The BlackBerry has re-emerged as another strong player in the smartphone industry with the introduction of their first Android-powered handset dubbed the Priv. But are they strong enough to power on, despite the talk of possibly exiting the industry? BlackBerry CEO John Chen is optimistic on their development.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the executive was cautious about hitting their $500 million dollar sales target, but also remained positive about the progress of the company, saying he feels "good about where we are" from software to hardware to automotive.

Although the sales numbers of the BlackBerry Priv have been underwhelming to some analysts, the team will not be changing their strategy on the premium device any time soon.

"The entire November we were operating in four different countries and the response has been encouraging," Chen responded when asked if the company is planning a new strategy to bolster the sales. "We are planning on rolling out in 31 countries in the next three, two and a half months. So there is no strategy change there. In the handset business, I'm not really looking at volume, I'm looking at margin."

The BlackBerry Priv is a markedly high-end device with a hefty $700 price tag that might be deterring for the larger market seeking for an affordable smartphone. When asked if the company has any plans of designing a lower-end handset to tap more buyers, Chen revealed that the future handset developments would likely depend on the reception on the Priv.

"I guess in the next three months, four months, the results will tell us if this is a good strategy," he explained. "The strategy is to combine the best of BlackBerry with the best of Android. If that has been well received by the market, and it looks like there is a good chance of that, then yes. We will probably still focus very much on the high-end, probably more a little bit on the mid-range or so."

Chen added, "We'll probably have another phone like that coming out in ... fiscal year 2017, calendar year 2016."

While the Priv's numbers may seem underwhelming to some, the company's business has been doing better than expected due to the expanding software and services revenue. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the fiscal second quarter was disappointing, but BlackBerry turned things around in the third fiscal quarter with a software and services revenue that more than doubled to $162 million.