Despite shift to software, BlackBerry to launch 4 new phones

Blackberry's John Chen at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on March 3, 2015. (AP / Manu Fernandez)

BARCELONA, Spain -- BlackBerry will launch four new smartphones this year and a new package of cross-platform applications as it continues its "philosophical" shift to making software.

The struggling company unveiled its BlackBerry Leap phone at the Mobile World Congress wireless show in Barcelona on Tuesday. The "low-to-mid" market phone will go on sale in Europe in April. Three more phones will follow.

CEO John Chen says that since he took over a year and a half ago BlackBerry is now "committed to making software as a business. That statement carries a lot."

Blackberry will roll out "BlackBerry Experience," a set of three software packages focusing on security and communications for business and government customers over the next year.

Chen says BlackBerry is "stabilizing" financially, without presenting figures.