BlackBerry could have a phablet on the way, says CEO John Chen

BlackBerry CEO John Chen says that the phablet market is still growing, which is why BlackBerry could be planning on doing something in that area. According to Chen, it is still early days in that market. As for the possibility of a new BlackBerry slab, the executive sounded like his predecessor when he said that the tablet market is dead.

The CEO was speaking with the Jakarta Post, which explains his comments about the BlackBerry Z3, which recently launched in Indonesia after being known as the BlackBerry Jakarta. Chen says that he wants to sell 1 million units of the phone, which was the first delivered by Foxconn under a five year contract with the contract manufacturer. Foxconn designs, manufacturers and stores the device, while BlackBerry adds its software.


Chen was asked how he competes in Indonesia against iOS and Android. He responded by saying that the latter two operating systems are strong with consumers, while BlackBerry's strength is in the enterprise. But that doesn't mean that the BlackBerry name doesn't count for anything on the consumer side of things. "We do compete in the consumer space, and the product we launched [the Z3] is a very competitive product, especially since our brand is really big here in Indonesia," said Chen.

source: JakartaPost via PCMag