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Blackberry's One Crucial Win To Survive 2016
Ewan Spence
CONTRIBUTOR
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
BlackBerry has committed its future to the Android ecosystem. While the BlackBerry Passport and BlackBerry Classic handsets running BB10 will be maintained and remain in production (presumably to meet a bundle of existing government and enterprise contracts), 2016 will see the Canadian manufacturer rely on Android-powered devices for all its releases. And once 2017 arrives I very much doubt that a new BB10-powered device will be released.
Confirmation of the new direction came from BlackBerry�s Senior Director of Product Management in Asia Pacific, Damian Tay. Speaking to the Economic Times India, he confirmed the intentions of the BlackBerry PRIV to be the bridge device that transitioned the company to Android:
The PRIV device is essentially our transition to Android ecosystem. As we secure Android, over a period of time, we would not have two platforms, and may have only Android as a platform. But for now, we have BB10 and Android platforms for our smartphones.
In terms of the volume of consumer sales required to give its handset division even a chance of reaching the five millions devices per year required to simply break even, BlackBerry had little choice but to move to Android. The application ecosystem that is expected of a modern-day smartphone demands nothing less than the breadth of native applications available on iOS or through the Google Play Store for Android devices.
The transition to the Android operating system requires BlackBerry to make two crucial transitions with its biggest selling point: to maintain the security that it offers clients, and retain the association of the BlackBerry brand name with security.
While the messaging client and enterprise software in BB10 are seen as secure (as is BB10 itself), Android�s reputation for security is not as strong. From a lack of updates, user data captured by rogue applications, and malware scares, Android is seen as a poor relation to BlackBerry. The weakened BB10 platform actually offers more opportunities for Apple and iOS than it does Android.
This is BlackBerry�s challenge. If it can build secure software for the platform and move the brand association of security over to its new Android platform then it has an attractive selling point. If it can transition the existing enterprise users (especially government departments) to the Android platform over the next few years then the goal of five million smartphone sales per year is reachable.
I don�t think BlackBerry has enough to survive in the consumer market alone. The BlackBerry PRIV is either under-powered for its price point, or too expensive for the specifications on offer. In a straight race to the bottom, BlackBerry is going to lose, every time. But if it can be seen as the Android device that is demanded by enterprise and governments around the world, then it will have found a profitable niche that could turn a profit for years to come.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...acfofkopmgleij
Lol
The 'niche' that the article talks about was what they should have aimed for with BB 10 from the very beginning.
There was never any chance of beating Apple or Android even in 2013 - anyone who actually thought otherwise was clearly delusional.
They tried to make it 'something for everyone' and inevitably failed. They're trying to do the same with the Privvy and they will fail with that too.
I wrote off the chances of BB10 succeeding back in September 2013 when it became obvious just how spectacular a failure and costly for BlackBerry had been the BB10 experiment. So costly that it caused the company to be offered for sale to anyone that wanted to buy it; nobody did, which should have told everyone everything there was to know about how BlackBerry's value was perceived out here in the real world.
I've spent the last 3 years staring in wonderment at some of the postings here on CB. Some days you could hardly move for the happy tales of unicorns, rainbows, and how bright were the prospects for BB10. Apple was predicted to fall to the relentless rise of BB10 on a weekly basis, and poor old Microsoft was roundly ridiculed for bothering to take on BB10's clearly unassailable #3 position.
Welcome to my world! What kept you? :)
As to the Priv: We'll find out in April's ER if BB's final throw of the dice has been successful. It has to sell tonnes (probably close to 2 million IMO in this first complete quarter because sales inevitably fall after that initial sales period) to get to Chen's 5M/year break-even figure. If not, Chen will do what he's already said he'll do - close down hardware.
Interesting Times.
Nothing really new in this article that no one in here didn't already know.
Old wine in new bottle. This story is known in this forum from before.
Passport SE on Etisalat 4G Network propelled by 10.3.2.2876
I agree with most folks there is nothing new that hasn't already been known, the truth is that in any company that's make a product, you have to sell enough to justify the means to produce it, if not, then the product comes to an end.
Being in the auto industry for most of my life, I have watch this scenario happen several times, but the industry continues to move forward as well Blackberry.
Given that the vast majority of BlackBerry phones are bought by consumers, it is the consumer that will save BlackBerry. I have never been able to confirm Enterprise sales. I think this notion of Enterprise saving BlackBerry the handset business is just a lot of spin. To succeed BlackBerry needs to add value to Android on a all touch device. I am pretty sure that the number of PKB phones used in Enterprise is just a small fraction of the total. It is an all touch world.
Posted via CB10