Blackberry: End of an era
There used to be a time when QWERTY keyboards were trending and everyone was eager to exchange their exclusive BlackBerry Messenger PINs to catch up with friends on chat. BlackBerry phones have changed the way that people look at and use phones, especially corporates who were introduced to a wide range of features that you couldn't previously do on phones, like checking emails, scheduling meetings and appointments on calendars, and communicating through an exclusive and secure BlackBerry Messenger.
The BlackBerry was not only appealing to people in the corporate world, it crossed over to the youth scene with its exclusive messenger and futuristic features, making texting more popular than it was. You may have forgotten, but BlackBerry revolutionised and completely changed the cell phone and texting game in the 90s. It was a turning point when the number of people who texted for communication increased like crazy.
Where's the hype now? Over the years, with a declining user base, the emergence of the iPhone, the mobile operating systems iOS and Android, the beginning of the touch screen generation and bigger app stores, BlackBerry got lost somewhere struggling to cope with the new standards. With smartphones offering all the features a BlackBerry possesses plus more, a shift in demand occurred which led to Android and iOS having a growing market share.
The relevance of the QWERTY keyboard was gone with the introduction of touch screens, and an ever-growing app store, the demand for what people wanted out of a phone changed. Instead of succumbing to the change, BlackBerry chose to continue highlighting its competitive advantages that were slowly becoming outdated. The availability of more chat apps or instant messengers made the BBM less appealing. Also these other IMs started having a larger user base than BBM, which was a very solid reason for a lot of people to make the switch.
At last Wednesday's announcement that the company won't be manufacturing BBM hardware anymore, John Chen, the CEO of BlackBerry said, "We believe that the phone market is evolving more and more into the intelligence market. It's really more about the smart of a smartphone, not about the phone of a smartphone."
BlackBerry will now be focusing on their software business, which means that even though they will be absent from the hardware market, the company will live on. The software market contains huge opportunities to make good revenue, and BlackBerry may still have some tricks up its sleeves. So this more a "See you again" than a "Goodbye".
Comments