BlackBerry warns of near-$1bn loss BlackBerry signalled its retreat from the consumer smartphone market, as the Canadian company announced 4,500 job cuts and an operating loss of almost $1bn for the second quarter. It is an admission from the Canadian company that its latest range of phones has failed to win over consumers in a market dominated by Apple and Samsung. Shares in BlackBerry closed down 17 per cent at $8.73 in New York, as investors digested the disappointing performance of the new Z10 devices. Thorsten Heins, appointed as chief executive last year to revive BlackBerry's fortunes, had bet that the new devices would pose a serious threat to Apple's iPhone and Samsung's range of Galaxy models. However, the majority of the 5.9m phones that BlackBerry sold in the second quarter were of its older model, as consumers shunned the Z10 that was launched with considerable fanfare in March. As a result, BlackBerry said it will take a charge of between $930m and $960m as it writes down the value of the Z10s that it has yet to sell. That will leave BlackBerry with an operating loss of as much as $995m for the second quarter, which runs to the end of August. Mr Heins insisted last night that "we are implementing the difficult, but necessary operational changes to address our position in a maturing and more competitive industry." The company did not disclose where the job cuts - amounting to 40 per cent of BlackBerry's staff - would come from. The radical surgery by BlackBerry is part of Mr Heins's effort to reduce operating expenses by 50 per cent by the start of its next financial year. James Moore, the Canadian industry ministry, said the scale of the cuts was a "cause for concern for our government." Following the tepid response of consumers to the Z10, BlackBerry said it would focus on the business users who a decade ago were snapping up its phones in such numbers that the devices were nicknamed crackberries. BlackBerry will cut the range of its devices from six to four, with two aimed at the higher end of the business market alongside two cheaper models. "Going forward, we plan to refocus our offering on our end-to-end solution of hardware, software and services for enterprises and the productive, professional end user," Mr Heins said. After three years of struggling to wrestle back share in the lucrative US market, BlackBerry said in August that it had hired banks to examine a possible sale of the company. It continued to evaluate strategic options, the company said yesterday. It will announce its second-quarter results on September 27.