Blackberry reports higher-than-expected loss, to launch phones with Android

Wireless handheld devices and services company Blackberry on Friday said it will soon launch a slider phone named Priv on the Android platform as its smartphones' sales receded and it reported a loss of $66 million in the second quarter of 2015.

"Priv combines the best of BlackBerry security and productivity with the expansive mobile application ecosystem available on the Android platform," said BlackBerry chief executive John Chen in a statement.

The company reported $490 million revenue, which was 46 percent less from $916 million in the comparable period last year.

Although Blackberry's shares took a nearly four percent dip in the premarket trading session, the Ontario-based company said that it expects "modest" sequential revenue growth in the remaining two quarters of this fiscal and a return to profitability in the fourth quarter.

In the previous month, the company had agreed to buy rival mobile software maker Good Technology for $425 million with an aim to win new clients as it shifts its strategy to device management software for enterprise customers.