BlackBerry Ltd reported a larger-than-expected slide in fourth-quarter revenue on Friday, hurt by soft sales of its new Priv smartphone and other devices, sending its shares more than 8 percent in early trading. The smartphone industry pioneer, which lost its early lead in the market to bigger rivals like Apple Inc, said revenue fell to $464 million in the quarter from $660 million a year earlier. Analysts had expected $563.2 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The decline in hardware revenue is certainly a negative," said Morningstar analyst Brian Colello, who added he was also disappointed with the company's forecast for software sales.