Even as BlackBerry pivots to focus more on software and services, the company that gained fame for its smartphones is not giving up on its handset business, two senior executives said.

After recording a gross profit from its weakened handset operation and with roughly 50 million people globally still using its older-generation BlackBerry phones, there is potential in that business, the executives said.

Their remarks came during a frenetic week when BlackBerry reported a much smaller-than-expected loss and launched its square-screened BlackBerry Passport device.

Ron Louks, who heads BlackBerry's devices arm, said now that the company had pared losses, it could afford to take some risks and look at introducing at least one unconventional device each year.

"When it comes to design and being a little bit disruptive, we want that 'wow' factor," Louks said. "Not all of the products will have it, but we definitely have opportunities."

BlackBerry already has another unconventional device in the works, he said, adding that it has already received some positive feedback from carriers on it.

Passport reviews have been mixed. While the device has won praise for its battery life, wide screen and touch-sensitive keyboard, it has been criticized for, among other things, being difficult to operate with one hand.

Louks hinted that BlackBerry was working on a prototype that would be easier to use with a single hand.

"From a roadmap perspective, I'm pretty happy with where we are at for next year," he said in an interview, adding that he also expected demand for the Passport to exceed expectations.

BlackBerry said on Friday that it had already taken about 200,000 orders for the Passport, which went on sale Wednesday and sold out on Amazon.com Inc within six hours.

Speaking with the media after BlackBerry reported quarterly results on Friday, Chief Executive Officer John Chen said the company was likely to show new devices at theMobile World Congress in Barcelona in 2015.

"Given the receptivity for the Passport, I know that we'll have at least another generation of that device," said Chen. "I also carry very high hopes for the Classic, and I've spoken with a lot of people that want it ... so I think we will have another iteration on that, and there will be a new concept device too."

The BlackBerry Classic, which bears similarities to the company's once wildly popular Bold smartphone, will be available later this year.

BlackBerry's volatile stock was up 0.2 percent at $10.28 in late-morning Nasdaq trading.

JPMorgan, UBS, BMO and other brokerages raised their share-price targets for BlackBerry on Monday.

At the launch of the BlackBerry Passport on Monday, we got to spend a little time with the device and formed some early impressions about the device. The BlackBerry Passport will go on sale at retail from October 10 at Rs. 49,990, but at the launch event, the company announced that the handset will be available for pre-order on Amazon.in and at BlackBerry Exclusive Stores from Monday.

Buyers who pre-order the phone will also get a Rs. 5,000 gift voucher on Amazon.in which can be used towards any purchases, and also 5,000 frequent flyer miles from Jet Airways.

The price tag seems pretty steep, but it competes directly with the top flagships of other well established brands, a point BlackBerry India Managing Director Sunil Lalvani was quick to make at the launch event. But does this unusual phone from BlackBerry measure up to the competition?

The first thing that you'll notice when you see the BlackBerry Passport is its massive size. The phone has a 4.5-inch display, which sounds small, but due to the square display the display seems larger. At over 3.5 inches wide, the phone is also wider than much larger phones. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which has a 5.7-inch display, is 3.1-inches wide.

The square screen takes up most of the phone, but there's a short three-row keyboard below the display. The space bar has gone into the third row, and a few other keys like shift and symbol are missing altogether. If you're a long-time BlackBerry user, the new layout can feel jarring and counter-intuitive at first, but the company is positioning the keyboard as one of the biggest selling points of the Passport.

For one thing, it feels tough. The BlackBerry keyboards have always been comfortable to type on, and if you're holding the phone with both hands and thumb typing, then you can really type accurately at a very high speed without even looking at the screen. But the keyboard also doubles as a touchpad, which is where it gets really interesting. You can still flick up while writing a word to autocomplete, flick down to reveal numbers and special characters, or swipe to the left to delete one word at a time.

BlackBerry also claims that its shape allows the phone to display 60 characters in a single row, which is the same standard e-book readers also use. This sounds great, but in our very short hands-on, it didn't really seem to be a game-changer. Responsive design means that websites are quite easily read on other phones as well, including the BlackBerry Z10 which is this correspondent's primary phone. Our opinion may of course change when we have a chance to spend more time with the device.

The company also showed off some tweaks that the new BlackBerry OS 10.3 brings, including a dedicated home screen, and the Amazon Appstore pre-installed. There's also the BlackBerry Assistant, which can make appointments, read out your emails, search for contact details and more quite effectively.

The build quality of the phone is extremely good. It felt solid but not heavy and the keyboard felt great. The specifications of the phone are also in line with other top end devices as well. The screen is running at a resolution of 1440X1440 pixels, and there's a 13-megapixel camera that seemed to be pretty good though a little slow to focus. A 2.2GHz processor and 3GB of RAM, along with 32GB of storage round out a pretty good device, on paper.

The actual experience of using the phone was a little awkward thanks to its size, and even for a regular BlackBerry user, the new keyboard comes with a learning curve. The BlackBerry World app store also remains pretty limited, although the Amazon Appstore does widen the net. Not all Android apps (notably Google's like Maps) are available on Amazon though, which could still end up being a deal-breaker for many.

Add to that the reputation BlackBerry has gained for dropping prices in short order - something the company vehemently denied on Monday - and buying the Passport at its launch price may sound like a bad idea to many.

BlackBerry on Tuesday has started sending invites to an event in Dubai, London and Toronto on September 24, where it is expected to launch its unique square-shaped smartphone - the BlackBerry Passport.

While the company hasn't mentioned that it will unveil the anticipated BlackBerry Passport smartphone on September 24 event, it invites media persons to be among the first to "See the bigger picture."

Previously, BlackBerry's CEO John Chen had confirmed that the Passport will launch in September at an event in London. Last month, the Canadian manufacturer had evenstarted taking pre-registrations for the square-shaped Passport smartphone. The dedicated pre-registration page is still live, and interested consumers can sign-up to get more details about the smartphone.

Although the design of the BlackBerry Passport is already official, the manufacturer had only revealed it to feature a 4.5-inch 1440x1440 pixel resolution display with a pixel density of 453ppi.

Other purported specifications of the device include a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974-AA) processor; an Adreno 330 GPU; 3GB of RAM; 32GB of inbuilt storage, expandable storage via microSD card (up to 64GB); a 13-megapixel rear camera with BSI sensor; a 2-megapixel front camera, and a 3450mAh battery.

The BlackBerry Passport is said to measure 128x90.3x9.3mm, and weigh 194.4 grams. The smartphone is likely to support Nano-SIM while supporting Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Micro-USB, NFC, GPS, Glonass, GPRS/ EDGE, 3G, and 4G LTE connectivity options.

The anticipated device was featured in a review by Czech website Mobilenet.cz. Apart from revealing the specifications in detail, the alleged BlackBerry Passport review mentions the smartphone will arrive in Europe in October at a price of CZK 16,000 (roughly Rs. 45,800)

BlackBerry on Tuesday has started sending invites to an event in Dubai, London and Toronto on September 24, where it is expected to launch its unique square-shaped smartphone - the BlackBerry Passport.

While the company hasn't mentioned that it will unveil the anticipated BlackBerry Passport smartphone on September 24 event, it invites media persons to be among the first to "See the bigger picture."

Previously, BlackBerry's CEO John Chen had confirmed that the Passport will launch in September at an event in London. Last month, the Canadian manufacturer had evenstarted taking pre-registrations for the square-shaped Passport smartphone. The dedicated pre-registration page is still live, and interested consumers can sign-up to get more details about the smartphone.

Although the design of the BlackBerry Passport is already official, the manufacturer had only revealed it to feature a 4.5-inch 1440x1440 pixel resolution display with a pixel density of 453ppi.

Other purported specifications of the device include a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974-AA) processor; an Adreno 330 GPU; 3GB of RAM; 32GB of inbuilt storage, expandable storage via microSD card (up to 64GB); a 13-megapixel rear camera with BSI sensor; a 2-megapixel front camera, and a 3450mAh battery.

The BlackBerry Passport is said to measure 128x90.3x9.3mm, and weigh 194.4 grams. The smartphone is likely to support Nano-SIM while supporting Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Micro-USB, NFC, GPS, Glonass, GPRS/ EDGE, 3G, and 4G LTE connectivity options.

The anticipated device was featured in a review by Czech website Mobilenet.cz. Apart from revealing the specifications in detail, the alleged BlackBerry Passport review mentions the smartphone will arrive in Europe in October at a price of CZK 16,000 (roughly Rs. 45,800)