Canada’s once-dominant smartphone maker has confirmed it has suffered one of the worst financial quarters in its history.

Blackberry says it lost $965-million US in the three-month period. Its new smartphones failed to generate sales. Part of the loss is due to Blackberry’s decision to only count sales of certain Blackberry 10 phones once they were purchased by customers. Previously the company had counted revenue after phones were shipped to stores.

Revenue plunged 49 per cent in the three-month period to US$1.6 billion.

The results were in line with a warning issued last week by BlackBerry, but far worse than analysts had expected.

CEO Thorsten Heins acknowledge the results were “disappointing.” But he says Blackberry remains financially strong, with $2.6-billion in cash and no debt.

The results come at the end of a tumultuous week that began with Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial announcing its intention to buy Blackberry.