Blackberry Phones - Potential Market?

Just an opinion...
Blackberry's strength has always been on providing secure devices. And personal data security is becoming more and more important every day as financial and other personal transactions become more mobile. Blackberry took the 1st step to realize a broader market by moving from the BB OS to Android...that was significant and well received by BB users though an adjustment. That step provided access to a market share by OS of nearly 75% of mobile devices. Plus access to the Android world of apps and other tools. But that needed to be followed with a 2nd step and that was to provide devices that had appeal to the broader Android market. That means providing high performing devices that do not have a pkb. Screen space has become more important and the vkb, though a big change for BB pkb users, is what the broader market wants. A BB phone like a high-end Motion providing the needed security for today's mobile market would, I think, be well received. Phones with a pkb could continue to be provided to meet that share of the BB market. But if BB (TCL) only produces pkb phones then they are missing an opportunity and it may mean the end of BB phones...that I do not want to see.

Originally Posted by heathde

Just an opinion...
Blackberry's strength has always been on providing secure devices. And personal data security is becoming more and more important every day as financial and other personal transactions become more mobile. Blackberry took the 1st step to realize a broader market by moving from the BB OS to Android...that was significant and well received by BB users though an adjustment. That step provided access to a market share by OS of nearly 75% of mobile devices. Plus access to the Android world of apps and other tools. But that needed to be followed with a 2nd step and that was to provide devices that had appeal to the broader Android market. That means providing high performing devices that do not have a pkb. Screen space has become more important and the vkb, though a big change for BB pkb users, is what the broader market wants. A BB phone like a high-end Motion providing the needed security for today's mobile market would, I think, be well received. Phones with a pkb could continue to be provided to meet that share of the BB market. But if BB (TCL) only produces pkb phones then they are missing an opportunity and it may mean the end of BB phones...that I do not want to see.

The whole BlackBerry-branded phone era is coming to a close. You aren't likely to see any more.

Originally Posted by heathde

Just an opinion...
Blackberry's strength has always been on providing secure devices. And personal data security is becoming more and more important every day as financial and other personal transactions become more mobile. Blackberry took the 1st step to realize a broader market by moving from the BB OS to Android...that was significant and well received by BB users though an adjustment. That step provided access to a market share by OS of nearly 75% of mobile devices. Plus access to the Android world of apps and other tools. But that needed to be followed with a 2nd step and that was to provide devices that had appeal to the broader Android market. That means providing high performing devices that do not have a pkb. Screen space has become more important and the vkb, though a big change for BB pkb users, is what the broader market wants. A BB phone like a high-end Motion providing the needed security for today's mobile market would, I think, be well received. Phones with a pkb could continue to be provided to meet that share of the BB market. But if BB (TCL) only produces pkb phones then they are missing an opportunity and it may mean the end of BB phones...that I do not want to see.

All BBMo has to do was sell 100X more of the VKB Motion than it did.

That would have been a good start

Originally Posted by Chuck Finley69

All BBMo has to do was sell 100X more of the VKB Motion than it did.

Or sell the amount of Motions that they did sell...


... at $2500 a piece

They are strictly software now, where they should stay.

As others have stated, the market has been set and Android and IOS are the dominant OS. Apple, Samsung, LG and several Chinese makers are the main players now.

Blackberry has focused on the software end of the market and looking at their last couple of years since exiting the device manufacturing sector, their revenue and profits have stabilized and I can’t see them giving that up anytime soon.

Originally Posted by conite

The whole BlackBerry-branded phone era is coming to a close. You aren't likely to see any more.

The blunt, harsh reality of this statement makes me sad.

I would love to see a privacy-focused phone, but it will either have to come from Apple (not likely) or be some variant of Linux. BlackBerry in 2020 is the wrong bend, and more importantly, it's the wrong company for a consumer electronics company.

From the screen of my trusty Z10 using the exceptional BlackBerry VKB.

Originally Posted by bakron1

their revenue and profits have stabilized and I can’t see them giving that up anytime soon.

If only that were true.... BlackBerry's UEM business isn't as strong as hoped. Right now they are blaming it on their sales staff not doing their job and turn over. But what if it's the product?

The $1.4 Billion Cylance could be a huge boost to their enterprise offerings....

TCL could sell a BlackBerry variant of their Plex but the market would not accept the $100 price difference for the OS and styling cues.

Originally Posted by Bbnivende

TCL could sell a BlackBerry variant of their Plex but the market would not accept the $100 price difference for the OS and styling cues.

Yes I would, and the other 100 VKB BB Android fans I'm speaking for.

Originally Posted by mrsimon

Yes I would, and the other 100 VKB BB Android fans I'm speaking for.

It's clear that BYOD has degraded device security to the point where enterprise infosec teams have simply given up, concluded the only course of action is to treat all mobile phones as untrusted devices. It's probably for the best.

The only possible demand for a more secure design would have to come from enterprise leaders who are willing to purchase their own locked-down hardware and prohibit users from adding their personal information to it.

From the screen of my trusty Z10 using the exceptional BlackBerry VKB.

Originally Posted by mrsimon

Yes I would, and the other 100 VKB BB Android fans I'm speaking for.

That's great, but 100 buyers isn't a viable market. For that matter, nothing less than about 1M buyers per year (which means about 3M total, who buy a new device every 3 years on average) is enough, even for a company like TCL who sells other lines of smartphones and potentially has some economies of scale working for it as well as other products to produce to keep production lines open once production of the BB-branded devices are complete for the year (which would only take 4-6 weeks of that year).

This is why BB left the marketplace in the first place, and why TCL and the other licensees gave up too - they all lost money due to sales volumes being too low.

Originally Posted by Troy Tiscareno

That's great, but 100 buyers isn't a viable market. For that matter, nothing less than about 1M buyers per year (which means about 3M total, who buy a new device every 3 years on average) is enough, even for a company like TCL who sells other lines of smartphones and potentially has some economies of scale working for it as well as other products to produce to keep production lines open once production of the BB-branded devices are complete for the year (which would only take 4-6 weeks of that year).

This is why BB left the marketplace in the first place, and why TCL and the other licensees gave up too - they all lost money due to sales volumes being too low.

Me thinks mrsimon was jesting.

Originally Posted by JJBBgreat

Me thinks mrsimon was jesting.

Troy’s sarcasm detector is broken.

Originally Posted by Chuck Finley69

Troy’s sarcasm detector is broken.

Nobody gets me here except you. Wasn't it obvious that"100" was a joke?

Originally Posted by mrsimon

Nobody gets me here except you. Wasn't it obvious that"100" was a joke?

Yes but it happens to me as well..