Goodbye BlackBerry...
Enrique Dans
Senior Advisor for Innovation and Digital Transformation at IE University. Changing education to change the world...
President Barack Obama has finally relinquished his iconic BlackBerry, opting instead for a 2013 model Samsung S4 (a 2013 model!!), with beefed up Defense Department security.
The US upper and lower houses, which between them employ more than 20,000 people has followed suit. The Senate will no longer issue its personnel with BlackBerry now that the guarantee has expired and it is no longer possible to replace models that used the BlackBerry 10 operating system, now that the company uses Android.
The decision spells the end for one of BlackBerry’s last bastions, which it had held onto thanks to its security certification. The company’s devices, long considered “the CIO’s best friend”, will continue to be used by some companies, but the tipping point in the company’s decline has come: they look increasingly old-fashioned, although it has to be said that they are tough as old boots, even if they are increasingly problematic, which is hardly surprising, given their age.
The illustration above shows the latest model I received from the company, the Z10. I have to say I have fond memories of my years of using a BlackBerry, particularly the changes the company introduced: the side wheel, the trackball, the trackpad, the hidden keyboard, until it finally gave up on the keyboard (I have never been as productive with a mobile device as I was with the BlackBerry keyboard) and moved like everybody else toward the touch screen. Now it has given up on its operating system. Each new model it brought out was a box of surprises, sometimes pleasant, some not so pleasant, but there was always a sense that the company was moving forward, evolving, but that wasn’t able to prevent its steady downward spiral. I had the opportunity to interview founder Mike Lazaridis in 2008, and it was clear then that the company that had pioneered the smartphone concept was being left behind.
Washington’s decision to drop BlackBerry is the final straw, bringing to an end a brand that in the final analysis lacked strategic vision. The company is a shadow of its former self, but says it intends to continue making devices, despite the $670 million it lost on its last model, the Priv. During the last quarter, the second that includes Priv sales, the company sold half a million phones at around $290 each, meaning it has dropped 100,000 units on each of the last three consecutive quarters. BlackBerry’s own figures show that it needs to sell around three million unit at $300 a pop to stay in the game, which given the speed the market moves, is unlikely to happen.
As the last of its major corporate clients drop their BlackBerrys, the company seems consigned to a place in the history books. Which is a shame.
(En espa?ol, aquí)
Director at Publeisure Ltd
8 年Nathan O'Brien
Technical Writing | Review/Editing | Information Management (CMS) | Cybersecurity Doc | Translation | AGILE | SaaS, IaaS, DevOps, B2C | Account Based Marketing | Content & Strategy
8 年The market grew exponentially due to smartphone evolution among the younger generation that was hooked on to social media and instant messaging. BlackBerry stuck onto its own beliefs and missed the point where change was required. Much similar to Kodak. But the loyal customer base was not enough to keep ruling the market. I had been a die hard BlackBerry user and always owned flagship device, sometimes changing it within 6 months to get the latest. But I too moved to Android even when I would love to hold a BlackBerry in my hand today. The times are of choosing the software platform now, not hardware.
Majesco Advisor
8 年A sad day for you my friend but welcome to that brave new world!
Sad evolution. My Storm 2 and Z10 were the best smartphones i owned. To this day the only devices with proper multilanguage typing and long battery life. OS10 was a sublime and effici?nt platform, but pack of app support killed it.
Transformational Leader in Insurance Software | Insurtech Visionary | SVP Sales Majesco l Global IQX Founder | Entrepreneur and Advisor | Empowering Global Insurers Through Innovative Data-Driven Strategies |
8 年Very happy with my BB "Passport". Battery lasts almost 3 days if I don't have bluetooth on. I find it funny that on business flights I still see old Crackberries and when I ask why the user has not upgraded they always say it works great so why would I switch. There lies the problem. Blackberry is like your father's Oldsmobile. It did not have to be that way. They made some key mistakes: Touchscreen Z10 came out 5 years too late for consumers. Although out now, BBM should of been cross-platform as soon as the other phones came out or bought Whatsap etc. BB could also of come out with one secure business model and one secure-enough consumer android model. The Priv although reviews are great, sounds like a toilet to me. "Blackberry A1" for best android may have been a better name. Blackberry will be around in one capacity or another with it's huge patent inventory, QNX and of course the (BES) security business.