黑莓现在已经成了一家软件公司

    忘了Passport手机吧。

    也忘了Classic、Leap和Z30手机吧。

    你甚至不用再去想那些名字古怪，由保时捷公司设计的限量版手机——P’9983和P’9982。

    加拿大滑铁卢“土生土长”的黑莓现在是一家软件公司而非手机公司。其2016财年第一季度的“致胜”法宝全部来自该公司在软件授权、企业客户和跨平台管理等领域取得的成功。

    而在外行人看来，这些都是软件业务。

    在上周二召开的财报电话会议上，黑莓CEO程守宗不断地将听众的注意力吸引到公司软件开发业务的进展上来——它有哪些合作伙伴、新客户，以及最重要的黑莓企业服务器业务（BES）的复兴。后者是黑莓手机的心脏。

    程守宗表示，公司“已和2600家企业客户签约”，这意味着该季度BES 12有了新的客户。他表示，所有企业客户中约40%为新客户；其他60%为通过EZ Pass项目转移到BES12的客户。EZ Pass是一个快速跟踪（并免费提供）公司最新操作系统升级的项目。

    另一场胜仗是：软件与授权许可协议的收入为1.37亿美元，同比增长150%。

    此外，程守宗将收购企业文件共享服务公司WatchDox作为公司取得的又一场胜利。该交易已于5月份完成。

    凭借跨平台移动管理解决方案，从竞争对手MobileIron手中抢走苏格兰皇家银行，也算一次胜利。

    所有成果都和软件有关。于程守宗而言，所有这些胜利“意义重大”。

    但大获成功的项目，恰恰不包含该公司的硬件业务。黑莓公司“确认”手机销量为110万台，平均售价240美元。第一季度的营收为6.58亿美元，其中硬件销售收入微弱领先其他业务，占40%。服务占38%，而软件和技术授权业务占21%。

    程守宗在开场白中这样总结手机业务再次实现盈利的方式：“本季度，公司采取了一系列关键措施。第一，我们通过一定程度的改组，减少了硬件投入。第二，我们将某些硬件资源转移到软件和物联网。”

    会议临近结束时，程守宗表示，他希望“每年减少约1亿美元至2亿美元的硬件投入，并将这些钱用于软件开发。”黑莓公司首席财务官詹姆斯•叶尔斯马上澄清，他预计实际数字应该在1亿美元左右。

    如果得不到相关的资金支持，硬件业务很难发展，此举或许会激怒黑莓的忠实支持者，但资源转移是有道理的。据互联网数据公司统计，黑莓目前在智能手机市场的份额非常糟糕。

    此外，程守宗还表示，在今年3月份世界移动大会上宣布的设备，需在今年晚些时候上市。令人失望的是，他并没有回应最近的传言：黑莓即将推出运行安卓设备，而不是黑莓OS移动操作系统的手机。

    虽然投入将减少，但程守宗承诺，公司本季度将通过新的营销活动，提高黑莓设备的知名度。然而，由于公司当前的重点是软件，因此预计其营销活动很难取得成功。

    黑莓曾经让全球智能手机制造商们艳羡不已，如今，手机业务对于黑莓显然已经无足轻重。而且对于黑莓来说，这样的局面或许更好。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    审校：任文科

    Forget the Passport.

    Forget the Classic, Leap, and Z30.

    You can even even ignore the strangely-named Porsche Design models—the P’9983 and P’9982.

    Blackberryof Waterloo is now a software company, not a phone company. And its “win” column for its fiscal first quarter 2016 is full of licensing, enterprise customer, and cross-platform management successes.

    That means, in layman’s terms, software.

    Speaking on the company’s earnings call on Tuesday, BlackBerry CEO John Chen repeatedly drew attention to growth around BlackBerry’s coding efforts—its partnerships, its new customers, and most of all, its revival of BlackBerry Enterprise Server, or BES, the beating heart of its classic mobile devices.

    Chen said BlackBerry “had 2,600 enterprise customer wins,” meaning new customers for BES 12 in the quarter. Roughly 40% of those were new customers, he said; while the other 60% came from those who’ve switched to BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) 12 through its EZ Pass program, which fast-tracked (and made free) upgrades to the company’s newest operating system.

    Another win: $137 million in revenue came from software and licensing agreements; up 150% from the same quarter last year.

    Chen chalked up BlackBerry’s acquisition of WatchDox, an enterprise file-sharing service, as another victory for the company. It closed a deal with the security firm in May.

    Stealing the Royal Bank of Scotland from competitor MobileIron, was yet another win, thanks to its cross-platform mobile management solution.

    All software related. All a “major win” to Chen.

    What’s not in the win column, however, is the company’s hardware business. The company “recognized” handset sales of 1.1 million units, with the average selling price (ASP) of $240. Hardware sales held a slim lead in revenue, accounting for 40% of the company’s $658 million quarterly revenue. Services accounted for 38%, while software and technology licensing reported 21% of revenue.

    Chen summarized his approach to making the handset business profitable again in his opening statements: “A few key actions were taken in the quarter. Number one, we have reduced our spending in hardware through some level of reorganization. Number two, we moved some hardware resources to our software and our [Internet of Things] effort.”

    Towards the end of the call, Chen stated he wants to move “about $100 to $200 million dollars worth a year, in spending in hardware and divert that into software.” BlackBerry CFO James Yersh was quick to make it clear he expected the actual number to be on the lower end of the spectrum.

    It’s hard to grow a hardware business without investing money in said business, and while it’s likely to ruffle feathers of BlackBerry’s loyalist, the diversion of resources makes sense. According to the International Data Corporation, BlackBerry’s current smartphone market share is abysmal.

    Additionally, he said the devices announced at Mobile World Congress in March are still on track for release later this year. Disappointingly, no mention was made regarding the possibility of said devices running Android instead of BlackBerry’s own mobile OS as has been rumored.

    Despite the cuts, Chen promised a new effort to bring more awareness to BlackBerry’s devices this quarter through a new marketing campaign. But, with the company’s emphasis now on software, it’s hard to envision the campaign being successful.

    Once the envy of smartphone manufacturers across the globe, it’s clear BlackBerry’s handset business is now an afterthought. And it may be better for it.