BlackBerry slipped back into the red in its fiscal 1Q14, recording an operating loss despite growing smartphone shipments and revenues quarter on quarter.
The mobile device maker recorded an operating loss of $64 million (€49 million) in the three months to June 1, compared to a profit of $94 million in its fiscal 4Q13.
BlackBerry blames the recent result on a $72 million hit on service revenues caused by restrictions on foreign currency in Venezuela, however its share price tumbled by its highest level since 2000, as markets reacted to the surprise loss and lower than expected smartphone shipments of 6.4 million, Bloomberg reports.
Thorsten Heins, president and chief executive of BlackBerry, says the focus for the rest of the financial year is on getting more devices to market running the vendor’s latest BB10 operating system. “We are still in the early stages of this launch, but already, the BlackBerry 10 platform and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 are proving themselves.”
However, the firm declined to provide any guidance on its financial performance for the final nine months of the year, noting that fierce competition in the smartphone market makes forecasting difficult.