Apple on increasing its security software offerings for iOS. The securities firm notes that BlackBerry is working with Samsung on a collaboration involving secure devices. It already is expected to release a secure tablet in partnership with Samsung and IBM.

The BlackBerry Passport offers up a 4.5-inch screen with a 1440 x 1440 resolution. The square looking device has a physical QWERTY keyboard that also shows virtual keys based on the context of what is being written. The BlackBerry Classic is a throw back to models like the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 with a physical QWERTY, trackpad and function keys.

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source: Valuewalk.com