First the bad news about Sony, and now Blackberry.
Unfortunately, they just couldn't keep up with the Apple juggernaut of the iPhone, and people jumped ship in droves. Not only that, some missteps as they tried to keep their head above water really misfired, specifically the Storm, a badly designed phone with terrible advertisements to boot - I cringed every time I saw them.
Their Blackberry 10 operating system was a much better design in my opinion, much more elegant and usable, and could stand up to the competition. Unfortunately, by the time it came around it was too late; the damage to their reputation had been done, and even changing the company name from Research in Motion to Blackberry, a change I thought was a bad move because of the stigma already associated with Blackberry, couldn't save them. Their entry into the tablet market has already been shut down.
And now, their market share has dropped to zero. As the linked article states, there were zero activations in the fourth quarter of 2013. Zero.
This is unfortunate. First, they are turning their products around, their new technology is good, and they are being held back by name alone as opposed to any real issue with their devices. Second, we need competition, and anything that hurts competition hurts us as consumers with fewer choices and higher costs.
As with Sony, I hope they turn it around. Damage to brand can be hard to fix, even if the product is good. Just ask MySpace, which is now a very well-designed site oriented around music, or Polaroid, whose TVs are actually quite respectable (Well, depending on who you talk to). But neither company can seem to break the stranglehold of their name, and Blackberry is now seeing the same thing.
It is a shame that Blackberry hasn't been able to keep up in the market of smartphones like, Apple or Android. I remember all the hype of people when it came to them and their Blackberry's, everyone was always using BBM and it was one of the first types of phones that had that keyboard on the front. I as well was once a Blackberry user, and I have to say that the only Blackberry phone that I ever had was the Storm. All I can say about that phone is that it sucked and did not live up to its name. I think that this was where Blackberry started to fall in the market place. If the Storm had been successful and didn't have so many bad reviews and problems with it, Blackberry could still be around and sharing in the success of its competitors, Apple and Android.
ReplyDeleteI miss both my blackberries, it is sad that people actually look for the phones based on everything else they do besides calling. I say this because I don't think I ever had better reception that with my first blackberry. The speed which you can text on that phone is still impressive, far superior (to me) that any touch screen phone that mistakenly keeps auto-correcting what I'm trying to say. Please someone save their keyboard and put it in another phone, we need it. I wish they would have come out with a better way to integrate apps or use android and Apple apps on their phones, had they done that early enough, maybe they would have been able to save their phone....
ReplyDeleteAwe... the "Crackberry" what a great phone. I had the blackberry curve and loved it. I started having issues with Verizon service and in efforts to improve that I ended up with an iphone. The issue with Verizon did not get resolved by switching my phone. By then Blackberry had put out the Storm and with all of the problems they were having with that phone I chose not to go back. Till this day I would say that the Blackberry was the best phone I ever had. Perhaps with their great technology they can rebrand themselves and make a come back. I think the market would welcome a great competitor for Apple and Android.
ReplyDeleteIn a previous business class, we had to pretend we were an executive level department of Blackberry and discuss different business aspects that we were responsible for. What did we want to do with the company? Can you say sell?! Blackberry has been struggling for so long and aside from corporate accounts, has a limited customer base. I don’t know anyone that even owns a blackberry anymore. I do feel they are a good corporate product as they prevent employees from downloading games, letting their kids play on a business phone; basically it’s hard to use a blackberry for “personal use” as phones become more app friendly. The problem is, is that a big enough customer base to survive? It doesn’t seem so.
ReplyDeleteI don't really know all that much about blackberries, but I remember not liking the fact that the keyboards took up half of the phone, which was very unappealing when other phones had full screens. All the people I know who loved these phones liked them for emailing all the time, which is not something I do a whole lot.
ReplyDeleteCrazy to see this article on Blackberry or as I remember RIM. I took a issue in business class and this company was used as an example of how a great company went down the drain. I use to be a faithful and when I mean faithful, faithful blackberry user. I absolutly loved my blackberry curve, that was the best phone I ever had and very durable hands down. It was a time when 50% of the cell phone market were blackberry users, now they have seen zero activations in the last quarter of 2013. The issue with this company is they waited to long to catch or keep up with the technology. When smartphones started to evolve they should have been planning and working on their operating systems to keep up with the changing times. Then with the whole name change bad move, like that was going to get people to buy a blackberry. Their lack and poor advertisement, the software on the devices, and the lack of phone capabilities just all contributed to this once great company failing. I will be honest if they came out with a Blakcberry that is compatible to an Android or Apple device I will switch my phone in a blink of an eye, but until that time I'll keep my Android.
ReplyDeleteThis really is a tragedy; not because the Blackberry was the most amazing phone ever, but because public opinion is swayed to easily. Brand names can really be tricky.
ReplyDeleteI had a Blackberry, as did everyone I worked with and most of the people I knew. I did not love my Blackberry like some others, it was just a phone that I could easily text and receive emails on. It kept me on top of things at work and I enjoyed texting with a Qwerty keyboard for the first time. However, for some reason, when someone mentions a Blackberry, everyone laughs. What makes it laughable? If a new evolved Blackberry came out under the IPhone 6 name, millions would but it and say that it is amazing, but if it had Blackberry written anywhere on it, apparently zero people would buy it. The same goes for MySpace, people will roll out of thier chair if you tell them you're on MySpace. However, MySpace rocked and I many people loved it. It such a shame that a brand name can make or break a company.
I think I am probably the only 22 year old that owns a Blackberry. Everyone else has their iPhones and Androids! Me, I am stuck in the past. I will be the first to admit that the Blackberry is far from problem free, but I believe it is a decent & simple "smartphone." Personally, I really love my phone, and it is tragic to see that the Blackberry's market share dropped to zero point zero. There is obviously no brand loyalty. I may just be the only one who is loyal to the Blackberry brand! Will Blackberry ever recover from this? In my opinion, it will be a long shot.
ReplyDeleteI use to own quite a bit of Blackberry's. I found them to be quite fun and easy to text due to the positioning of the keyboard. I really do think that their old CEO kind of screwed the company over. They were not really trying to expand or change their line back then before androids and iphones appeared. It seemed that they had reached the top of the mountain as mobile phone giants and just stayed stagnant there. Had they had new visions and continued to expand and stretched their goals researching towards market trends and asking consumers what they would like or see in a new phone, they would probably still be #1. Their attempt to recover as a mobile giant has obviously not been successful. They should be like every other technology giant and spend money towards researching and developing other products and not have to solely rely on phone sales. I can't imagine how their employees feel having worked for a company so long till the brink.
ReplyDeleteLike many companies have faced before, once the consumers have a negative perception or reputation it is a long recovery time to get those customer back or to gain new ones. Many are unable to successfully get back to the level of excellence before the downfall occurred and this leads to companies going out of business. I sure hope that Blackberry is able to recover from this since they offered excellent products and services for such a long time and sadly had a bump in the road at the worst time possible since iPhones are booming!!!! I hope Blackberry can make it through!!!!
ReplyDeleteOnce you get negative perceptions from your consumers, it is really hard to overcome. I am now on my 3rd I-phone, which I love. It's a very user friendly device with a nice keyboard, unlike the tiny keyboards of the blackberry. It just reinforces the fact that R&D must be kept up especially now that the world and it's technology is changing ever faster.
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