Morgan Stanley delays multimillion contract with Blackberry over doomed future

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ANI London
Last Updated : Aug 31 2013 | 11:00 AM IST

Investment bank Morgan Stanley is reportedly delaying its multimillion pound contract with mobile manufacturer Blackberry for upgrading its latest line of smartphone over concerns about the company's sinking future.

Blackberry's new range of smartphones, the touchscreen Z10, haven't been able to strike a chord with consumers and the company has all its hopes laid on the series to somehow revive the market share.

The delay of the contract comes amidst the company's recently announced idea of selling itself as part of a decision to 'explore strategic options', Guardian reports.

According to the report, Morgan Stanley, with 55,600 staff, is sticking with its existing handsets using the older BB7 software from 2011 and has not made any strategic plans to upgrade despite their age.

However, the growing concerns about Blackberry hitting cash crunch or carriers will decline to sell its phones, along with growing downward pressure on the price it can charge for its services, has led some businesses to hold off from sizable purchases.

Douglas Pollitt, who runs the independent brokerage firm Pollitt and Co. said that tech is a confidence game and if there is no confidence in the company, the company won't sell gear.

Blackberry Chief executive Thorsten Heins had forecasted in June that the company would make an operating loss in the quarter, following on from a net loss of 80million dollars last time on sales of 3.1billion dollars.

Morgan Stanley denied commenting on the matter, the report added.

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First Published: Aug 31 2013 | 10:55 AM IST

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