Struggling smartphone maker Blackberry reported weak first-quarter sales on Friday despite introduction of the Z10, a new model deemed crucial for the company’s turnaround.

The Canadian-based smartphone pioneer said it shipped 6.8 million phones in the quarter, down 1 million from a year earlier, sending its shares down 29 per cent on Friday’s trading.

Revenue was up 9 per cent to 3.1 billion dollars, helping Blackberry cut its losses to 84 million dollars from 510 million dollars a year ago.

Blackberry launched two all-new smartphones this year, the touchscreen Z10 device, followed by the Q10, with a mini keyboard favoured by many Blackberry users.

Chief executive Thorsten Heins said those figures showed the company was on the right track, and that the road to recovery was a marathon not a sprint.

“We are still in the early stages of this launch, but already the BlackBerry 10 platform and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 are proving themselves to customers to be very secure, flexible and dynamic mobile computing solutions,” Heins said.

Hit by the success of phones running rival operating systems from Apple and Samsung, Blackberry still has a loyal customer base among business users and in developing countries.

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