BlackBerry has reported Q3 revenues of $1.2bn (£732m), a drop of 24 per cent from Q2 ($1.6bn) and down 56 per cent from Q3, 2012 ($2.7bn).

It reported net losses of $4.4bn, compared to a loss of $965m last quarter, and a profit of $9m in Q3, 2012.

Revenues
The EMEA region makes up the lions share of revenues, at 46 per cent; with North America making up 28.5 per cent, Asia Pacific 14.2 per cent and Latin America 11.3 per cent.

During the quarter, approximately 4.3m BlackBerry smartphones were sold through to end customers – 3.2m of which were BlackBerry 7 devices, suggesting that BB10 hasnt had the revitalising effect the company has been hoping for.

Its worth noting, though, that handset sales only make up 40 per cent of BlackBerry revenues. The majority, 53 per cent, comes from its services business, which included BBM – which launched on iOS and Android during the quarter, and has already amassed 40m users.

The company seems to be refocusing on this area of its business going forward, most notably with its five-year strategic partnership it has entered into with manafacturing firm Foxconn. Under the deal, Foxconn will jointly develop and manufacture certain BlackBerry devices, starting with a smartphone targeted at emerging markets, and specifically Indonesia, for release in early 2014.

Alex Spencer writes

Just last week on the site, Kirsty Styles named the fall and fall of BlackBerry as her biggest story of the year. I think this latest news proves her point.

For the past couple of years, BlackBerry has been promising a major turnaround of its fortunes, whether with the launch of BB10 or its recent restructuring and loan. But during that time, its revenues have been steadily declining, its losses growing ever bigger – and its now very difficult to see it ever bouncing back.

Even BlackBerry itself doesnt seem too optimistic about its future, stating in the outlook section of its results only that: “In Q4, the Company anticipates maintaining its strong cash position and further reducing operating expenses as it continues to implement its previously-announced cost reduction program”. It doesnt even bother to mention the buoyant effect Christmas usually has on device sales.

The one bright spot is its services division, which still seems healthy – presumably thanks to the reliable £5 monthly fee subscribers pay for BBM and BlackBerry email access.

Around a year ago, though, BlackBerry bet on the success of its BB10 handsets and got rid of these fees. With three quarters of handsets sold this quarter still running the BlackBerry 7 OS, that bet hasnt paid off.

But the launch of BBM on Android and iOS gives the company a potential new revenue source. Its yet to properly monetise these apps, but with a userbase of 60m after a couple of months, BlackBerry could finally have another success story on its hands.

Its something people have been saying for a while now, but BlackBerry might be best ditching its hardware business altogether and focusing on software while the BBM brand is still strong.