Blackberry revival hopes boosted by revenue rise

Blackberry's Priv smartphone runs on the Android platform

Blackberry has reported revenues of $548m for the three months to November - 12% higher than the previous quarter.

It was the struggling smartphone maker's first quarter-on-quarter increase for more than two years.

The better-than-expected results give the Canadian company some hope that its turnaround plan is working.

Revenue was 31% lower than for the same period last year, but losses narrowed to $89m compared with a $148m deficit a year ago.

Chief executive John Chen said he was pleased with progress, as growth in enterprise software gained momentum and revenue rose across its "areas of focus".

"Blackberry has a solid financial foundation, and we are executing well," he said.

Revenue from software - a figure being closely watched by analysts - more than doubled to $162m compared with the same quarter last year.

"Blackberry hit a software number that investors have been looking for them to hit for quite some time," said Morningstar analyst Brian Colello.

Total software revenue for the first three quarters reached about $362m - within striking range of the $500m forecast for the full financial year to February.

Last month, the company launched a new smartphone called the Priv, the first to run on the Android platform rather than its own operating system.

Blackberry chief executive John Chen is pleased with reception given to the PRIV smartphone

The majority of the world's smartphones run on the Google-developed Android.

Blackberry said the Priv combined Blackberry-level security with access to the 1.6 million apps in the Google Play app store.

Mr Chen said the device had been well received and would be available on more mobile networks globally next year.

Blackberry aims to sell five million of the handsets a year. The Priv costs about $700/£580 without a contract, putting it in line with the iPhone and premium Android devices.

The company sold 700,000 devices in the third quarter, down 100,000 from the previous quarter, but average selling prices rose from $240 to $315.

Shares in Blackberry closed up 10.4% in New York at $8.61, but the stock is still down more than a fifth this year.

The company is valued at just $4.1bn. In comparison Apple is worth more than $600bn.