It's time to rally, BlackBerry fans. Because the Canadian phone maker is ready to ditch its phone business if it doesn't start making some money soon.
At the Code/Mobile conference on Thursday, BlackBerry CEO John Chen said the company is giving it another year to become profitable, or it may exit the smartphone handset business altogether, according to Re/Code.
Chen previously said he's prepared to exit the handset business, but didn't provide any specifics about timing.
The announcement comes after BlackBerry late last month confirmed plans to launch a flagship Android-powered sliding smartphone later this year called the Priv. Now, Chen says the Priv may be BlackBerry's last handset if the "business case" doesn't justify another one.
As for what it would take to make the business profitable, Chen told The Verge the magic number is 5 million smartphones sold a year. That's quite ambitious, considering BlackBerry sold just 800,000 phones in the most recent quarter.
Now, the company is hinging the future of its handset business on the Priv, which runs Google's Android mobile OS and features a sliding screen that slopes down on either side. Chen last month said the device is "named after BlackBerry's heritage and core mission of protecting our customers' privacy."
"Priv combines the best of BlackBerry security and productivity with the expansive mobile application ecosystem available on the Android platform," he added. While BlackBerry remains mum about specific details, recent rumors tip an 18-megapixel camera, Chromecast support, and the messaging app Hub.