Why is blackberry failing

BlackBerry introduced Storm in , its first touchscreen phone to complete with iPhone and the like. This was the first time investors, analysts , and the media started to worry about the business prospects of BlackBerry. In Sept. By Nov. It reported 77 million users globally during the last quarter of , demonstrating its success in global expansion. Owing to these local losses versus global success, the stock displayed high volatility. The high volatility in the stock is attributed to several comeback attempts, corporate developments, associated recommendations by analysts, and competitor developments.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be a total failure, due to its high-price, low-feature, and low-performance. The next generation BlackBerry phones were announced in , but the eventual product, the BlackBerry 10, failed to catch on. Those plans yielded less than meaningful results. Another swing came in Jan. Hopes for a dramatic turnaround at Blackberry have been dashed repeatedly.

BlackBerry is an example of the big risks associated with the highly dynamic technology sector. None of the industry rankings, predictions, or recommendations seem to fit the BlackBerry stock play. Long-term investors have been burned, while only a few traders may have made money on the wide swings. Mobile Subscriber Market Share. Annual Reports. Accessed Sept. Smartphone Subscriber Market Share.

Top Stocks. They were defining devices in mobile technology. But there was still no BlackBerry that you could use as a phone. In order to make a phone call, you still needed a different mobile phone with a separate agreement. In , BlackBerry gave us the ability to use data and voice on the same device. The BlackBerry was born, complete with an earbud for making a call.

BlackBerry and came not long after that, the earbud was removed and allowed the user to make normal calls. Keep in mind that BlackBerry is still really only for enterprise use at this point. In the next few years, BlackBerry models showed up with color screens and RIM even created a new form factor. One geared towards the consumer market with a new keyboard system called SureType.

SureType combined two letters to a single key. This was the height of BlackBerry and also marked the beginning of its death spiral. Mobile devices were in a rapid stage of evolution.

Features were being added and removed on the whims of consumer taste. And RIM found a set of features that really met the needs of the emerging consumer mobile phone market at the time. Additionally, RIM had strong brand equity in the BlackBerry name, and people, both consumers, and businesses coveted its aspirational brand. But here lies the problem. In a changing market, stasis often means death. Things are only aspirational as long as people see them that way.

As BlackBerry failed, it saw itself only as a producer of mobile phones. It forgot to protect that high emotional ground with a brand that said why their mobile phones were important. Its success was due only to being first to market with a highly innovative product.

The launch of the Pearl, which allowed the brand to be enjoyed by everyone, was really the last innovation for BlackBerry in mobile devices. From that point on, BlackBerry played defense. And it rested too heavily on what it thought was its impenetrable enterprise business. BlackBerry thought it was untouchable. Nokia and the Palm Treo brought us the first color displays before the Pearl and firms like Motorola and LG began to change the mobile phone into a stylish accessory.

The defensive form of war is not a simple shield, but a shield made up of well-directed blows. Business is very much like warfare. One of the most glaring examples is its lack of innovation with the touch screen. Many users were happy to stick with their keyboards in the early s, which is one reason why the BlackBerry Storm was a disaster. And as we can see today, many smartphones have cameras that could rival their DSLR and mirrorless counterparts.

On the other hand, the other smartphone giants looked at the everyday consumer for the future of the smartphone. Their devices were about convenience and accessibility, two things which—funnily enough—people working for big companies also desire with their devices. As time progressed, consumer-oriented phones became more popular in business environments too. They could also do everything BlackBerry devices could, and then some more. So, in the end, the only way was down. You could get pretty much anything you need on smartphones with these systems and still can.

And while BlackBerry eventually opened up its app store to more popular apps, the damage was already done. BlackBerry users disliked using their app store for several reasons. Prev Next. Leave a comment.

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