BlackBerry Maker RIM Posts $125 Million Loss, Move To Business Focus

BlackBerry Maker RIM Posts $125 Million Loss, Move To Business Focus

The mobile phone maker has suffered as the popularity of competitors Apple iPhone and Android phones surge.

BlackBerry will also lose Jim Balsillie, its co-chief executive who announced his resignation, and David Yacht, chief technology officer.

Thorsten Heins, the recently appointed chief executive, said focusing on the business market could turn the company's prospects around.

"We plan to refocus on the enterprise business and capitalise on our leading position in this segment," he said.

"We believe that BlackBerry cannot succeed if we tried to be everybody's darling and all things to all people. Therefore, we plan to build on our strength."

Patrick Spence, senior vice president and managing director or global sales and regional marketing, defended the brand against criticism in a statement, saying: "Whilst we announced plans to re-focus our efforts on our core strengths, and on our enterprise customer base, we were very explicit that we will continue to build on our strengths to go after targeted consumer segments. We listed BBM, as well as the security and manageability of our platform, amongst our strengths."

BlackBerry shipped just 11.1 million phones in the fourth quarter, a 21 percent reduction in sales. The company also sold just 500,000 PlayBook tablets over the quater, compared to 3 million iPads selling in just 3 days after its recent launch.

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