When John Chen took over as BlackBerry CEO a little over 20 months ago, the company was caught in a seemingly irreversible death spiral, hemorrhaging cash all over the place. Many analysts were predicting the company’s demise, and the company reportedly came close to selling itself to China’s Lenovo on more than one occassion

But then along came Chen with a radical plan to revamp the company as a provider of smartphones and services for the enterprise, and over the last year and half he’s managed to pull off a stunning turnaround. This Friday, Chen announced BlackBerry had posted a surprise profit of $0.04 per share, or $0.08 more than the consensus estimate of a $0.04 loss.

“Our focus this past year was on getting our financial house in order while creating a multi-year growth strategy and investing in our product portfolio,” Chen said on Friday in a prepared statement. “We now have a very good handle on our margins, and our product roadmaps have been well received.”

It’s not all good news though, with BlackBerry’s sales picture looking a little less rosy. Mobile device sales remain on the low side, with the firm recognizing revenue on just 1.3 million BlackBerry phone sales, with 1.6 million of those devices sold to customers. That’s unchanged from a year ago, when the firm also recognized revenue on 1.3 million BlackBerry phone sales, though at the time it said it had sold 3.4 million devices in total.

But of course, BlackBerry is moving on from being ‘just a mobile phone company’ anyway. While its smartphone business remains a focus, Chen is in the process of transforming BlackBerry into a provider of software and services too, and that could potentially be far more lucrative. At the same time, Chen is narrowly targeting big business customers rather than the consumer market.

“Our financial viability is no longer in question,” said Chen during BlackBerry’s earnings call, noting that he is halfway through his turnaround efforts.

Earlier this month, BlackBerry announced plans to bring some of its key offerings, including its security services and the BlackBerry Hub interface to the Android and iOS platforms. In addition, the company is also partnering with Google to support Android for Work, and is also collaborating with Samsung’s Knox security platform.

That doesn’t mean BlackBerry is totally giving up on smartphones though. At this month’s Mobile World Congress, it unveiled two new devices, including the touch-based BlackBerry Leap, and a so far unnamed device that features a curved edge with a slide-out keyboard.

photo credits: Sebastian Anthony via photopin cc