If the Android OS was as secure as the BlackBerry OS, then BlackBerry just might build an Android-based handset, stated BlackBerry CEO John Chen fresh off an earnings call.
After sharing BlackBerry's first quarter 2016 earnings, Chen headed over to CNBC to discuss the state of the company. During that interview, Chen was asked if BlackBerry was mulling the development of an Android smartphone.
Chen acknowledged that the Android report came up during the earnings call, but he provided little information to CNBC. He did, however, say that he's open to using the Android OS, but the phone has to be secure, he said.
"We only build secure phones and BlackBerry is the most secure phone," said Chen. "So if I could find a way to secure the Android phone, I would also build that."
Later in the interview, Chen was asked to make an honest assessment of BlackBerry's phone business. Chen has been leading the company's pivot away from hardware toward software and services.
The BlackBerry CEO declared that he's "big on phones," but not "emotional" about them. BlackBerry is a business, he stated.
"We think we can make money on phones," said Chen, later adding: "We have a couple of new phones coming out towards the end of this calendar year and we'll see. We're bullish on them."
While it wasn't a strong quarter for BlackBerry, Q1 of its 2016 fiscal year had several bright spots and Chen's fingerprints all over it.
At $658 million, BlackBerry's Q1 revenues came in about three percent under expectations and its loss. BlackBerry's software sales have now swelled to about 20 percent of the company's business and that made Chen happy, or at least relieved.
"Our financials reflect increased investments to sales and customer support for our software business," Chen said in a prepared statement [pdf]. "In addition,we are taking steps to make the handset business profitable. We believe these actions are prudent and necessary to grow the business and we believe the remaining milestones in our strategic plan are achievable."
