Just as Thorsten Heins did before him, a new BlackBerry CEO has managed to talk his way into some nice gains for BlackBerry shares in recent months. After diving from the mid-$11 range last fall to a low of just $5.75 this past December, BlackBerry’s stock has climbed nearly 70% in the past three months as Chen continues to convince investors that BlackBerry has a real shot at a comeback. While the new BlackBerry Z3 and BlackBerry Q20 represent BlackBerry’s latest attempt to stop users from fleeing its platform, Chen said recently in an interview that his company is working on a new flagship phone that won’t just keep current BlackBerry users on board, it will steal new users away from Android and the iPhone.
“There are some moments that are really great,” Chen told CNET during a recent interview. “This is why there’s quite a bit of good chance for us to turn this thing around.”
According to the site, Chen fessed up about an exciting new flagship phone that BlackBerry is currently working on. He broadly teased more flagship phones in the works during a presentation at the Mobile World Congress trade show earlier this week, but Chen offered a bit more detail while speaking offstage.
“While the Q20 is the BlackBerry for its hardcore user base, the other flagship BlackBerry is intended to win over new customers,” CNET’s Roger Cheng wrote. “And there’s a strong chance it will launch this year, although he said he couldn’t guarantee it.”
Could it be the mysterious BlackBerry “Windermere” BGR exclusively revealed last week?
Some might recall that former BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said similar things about the BlackBerry Z30 when teasing its debut. A source speaking to BGR late last year said that the Z30 release was the slowest smartphone launch he could recall, however.
Will things be different this time around? Chen is doing a terrific job of convincing investors that is indeed the case.
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