Blackberry is famed for their keyboards, small screens and email capabilities, or at least they were. Blackberry nowadays seems to have gotten rid of what made them special and gone with the “let’s all look the same” trend in the phone market. Yes it’s unfortunate the latest Blackberry phones left their defining factor behind, however it might have been a good mood for them. The new market is brimming with big touch screens, and thanks to faster handsets, “email” capabilities are nothing to brag about anymore.
The modern mobile market is creating more and more competition, making it a much harder place to survive than it was 10 years ago. Blackberry is now not only competing against the likes of Nokia, Samsung and LG, now they also have to contend with the likes of Microsoft and Apple, making the already squeezed market that little bit tighter.
Blackberry today has less than 1% of the global phone market, dramatically less than what it was only a couple years ago. The latest Blackberry phones are perhaps the all or nothing point for the Canadian company. Will they keep sailing on or sink?
How is Blackberry Keeping Up?
Blackberry however has a secret weapon, or at least that’s what they hope it is. The last phone Blackberry released was the BlackBerry Z3. The BlackBerry Z3 comprises of a 5-inch qHD screen and powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 dual-core processor with 1.5GB of RAM. The processor on the BlackBerry 10 is OS version 10.2.1, the latest incarnation of the OS. This little powerhouse of a smart phone was supposed to make a big splash on its release last week, yet so far hasn’t conjured the storm it had planned.
Blackberry however is not just working on new phones to keep up. Over the past year they have been able to slash more than 50% of their companies spending, plus an extra 13% in the last quarter. Helping them actually post a profit of roughly $23 million, as supposed to the dramatic losses posted consecutive years before. This has helped their stock price rise 9.7%, brining it almost to $10 flat.
Still though, Blackberry has a long road ahead. The latest Blackberry phones only currently comprise of the Z3, which due to its specific targetization of the emerging markets, lacks any real size to make a dent in the global market. However at least it’s a first step at possibly securing a foothold in the SE Asian market, giving itself a chance to swing back. Later this year we will see the Blackberry Passport launch in London. Not much is known about the phone yet, however, apart from its very large size.
