The Fall Of Blackberry: How Blackberry Has Fallen From Glory Days..
Blackberry is best known for its QWERTY keyboard. However, the newest additions to the Blackberry family come with a multi-touch screen and virtual keyboard. Here’s a look at the rise and fall of the popular Canadian mobile phone manufacturer, and a take on whether the move to touchscreen will help revive the company’s former glory.
Blackberry’s Heyday
Blackberry was once the most sought after mobile device owing to its unique features such as the widely popular BBM. Blackberry’s sales were good during 2005-2010. Blackberry later announced that its sales hit a record of 7.8 million units, with a revenue of about INR 225 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009. This marked a stunning 24.5 percent increase from the previous quarter, which brought in INR 210 billion.
The Fall of Blackberry
Blackberry’s phone unit hasn't done well in recent times, even after dominating the smartphone scene few years ago. In 2012, the sales of Blackberry devices dipped for the first time since the year 2009. According to Gartner, a research company, consumers shunned cheaper feature devices.
However, Gartner also reported that smartphone sales were rising continuously, with Samsung, and Apple dominating the scene. In the second quarter of 2013, Samsung sold approximately 71 million smartphones. Apple’s sales were lesser during the second quarter, totaling 31.2 million units sold.
In the year 2012, Blackberry, formerly known as Research In Motion Limited saw a 33.6 percent decline in sales in comparison to the previous year. Although, Blackberry planned a comeback with the launch of the Z10, things don’t seem to be going well for the firm, as their smartphones have slipped to the fourth position, behind the Windows Phone.
In the year 2012, Blackberry, formerly known as Research In Motion Limited saw a 33.6 percent decline in sales in comparison to the previous year. Although, Blackberry planned a comeback with the launch of the Z10, things don’t seem to be going well for the firm, as their smartphones have slipped to the fourth position, behind the Windows Phone.
The International Data Corporation (IDC) released a sales report of the company which states that Blackberry sold 6.8 million handsets in the second quarter of the year 2013, accounting for 2.8 percent of the market. The present sales are an 11.7 percent decline from the previous year i.e. 2012. It is important to note that this sudden dip in sales was after the launch of Blackberry’s latest operating system and two new devices.
The company also saw a decline in popularity among U.S subscribers, a formerly strong market base for the Blackberry line. com Score released a report which states that Blackberry experienced a 15 percent decline in U.S subscribers from March to June, falling from 5.2 percent to 4.4 percent.
Reasons For Blackberry’s Downfall
Blackberry has made a number of mistakes, which researchers believe have led to its downfall. One of the most obvious and crucial mistakes by the company is its lack of change. Tim Shea, CEO of Alpha NetSolutions, believes that Blackberry’s evolution has not brought about much change in its interface in comparison with other smartphone devices, especially Apple’s iPhone.
Shea also added that while placing a virtual keyboard or increasing the screen size gives the company a boost, it isn’t enough to compete with devices by Apple or Google. Bill Lucchini, COO of OnForce, goes on to explain that most people, especially field service workers, prefer to use their smartphones as an office tool.
Although Blackberry phones have been the hot favorite in the corporate world, its lack of applications is forcing users to shift to Android or iOS, whose developers are continuously coming up with high-end applications to meet the requirements of end users.
The only way for Blackberry to make a decent comeback is to revolutionize their devices and take the industry by storm as they did when the first Blackberry’s were launched. Let’s wait and see what the Canadian mobile manufacturer has in store for the coming months. Blackberry’s next move could very lift or sink the company’s depleting fortunes.
About The Author:
This article has written by Dharam Raj Kumar, he is working in Smartphoneguru
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