Every quarter is pivotal for BlackBerry right now, but the one covered by today's earnings report (Q1 2014 in fiscal terms, or March through May 2013 on our calendar) is especially important. It's the first full period of Z10 availability and also the first quarter to cover significant Q10 shipments to markets like Canada and the UK (although not the US). So far, the news looks mixed, but mostly glum: revenues are up to $3.1 billion, compared to $2.8 billion generated in the same quarter last year, which was when RIM (as it was called back then) announced significant job cuts and an equally major delay to its next-gen BB10 operating system and hardware range. However, none of that cash was retained as profit, despite all the cost-cutting measures. In fact, BlackBerry managed to lose $84 million, reversing the positive shift seen last quarter when the company kept a hold of $94 million as profit. Worryingly, the press release provides no breakdown of the crucial BB10 device shipments, versus older devices. There's just a quote from Thorsten Heins saying "we are still in the early stages of this launch," which doesn't bode well -- although an imminent earnings call should provide further information.

Update: Execs on the earnings call refused to break down Z10 and Q10 shipments specifically, but did say that 40 percent of the 6.8 million reported shipments were BB 10 devices -- which adds up to a disappointing 2.7 million next-gen units.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Blackberry

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Via: Crackberry