BlackBerry bets its hardware future on new Android phone

Toronto

BLACKBERRY Ltd's new Android phone hitting the market this week could be the company's last attempt at making its devices profitable before ending production.

The Canadian company has unveiled several new phones in the two years since chief executive officer John Chen took over, but none has managed to stop hardware sales from falling. Mr Chen has repeatedly said he will exit the device business if he can't make it profitable.

The BlackBerry "Priv" - named for its emphasis on privacy - runs a full version of Google's Android operating system but features some of BlackBerry's highly respected security and productivity features. It comes preloaded with an application that tracks how much other applications on your phone are accessing your personal data and location. It also has BlackBerry's signature p…