Blackberry on Friday reported losses worth $4.4 billion for its third quarter ending in November, but shares rose 15 per cent in trading as investors cheered its exit from handset manufacturing.

The struggling Canadian smartphone pioneer had already posted losses totalling $965 million in the second quarter.

The five-year manufacturing deal with Foxconn will help the company avoid future write-downs on unsold handsets. In return Foxconn, the Taiwanese contract manufacturing giant which also makes devices for Apple and other leading companies, will get a share of the device sales price for managing inventory.

Intense competition from Apple’s iPhone and Android and Windows smartphones are the source of its woes, with many Blackberry customers switching the other brands.

Blackberry is aiming its next device, to be called the Jakarta, at emerging markets. It will be made in Foxconn factories in Indonesia and Mexico.

Worldwide revenues for Blackberry in the third quarter came in at $1.2 billion compared with $2.7 billion in the same period last year, as sales in the company’s focus markets of Asia shrunk by half.

“With the operational and organisational changes we have announced, Blackberry has established a clear roadmap that will allow it to target a return to improved financial performance in the coming year,” said the company’s Chief Executive Officer, John Chen.

“But we still have significant work ahead of us as we target improved financial performance next year,” he added.

Part of Blackberry’s stated strategy is to concentrate on corporate clients, particularly in fast-growing markets such as Indonesia and Mexico.

Having made a solid impact as smartphones first appeared on the market, Blackberry has seen its share of the market decline to less than 3 per cent since the 2007 advent of the iPhone.

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