BlackBerry has revealed plans to introduce high-end smartphones specifically for keyboard fans within the next 18 months, according to a report by Reuters.
The decision was made in an attempt to win back corporate and government clients who have left the company for touch-screen smartphones.
Chief Executive John Chen confirmed in a recent interview that the company's engineers have finished designing at least three next-generation handsets that are currently being "kicked around right now," according to Reuters.
"The focus is going to be very keyboard centric," said Chen, according to the report.
Chen is a former Sybase CEO who took over the Canadian company just a little over four months ago.
Along with corporate and government clients, Chen wants the phone company to "zero in" and on its services arm, which secures devices on big client's internal networks, according to Reuters.
He feels this strategy is the best way to reverse market share losses to rivals like Samsung, Apple Inc, Samsung and other companies.
BlackBerry reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss this week.
"It is our plan to return to profitability at some point in fiscal 2016," said Chen, according to Reuters. "We need to generate cash and make money on a consistent basis, and it's got to come from our big installed base of enterprise and if we can do that, then we can branch out to do a lot of other stuff."
At last month's Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, BlackBerry debuted a new "classic" model with a keyboard that features the return of command keys like "Menu," "Send," "Back," and "End" buttons, along with a trackpad.
The device, which the company has called the Q20, will reach stores by the end of 2014, according to Reuters.
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