Can we give Blackberry a round of applause, followed by a moment of silence for an unprecedented effort for revival. Shares in the Canadian maker of BlackBerry smartphones peaked in August of 2007, at two hundred and thirty-six dollars. Six years later, BlackBerry’s stock is worth just over ten dollars a share, and on Monday it announced that it has formed a “special committee” to explore ways to sell the company or form a joint venture with another business, among other options. So why exactly, after a failed revival IS Blackberry looking to sell or into other options, it’s simple. Here’s three reasons why Blackberry is going bust, broke or Bye-Bye.
1. Blackberry never viewed Apple as a “real” competitor until it was too late.
In 2007, the “consumerization” of business technology was already underway, and Blackberry missed the boat. When BlackBerry users returned home and pulled off their ties, they picked up iPhones, which were a lot more fun to use. Soon, they wanted to use iPhones at work. At the same time, companies realized that workers would be happier and more productive buying the device of their choice, and the companies eventually spared the expense of providing their employees with phones, thus saving company dollars.
2. Low production costs for competitors in Asia took a bite out of Blackberry’s business.
When your competition produces comparable products at a cheaper price, you’re going to lose sales. Unfortunately for Blackberry – no one predicted the boom in demand for iOs and Android devices, thus leaving Blackberry with a slim chance to regain it’s stake in smartphone glory.
3. Blackberry waited too long to launch the Q10 & Z10 devices, leaving consumers too little, too late.
I’ll admit, the Blackberry Q10 and Z10 have unique qualities that make them great devices (WATCH: Verizon Wireless Blackberry Q10 – Hands on review) – however, both devices would have made a much better impact if launched in 2007 – while Blackberry still had a strong competing chance. In its most recent quarter, BlackBerry shipped only 6.8 million smartphones—that’s a fifth of what Apple sold during the same period.
So will we see the Blackberry Q10 or Z10 on clearance shelves at your favorite carrier soon? Who knows, this could just be a bump in the road for the once towering giant – or it could be the end of the road for good… (*cues up Boyz-II-Men*).
