mini case study the downfall of blackberry

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Mini-Case study: The downfall of Blackberry

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Ramzi Dziri

International Journal of Business Ecosystem & Strategy (2687-2293)

The aim of the paper to investigates the reason for business failure using Nokia as a case study. The paper applies the explanatory conclusive research design since there are cause and effect relations that seek to provide a better understanding of the reasons for the market failure. The mobile manufacturing sector is the most interesting and innovative of all in the “Information & Communications Technology” sector (ICT). Nokia was once known as the market’s dominant company, leader, and pacesetter until it underwent a tremendous market failure. The aim of this research is to shed light on Nokia’s failure in the market due to its complacency & fear of change, lack of innovation moving too slowly in terms of being too late in making decisions & inventing of the iPhone. Paper elaborately discusses and analyses the failure reasons supported by a literature review in addition to the characteristics of this industry and its market structure. Finally provide advice for business makers

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Patrick Van Der Duin

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Denis Lescop

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Grazia Cecere

Mario Coccia

The purpose of this study is to analyze the driving technical characteristics in product innovation to predict technological trajectories. The analysis is based on hedonic price method and other approaches using empirical data of smartphone technology (N=738 models over 2008-2018). Results show technological trajectories supporting the evolution of smartphone technology. In particular, critical characteristics of technological evolution in smartphone technology are: RAM in Gb, 1 st and 2 nd camera in Mpx, memory in Gb and resolution in total pixels. Implications of innovation product management are discussed.

Mateus B O L D R I N E Abrita

The mobile phone devices industry, whose structure is an oligopolistic technological frontier, suffered a structural change in the 2000s, with firms once leaders giving way to emerging ones. This study's hypothesis is that this chance happened due to different innovation strategies adopted by the firms. The objective is to analyze innovation strategies' influence on business performance of the industry's firms in general, with Apple, Nokia and Samsung cases in particular-considered representative firms of the industry for the period. The methodology used was the game theory, comparatively analyzing two games with Nash-Bayesian equilibrium. The results show that, in the face of an aggressive strategy of innovation by products of the first firm (Apple), there is a worse outcome for the company that competes by innovations by product (Nokia) than by markets (Samsung). It is concluded that companies should pay attention to their innovative strategies to remain operative in dynamic markets. Resumo: A indústria de dispositivos de telefonia móvel, cuja estrutura é de fronteira tecnológica oligopolista, sofreu uma mudança estrutural na década de 2000, com firmas antes líderes perdendo espaço para firmas emergentes. A hipótese do trabalho é que as diferentes estratégias de inovação adotadas pelas firmas foram responsáveis por essa mudança estrutural. O objetivo do trabalho é analisar a influência dos tipos de inovação no desempenho das empresas da indústria em geral, e da Apple, Nokia e Samsung em particular, firmas tidas como representativas. Para tanto, utiliza-se como metodologia um modelo com base na teoria de jogos, analisando dois casos. Os resultados, sob equilíbrio Nash-Bayesiano, evidenciam que, em face a uma estratégia agressiva em inovações via produtos por parte da Apple, há um pior resultado para a empresa competidora que decide competir com inovações via produtos (caso da Nokia) do que a que compete em inovações via mercados (caso da Samsung).

International Journal of Accounting and Financial Reporting Vol 4, No 2 (2014)

Zohaib Babar , Jawwad Jaskani , Tehreem Ilyas

Purpose: This case suggests the development of financial reporting of Apple Inc. in comparison with the industry over the period of 2004 to 2013. This study is helpful for different field of researchers e.g., management, technology, etc. Apple Inc. was found in 1976 by Steve Jobs. In 2007, Apple introduced smartphones and iOS and was the pioneer in this industry. But after the rising competition in this industry Androids snatched the market share from the Apple. Methodology: This study illustrates the reasons and the current performance of the company in the industry. The performance has been measured through actual financial data and through various financial techniques. Findings: This study has found that the company is losing share in the market because of the features in its products whereas the features offered by other competitors are relative consumer friendly and according to their demand. Suggestions: To retain the market share Apple should offer more products that are more affordable for the consumers. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/ijafr.v4i2.6079

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History of BlackBerry

The game changer, corporate comeback, will blackberry survive, the bottom line.

• Company Profiles
• Tech Companies

BlackBerry: A Story of Constant Success and Failure

BlackBerry Limited ( BB ), known as Research in Motion (RIM) until January 2013, has a long history of extreme success and failure. It’s credited by many as creating the first smartphone. And at its peak in September 2011, there were 85 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide.

But the rise of Google’s Android platform and Apple’s iOS caused it to decline in popularity by nearly three-quarters. BlackBerry’s stock price effectively tanked from highs of $147 to around $3 as of April 2024.

How did a high-flying revolutionary tech company get eclipsed so badly? A movie, released in Canada in May 2023, told the tale.

Key Takeaways

• BlackBerry pioneered handheld devices but has lost market share to larger rivals like Apple.
• The company, formerly known as Research in Motion, grew by leaps and bounds from 1999 to 2007, as its innovative product lines were well received.
• The launch of the touchscreen iPhone in 2007 triggered a dramatic shift away from BlackBerry handheld devices.
• Hopes for a turnaround have been dashed as the company grapples with intense competition from larger technology companies.
• BlackBerry has lost more than half of its market value in two years.
• “BlackBerry,” a movie about the company’s founders, premiered in Canada on May 12, 2023.

The pioneer in bringing email services to handheld mobiles, with its trademark QWERTY keyboard, BlackBerry became an instant darling of world leaders, corporate honchos, and the rich and famous alike. Indeed, owning a BlackBerry device was once a status symbol , and  BlackBerry addiction was a prevalent condition.

The always-on, always-connected wireless world that allowed secure and reliable access to emails turned out to be very useful for businesses. The first prominent release from BlackBerry, the Inter@ctive Pager 950, was in 1998.  It had a small-sized screen, keyboard buttons, and the iconic trackball that allowed seamless syncing and continuous access to corporate emails. It became an instant hit, and then there was no looking back.

In 1999, the company introduced the 850 pager, which supported “push email” from the Microsoft Corp. ( MSFT ) exchange server, and in 2000, BlackBerry launched the first smartphone, called the BlackBerry 957.

Attributed to increased use by enterprises and governments, RIM’s revenues grew by leaps and bounds from 1999 to 2001. The company continued to expand functionality in the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) and BlackBerry OS. The golden period of 2001 to 2007 saw BlackBerry’s global expansion and the addition of new products to its portfolio. After successfully gaining a foothold in the enterprise market, BlackBerry expanded into the consumer market. The BlackBerry Pearl series was very successful, and subsequent releases of the Curve and Bold product lines were well received.

“BlackBerry,” the movie, tells the story of the founders who created the world’s first smartphone. The satirical history is loosely based on the book “Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry,” by Sean Silcoff and Jacquie McNish. It premiered in Canada on May 12, 2023.

BlackBerry’s stock price peaked at an all-time high of $147 in mid-2008. A year earlier, Apple Inc. ( AAPL ) introduced its iPhone—the first prominent touchscreen phone. BlackBerry ignored it initially, perceiving it to be an enhanced mobile phone with playful features targeted at younger consumers. However, iPhone was a huge hit—and this was the start of BlackBerry’s demise.

Not just aimed at individuals, the iPhone managed to attract business leaders, penetrating BlackBerry’s core market, which was soon flooded with many similar email-enabled smartphones from other manufacturers. Yet, BlackBerry managed to maintain its status as a “business email device.” People used to carry two phones: a BlackBerry for business and another personal phone.

BlackBerry introduced Storm in 2008, its first touchscreen phone to compete with the iPhone. But after high initial sales, complaints started pouring in about the device’s performance. This was the first time that investors, analysts , and the media started to worry about the business prospects of BlackBerry.

In 2009, RIM secured first place in Fortune’s 100 fastest-growing companies. In September 2010, Comscore reported RIM having the largest market share (37.3%) in the U.S. smartphone market. Its global user base stood at 41 million subscribers. Unfortunately, that was the peak of market penetration for RIM in the United States. After that, the company continued to lose ground to rival operating systems—the Apple iOS and Google’s ( GOOG ) Android —and was never able to make it back.

By November 2012, BlackBerry’s U.S. market share had dropped to just 7.3%, with Google and Apple claiming 53.7% and 35%, respectively. Despite declining U.S. sales, BlackBerry continued to have success globally. It reported 77 million users globally during the last quarter of 2012, demonstrating its success in global expansion.

Owing to these local losses vs. global success, the stock displayed high volatility . The worst year was 2011, as BlackBerry’s stock price tanked around 80% amid declining market share. Continued earnings losses resulted in further declines—most prominently the first-quarter loss in 2014 of $84 million, which led to a roughly 30% decline in the share price on the day after the announcement.

The high volatility in the stock is attributed to several comeback attempts, corporate developments, associated recommendations by analysts, and competitor developments. In April 2010, RIM acquired the real-time operating system QNX, which formed the basis of the BlackBerry Tablet OS. The BlackBerry Playbook tablet was introduced on the QNX platform. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a total failure due to its high price, limited features, and poor performance.

The next generation of BlackBerry phones were announced in 2011, but the eventual product—the BlackBerry 10— failed to catch on . Nonetheless, based on interim forecasts that the BlackBerry 10 would surpass sales predictions, the company’s stock saw an upswing of 14% in November 2012. By January 2013, the stock had risen around 50%, and the volatility continued.

Wide positive swings to the tune of +35% were observed a couple of times during the first half of 2014. Those were based on announcements of BlackBerry transforming from mobile devices to a mobile solutions company. Those plans yielded less-than-meaningful results.

Another swing came in January 2015, when it was reported that Samsung was interested in buying BlackBerry. This led to a 30% spike in the latter’s share price . However, the jump proved to be a short-term blip, as the stock resumed a downtrend through 2015 and 2016.

Enterprise software sales represent almost half of BlackBerry’s revenue in 2020.

Hopes for a dramatic turnaround at BlackBerry have been dashed repeatedly. The stock rallied to a closing high of $12.66 in early 2018—almost doubling value after two years of gains. Since then, however, the stock has lost more than half of its market value , as the company’s mobile business has been decimated by the competition and it has been forced to shift its focus its efforts toward other segments like enterprise software.

In its current iteration, BlackBerry Limited is a provider of cybersecurity and Internet of Things (IoT) services, having effectively given up on smartphones as a business. On April 3, 2024, the company issued fiscal year (FY) 2024 total revenue of $853 million, with IoT revenue of $815 million and cybersecurity revenue of $280 million. Q4 fiscal 2024 revenue for the company’s IoT business showed 25% year-over-year (YOY) revenue growth, according to BlackBerry.

It is possible, often even necessary, for a technology company to change its stripes. Google and Meta (formerly Facebook) ( META ) have blazed trails in that arena. BlackBerry, however, will not only have to morph but will also have to overcome its reputation as a failed smartphone maker. Time, as they say, will tell whether BlackBerry is up to these tasks. Stay tuned.

What Business Is BlackBerry in Now That It Has Stopped Making Smartphones?

Currently, BlackBerry Limited is primarily a provider of cybersecurity and Internet of Things (IoT) services. The company recently reported FY2024 total revenue of $853 million.

Why Did BlackBerry Smartphones Fail?

Competition, in a nutshell. The introduction of the Apple iPhone, which BlackBerry didn’t take seriously, caused a loss of market share that BlackBerry couldn’t recover from. More competitors entered the smartphone space, eventually crowding BlackBerry out.

When Was the BlackBerry Movie Out?

“BlackBerry,” which premiered across Canada on May 12, 2023, told the story of the three men who took an idea and turned it into the world’s first smartphone. The movie, described as more satire than history, is loosely based on the 2015 book “Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry.”

BlackBerry is an example of the big risks associated with the highly dynamic technology sector . None of the industry rankings, predictions, or recommendations seems to fit the BlackBerry stock play. Long-term investors have been burned, while only a few traders may have made money on the wide swings. Unless confirmed news of solid acquisition or partnership comes in, this stock will likely remain a pure trader ’s play.

BGR. “ BlackBerry Lost 4 Million Subscribers in Q1 Despite New Launches .”

Yahoo! Finance. “ BlackBerry Limited (BB): Summary .”

The Canadian Encyclopedia. “ Blackberry Limited .”

York University Computer Museum. “ Research in Motion Inter@ctive 950 Pager .”

National Museum of American History. “ Blackberry .”

Global News. “ ‘BlackBerry’ Filmmakers Toe the Line Between Fact and Fiction .”

Macrotrends. “ BlackBerry—25-Year Stock Price History | BB .”

Comscore. “ Comscore Reports September 2010 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share .”

AnnualReports.com. “ RIM 2010 ,” Page 4 of PDF.

Comscore. “ Comscore Reports February 2013 U.S. Smartphone Subscriber Market Share .”

AnnualReports.com. “ Research in Motion Limited, Form 40-F ,” Page 7 (Page 14 of PDF).

Yahoo! Finance. “ BlackBerry Limited (BB): Historical Data .”

BlackBerry, via Internet Archive Wayback Machine. “ BlackBerry Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2014 Results ,” Page 1.

BlackBerry. “ BlackBerry Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Fiscal Year 2024 Results .”

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The Rise and Fall of BlackBerry

By: Deborah Himsel, Andrew C. Inkpen

The launch of BlackBerry by Research in Motion (RIM) in 1999 laid the foundation for the development of smartphones. The next decade was a period of spectacular growth for RIM, making its two co-CEOs…

• Length: 10 page(s)
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2017
• Discipline: Strategy
• Product #: TB0485-PDF-ENG

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The launch of BlackBerry by Research in Motion (RIM) in 1999 laid the foundation for the development of smartphones. The next decade was a period of spectacular growth for RIM, making its two co-CEOs billionaires. At the end of 2007 the company had a market capitalization of more than $60 billion. Sales peaked at almost $20 billion in 2011. In 2016, sales were $2.2 billion and the company had lost money for four straight years. With the market capitalization having fallen to $4 billion by August 2016, the survival of BlackBerry (the company changed its name from RIM to BlackBerry) was uncertain.

Learning Objectives

This case can be used for several teaching purposes. The case can be used to illustrate the process of innovation and the linkages between strategy, competitive advantage, and innovation. BlackBerry created a unique product and for a few years occupied a competitive position with no rivals. The company established a competitive advantage based on product differentiation and saw BlackBerry become one of the most recognizable and valuable global brands. Unfortunately, the initial success could not be sustained once competitors, and particularly Apple, entered the smartphone market. After many attempts to change its strategy, BlackBerry eventually was forced to exit the hardware market. In a marketing class the case could be used to illustrate the challenges of being a pioneer versus a follower. The case can also be used to focus on leadership and building a culture of adaptability and change, especially in a successful organization. Initially the yin and yang of Lazaridis and Balsillie's complementary approaches led to innovation and growth. Rapid growth, distraction from lawsuits and increased competition, highlighted a fundamental lack of strategy, vision, reactive leadership and hierarchical, undisciplined, siloed, arrogant organization culture. The case can also highlight some of the fundamental leadership differences between Lazaradis/Balsillie and Steve Jobs, especially as it relates to vision, customer focus and simplicity of message.

Jun 1, 2017

Discipline:

Thunderbird School of Global Management

TB0485-PDF-ENG

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Mini-Case study: The downfall of Blackberry

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A business journal from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Knowledge at Wharton Podcast

Victim of success: the rise and fall of blackberry, december 15, 2015 • 18 min listen.

A new book by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff looks at what went wrong with the iconic device that was once so beloved and addictive it was nicknamed “Crackberry.”

Though BlackBerry has less than 1% of the smartphone market share today, it once had more than 50%. The question is how such a successful company could fall so far. Journalists Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff provide many of the answers in their book, Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry.

Wharton marketing professor Americus Reed recently had an opportunity to talk with McNish about what we can learn from the rise and fall of BlackBerry.

An edited transcript of the conversation follows.

Americus Reed: I want to start off with some questions about what drew you to this topic. Tell us a little bit about why you wrote this book, Jacquie.

Jacquie McNish: It started with an investigation I did when I worked at The Globe and Mail here in Canada with my colleague Sean Silcoff. The great untold story in Canada in the technology sector globally was how the maker of something that we loved so much and that we were so addicted to — the BlackBerry – could fail so quickly. It was an enduring mystery that was very hard for any business journalist to crack: [Research in Motion (RIM), was a] very, very insular company based in Waterloo, Ontario, outside of Toronto, [with] a very small business feel to it despite its global reach. We spent a lot of time trying to crack it.

We were finally able to talk to some of the principals and did an investigation for the Globe and Mail that led to a wonderful agent in Washington, Howard Yoon, calling up and saying, “You guys should write a book,” and that’s how it all began.

Reed: What do you think sets this book apart?… Tell us a little bit about why this particular book should be on people’s must-read lists.

McNish: We live in an era of constant disruption. No matter where you are, there’s an algorithm or a new way of doing something that’s more efficient, that challenges the old way of doing things. We will look back on this period as being as significant socially and economically as the industrial revolution.

“In this era of disruption, the mother of disruption stories is the BlackBerry story.”

In this era of disruption, the mother of disruption stories is the BlackBerry story. A company that introduced the BlackBerry in 1998 became a $20 billion company from nothing in less than a decade. Then four or five years later, it was back down to a $3 billion company, gasping for breath. It’s not only a disruption story; it is a story of the speed of the technology race today. There has not been a technology that has so quickly penetrated the consumer market as the smartphones did with the BlackBerry being the innovator. Not since the television in the 1950s. We’ve never gone from zero to more than 50% of the consumer market so quickly.

Reed: When I look back on the heyday of the BlackBerry brand, I’m reminded of those images of how deeply it was connected to the business community. In other words, it was seen as a symbol as those who had made it professionally. I remember very vividly our President at the time holding up his BlackBerry and saying, “I cannot live without my BlackBerry,” very much in line with what you were describing with respect to this iconic rise of such a great brand. Tell us a little bit about the genesis of this rise. What were the key business moments that precipitated this rise to greatness for that particular brand?

McNish: Timing is everything, and coming from an outside perspective is very important in innovation. At the time, in the 1990s, a lot of people were racing in the handheld device space. I remember when the Palm was the “It” thing. That only synced your calendars and your contacts with your desktop, but it was the hot thing then. The other hot thing was Motorola’s Tango, the one-way pager that you could [use to] send a few messages … but they were very distant and very unreliable because of their big network.

You had IBM trying to do stuff. You had Ericsson as well strapping … a very successful cell phone onto a very tiny keyboard. If you had fingers the size of a squirrel, you might be able to tap onto it. So all these people were racing to get into that space, essentially with products they already had. Even Apple tried with the Apple Newton with the stylus; that was a disaster because the software just wasn’t right.

BlackBerry looked at this market and came at it from a very different point of view, and this is the key thing about successful innovation. You’re not only offering new innovation, you’re changing the rules of the game. What none of the competitors, the big players, understood was that at that time in the 1990s, bandwidth was very limited for data transmissions. Mike Lazaridis, the founder of Research in Motion, which was BlackBerry’s founding name, understood … how limited the bandwidth was at that time. So he created an instrument that parceled out bits of data communications … so that it would not overtax the networks, whereas everyone else wanted to charge you $4,000 for something that the networks could barely function to transmit. They had that simplicity of design [and] the conservation of the data being transmitted.

The final wonderful thing was that everyone was using their little squirrel keyboards. He said, “What if we create this kind of arched keyboard where you could use opposable thumbs?” That was just one of those breakthrough moments he had one night. That’s the innovation side of the story.

The other side of the story is staying alive because then you’re a small company from Waterloo, Ontario, that’s struggling to make it. You get something right like the BlackBerry, and the big players want it. Some of the big players were there from the beginning. Palm tried to buy them. US Robotics, when it was making modems for mobile data communications, placed a big order and then withdrew it, nearly killing the company because they took on debt to meet that order…. That was managed by Jim Balsillie, a Canadian businessman who went to Harvard, who came back and decided that technology was going to be the key to his success. The two of them were a powerful combination in the early days….

Reed: Can you speak a little bit about the particular strategies that were being pursued at that time by the company?…

McNish: [RIM] did something very innovative. They created these guerilla marketing teams…. They threw boxes of BlackBerrys in the back of their cars, and they went to conferences, they went to airports. They specifically looked at airports for people who were carrying back then the big, heavy laptop computers with the large modems that may or may not have worked, and said “Here, try this.”

“Everyone was using their little squirrel keyboards. He said, ‘What if we create this kind of arched keyboard where you could use opposable thumbs?’”

They called it the Puppy Dog Routine. They said, “Give us your card. You can have this free for a month. Let us know what you think of it.” They were so successful at it, and they had such a small back office that for years, people were using their BlackBerrys for free because they couldn’t figure out who their clients were because they were handing so many of them out spontaneously.

Reed: They had that much faith in the power of the technology that they were literally willing to let people just try it to form an impression.

McNish: That’s right…. Word of mouth was very key. Early adopters were Michael Dell and Jack Welch. Just as you described, the CEO of your company says, “Wow, I love this thing, I’m addicted to it,” and everyone wants to have it … and it ripples down the organization….

Reed: Talk a little bit about the BlackBerry brand and how it was part of this calculus associated with the business strategy.

McNish: This company grew so fast that I don’t think they even thought about brand. That’s the amazing thing, and they could do that as long as they had the technology…. Their main clients, and the people who mattered the most, were the carriers. They had to convince the carriers to sell it, and then they entered this new world where they’d be offering discounts on the smartphones, which really sort of juiced sales and put them in the hands of a lot of consumers.

That was an advantage in the early days, and then later as things started to fall apart, a lot of people believed that one of their biggest problems was they didn’t fully understand who their consumers were because they had to spend so much time making the carriers happy.

It was a very limiting relationship because, again, back in the days of limited bandwidth on the networks, the carriers were very rigorous about what they would allow, and Steve Jobs said for years, “I will never make a smartphone.” He called the carriers the “four orifices”; you couldn’t get anything down their pipeline without their permission. Only when he saw the success of BlackBerry, which leapt to control right away, 58% of the smartphone market, did they set their sights on that market, and then they reinvented it on their terms….

Reed: You talked to some extent about this notion of this rise to greatness and its equally iconic fall, if you will. Can you talk a little bit about that? What was it that was behind this kind of deceleration? Was it a series of events? Was it death by a thousand cuts? Was it something foreseeable? Give us some insight into that.

McNish: The pivotal moment is January 2007 when Steve Jobs walks onto the stage in San Francisco and holds up that shiny glass object that we all [now] know and love so much, and says, “This is an iPhone.” It brings you computing, it brings you the Internet and it brings you email — three things. The interesting thing is that he not only brought on the prototype for the iPhone, and said “I’m going to change the world,” he also brought on stage the head of AT&T Mobility. This is where he changed the rules of the game because really the iPhone is just an iteration of the smartphone that BlackBerry started, only they added more.

“The race is faster than ever. It never ends, and the people who are the leaders today will most likely be the followers tomorrow because it’s very, very difficult to stay ahead.”

They brought the AT&T executive onstage, announced a five-year exclusive contract, and that did two things. It gave AT&T the incentive to spend billions of dollars on upgrading its network, and it made every other carrier nuts because they wanted to have the same thing, and they all went out looking for an antidote to the iPhone. The really compelling part of the BlackBerry story is how they reacted that day. Over in Mountain View, California, you had the folks at Google under a secret project. One was for a new keyboard phone and the other was for a touch screen phone that was going to be run on Android. The minute they watched that live, streaming on the internet, they realized that their project keyboard was dead, and they immediately shifted everything to the touch screen phone….

Mike Lazaridis looked at this announcement, looked at what Steve Jobs was offering, and said, “This is an impossibility.” Again, the conservative engineer brought up on conservation said, “The networks won’t be able to carry this. It’s an impossibility. It’s illogical that anyone would even propose this.” He was right for the first two years. Remember all the dropped calls, all the frustrations, all the lawsuits against Apple and the carriers. It didn’t work….

But then it did, and RIM got it wrong. Two years is a lifetime at a technology rate, and by the time they realized what a serious threat it was, they were at that point followers.

Reed: What do you think is the public’s greatest misconception about the BlackBerry story?

McNish: A lot of people think that Mike and Jim and the folks at the senior offices in BlackBerry were arrogant and didn’t understand iPhone and just focused only on BlackBerry. There is an element of truth to all of that. Yes, they missed the turn, but they were missing the turn at a time when they were going from zero to $20 billion. They were growing at a rate of 25% every quarter. You talk to any business person, that’s an impossibility.

They were expanding in Indonesia and India, in other parts of the world. They were huge. They couldn’t keep up with the demand, and they were coproducing new factories everywhere to keep up with it. So imagine going to your board of directors or your shareholders because you’re a publicly traded company and saying, “You know this BlackBerry thing? It’s probably going to be history in a couple of years. We’re going to stop making it, and we’re going to regroup and move into something we know nothing about.” When you have that kind of momentum, it’s really hard.

Reed: It’s hard. You become a victim of your own success in some senses.

McNish: Exactly, exactly…. When you’re a publicly traded company, your options are pretty limited. What I would layer on top of that is they had a series of really unfortunate events. Everything from a horrific and badly managed patent battle in the United States [to] the three-day outage of 2009, which made everyone question their faith in the BlackBerry. We all remember where we were for those three days….

Then there was the Playbook, and then there were other phones. There was just one disaster after another, and this is how businesses fail. At first it’s slow, and then it’s very fast.

Reed: John Chen is now charged with the difficult task of turning this thing around. What are some of the broader takeaways and learnings that you think are critical from having written the book?

McNish: The thing that I take away, and we conclude with, is that the race is faster than ever. It never ends, and the people who are the leaders today will most likely be the followers tomorrow because it’s very, very difficult to stay ahead. It is so easy today to innovate…. In the old days when you were a GE factory or an auto factory or a parts supplier, there were huge barriers to entry because you were spending hundreds of millions of dollars on plants. You were pretty well assured that there wouldn’t be an excess of competitors.

Today, that’s disappeared. There are groups of kids coming out of Stanford, out of Waterloo University, all these technology companies. All they have to do if they’ve got a Visa card is rent server time, set up an office, get some people with code experience…. Those barriers don’t exist anymore….

These days you’re an algorithm away from some pretty serious competition. Look at what Apple is trying to do with payment system. I wouldn’t want to be a bank right now. It’s a lot of disruption, and the worst mistake you can make is think that we’re better, we can out-muscle them or we can buy them or handle that competition. I don’t think you can.

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How BlackBerry Fell

By Vauhini Vara

Shares in the Canadian maker of BlackBerry smartphones peaked in August of 2007, at two hundred and thirty-six dollars. In retrospect, the company was facing an inflection point and was completely unaware. Seven months earlier, in January, Apple had introduced the iPhone at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Executives at BlackBerry, then called Research in Motion, decided to let Apple focus on the general-use smartphone market, while it would continue selling BlackBerry products to business and government customers that bought the devices for employees. “In terms of a sort of a sea change for BlackBerry,” the company’s co-C.E.O Jim Balsillie said at the time , referring to the iPhone’s impact on the industry, “I would think that’s overstating it.”

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. This was a striking declaration: although BlackBerry has been in trouble for some time—it underwent a public “strategy review” of its business plan a year ago—its decision to put up a giant, blinking for-sale sign suggests it has become especially desperate. If BlackBerry sells itself, the buyer’s biggest gains will be a pile of cash, a big portfolio of patents, and some security technology. In other words, one of the companies that pioneered the smartphone market may soon end up selling itself as scrap.

BlackBerry, founded in 1984 by a pair of engineering students, Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin, was for years one of the world’s most innovative builders of communications products like two-way pagers and e-mail devices. But the story of its past six years has been one of missed opportunities. First, the company failed to recognize that the iPhone could hurt it. Then it overlooked the threat of low-cost competitors in Asia. Finally, and most recently, executives threw the company’s little remaining energy into a new line of high-end smartphones that failed to resonate with consumers, having arrived far too late with too little to offer.

BlackBerry, of course, wasn’t the only company that made the mistake of ignoring the iPhone and the revolution it portended: engineers at Nokia, which, years earlier, had introduced a one-pound smartphone, dismissed the iPhone because, among other reasons, it failed to pass a test in which phones were dropped five feet onto concrete over and over again, the Wall Street Journal reported last year. Microsoft C.E.O. Steve Ballmer actually laughed at the iPhone. “It doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard,” he said. Nokia and Microsoft, which are now building smartphones in partnership with each other, have, like BlackBerry, seen their share of the market shrink.

As early as 2009, BlackBerry’s share price had fallen to less than fifty dollars, from its high of two hundred and thirty-six dollars in the summer of 2007. The “consumerization” of business technology was already underway, and the company had failed to come to grips with it: 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. Simultaneously, companies realized that workers would be happier and more productive buying the device of their choice, and the firms themselves, spared the expense of providing their employees with phones, would save money.

By the time BlackBerry realized it needed to reach consumers directly, it was too late. In November, 2008, the company released its first touchscreen phone, the Storm, to middling reviews. BlackBerry then turned its focus to Asia and Latin America, where the smartphone market continued to explode. For several months, the strategy worked. In Indonesia, where the company made a special push , its products held forty-seven per cent of the market by the first half of 2011, up from only nine per cent in the first half of 2009, according to the research firm Canalys. The decline in the company’s stock price finally started to level off. But the plateau was short-lived: soon, a new crop of Asian companies started to build cheaper smartphones.

Around the time that BlackBerry deepened its efforts in emerging markets, it also bought QNX Software Systems, whose operating systems powered technology ranging from medical devices to computerized automobile interfaces. BlackBerry hoped to augment its own operating-system expertise—but in April of 2011, when the company introduced a tablet powered by a QNX-based operating system, the PlayBook, it flopped.

Then BlackBerry appointed a new C.E.O., Thorsten Heins, at the start of 2012. It would take a year for the firm to throw what David Pogue, the Times technology critic, called “BlackBerry’s Hail Mary pass”: this January, the company launched the Q10 and Z10, its most serious attempts at high-end phones that would actually be attractive to everyday consumers. While some critics praised the phones—Pogue called the Z10 “lovely, fast and efficient, bristling with fresh, useful ideas”—they have failed to sell as well as the company had hoped. In its most recent quarter, BlackBerry shipped only 6.8 million smartphones—roughly a fifth of what Apple sold during the same period.

Coming six years after the iPhone’s introduction, the Hail Mary hardly stood a chance. BlackBerry had lost the game long ago.

Photograph by Lucas Jackson/Reuters.

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By Bill McKibben

By Anthony Lane

Mini-Case Study: the Downfall of Blackberry Ali Moussi Universteit Van Amsterdam 6068324 [email protected]

Mini-Case study: The downfall of Blackberry Ali Moussi Universteit van Amsterdam 6068324 [email protected]

continuously take losses, while section 3 expands on the 1. INTRODUCTION influence of management which allows such losses to In 1984 Research In Motion (RIM), later renamed Blackberry continuously happen. was founded. The company designed complex wireless data connection networks which were used by the police forces, military, ambulance services and such. Following rapid growth 2. INNOVATIVE COMPETITION AND and innovation, RIM developed a revolutionary pager, a device CYCLIC ADAPTATION MISALIGNMENT that can be used to send and receive messages which used their In the period 1984 to 2007 Blackberry was extremely successful communication technologies. Soon, this ‘personal in their launches of innovative products and services. During communicator’ was labelled as the next big thing. The this period we can see a clear pattern in the adaptive cycle of Inter@active was deployed in 1996 as RIM’s first handheld Blackberry. Their secure data connection networks where communication device. In the next years, RIM continued a exploited, and conserved which made the company a key player steady line of innovations and improved the handheld in enterprise communication. Soon, these technologies where communication device greatly. By 1999, RIM launched the ‘released’ and through innovation and reorganization their Blackberry rebranded devices and email services which allowed products where significantly improved, even new products were users to sync their devices with corporate email systems. introduced like the pager, and the BBM messenger service for Demand exploded, innovation continued. Blackberry became the consumers. A cycle that Blackberry used to steadily improved iconic in enterprise communication while their Blackberry their mobile communication businesses. This made them an Messenger (BBM) service was introduced to consumers that incredibly valuable company in 2007. Also, in 2007 Apple used a secure protocol that can be used to communicate with introduced the iPhone with which Apple claims to have friends. In 2007 the company became the most valuable ‘reinvented the phone’. This reinvention was a well thought company in Canada worth over 67 Billion, with 10 million product learned greatly from the success of the largest players in subscribers to their services and introduced their newly the business. developed Blackberry Curve devices. Unfortunately, in 2007 the Apple iPhone was introduced. This moment onwards, the During this introduction of the iPhone, cyclic adaption success of Blackberry was no longer groundbreaking, followed misalignment occurred for Blackberry. I define cyclic adaptation by a period of decline and unsuccessful products, ending in an misalignment as the situation in which a business lags one or uncontrolled strategic focus which a great loss of value and more phase behind on their competitors in the adaptive cycle in market share as a result as depicted in figure 1 which illustrate the domain of pioneering innovation technologies. Argued is the market share of Blackberry in smartphone sales of the that in a situation of pioneers and innovation, cyclic adaption provider Verizon (iPhone was first sold at Verizon in Q1’11). misalignment causes a company to always be one step behind the competition and therefore miss out on many opportunities In this case-study, I argue why this happened to blackberry in and therefore lose market share. relation to innovation and managerial decision-making. Section 2 discusses how innovation of competitors caused Blackberry to This happened at Blackberry when the iPhone was launched, an innovative mobile connectivity device which offered many of the desired features. The iPhone brought some crucial innovations that the blackberry lacked. The first is design. The 2007 iPhone was successfully designed to be extremely user friendly and intuitive. Google, introduced their android platform, and started to focus on designing a user centered interface for their operating system. It was not until 2008 that Blackberry introduced the Blackberry Storm in an attempted to create a device that was designed to give the user an optimal experience through intuitive interfaces and device design. But it was flawed and unsuccessful. A year later, blackberry reached their ‘reorganization’ step of the adaptive cycle and introduced their Blackberry Storm innovation. However, at this point the competition (Apple & Google) where already in the next cycle of adaptation. Secondly, in 2008 Google introduced their Playstore. A virtual store in which users could purchases application that they

Figure 1 market share of Blackberry in smartphone sales of the provider Verizon desired on their mobile device. In that same year, Apple also successful enterprise communication architectures, and widely introduced the similar App store. Both focused in on increasing used mobile devices equipped with BBM Messenger for the number and quality of the available apps a user and consumers through innovation of their pager. No radical download to ensure a good user experience with their devices. innovations were introduced, which gives me reason to believe Again clear trend is visible in which these companies introduce the management remained too focused on improve the business radical new innovations which they continue to exploit. and too little with research and development. This managerial Blackberry did not. It was not until 2009 that RIM’s APP world approach of adaptation cycles that are conservative and focused was introduced. As a result the amount of apps available was on improving their products was developed pre-iPhone and significantly lesser than that of the Apple Appstore and the worked well. But after this era the competitors brought radical Google Playstore. A problem that remained and again, the as well as disruptive innovations to the market. An example of competitors were one cycle ahead, and left Blackberry one step this is the cross-platform Whatsapp messenger which behind. In an attempt to keep up, in 2010 blackberry purchased undermined the BBM in a fast pace. Here the blackberry the company Ottawa-based QNX Software Systems which management still maintained in refining their own products would help improve the design of the blackberry operating which was a waste of effort as they were replaced. I argue that system to compete with what Apple and Google have been post-iPhone, Blackberry should have installed new managers doing for years. who used more radical adaptation cycles to stay in a market with Thirdly, and again in the same year, 2010 where Blackberry was fierce competition. still finding their way of catching up, Apple introduced their revolutionary iPad tablet. In order to not miss out again, this 4. CONCLUSION time only a few months later Blackberry announced their RIM started with groundbreaking products and using relatively Playbook tablet which would not be available till next year. In small adaptive cycles, Blackberry continuously improved their that next year, Blackberry delivered an unpolished product products leading to an incredibly successful and valuable which was not received well by the consumers. I believe that in company in 2007. However these conservative adaptation cycles an attempt to make sure they do not lag behind too long again, that continuously improved the products of Blackberry they speeded up their adaptive cycle process and announced eventually lead to their downfall. As the management learned their innovative products to maintain market share. However this behavior in the years pre-iPhone, it is unlikely they will this rush caused them to deliver products of lower quality which change this successful approach post-iPhone. This managerial proved fatal as the Playbook was very unsuccessful. approach also caused Blackberry to remain in cyclic adaptation These three examples show how Blackberry suffered from misalignment as the competitors used more radical adaptive cyclic adaptation misalignment which caused the company to cycles which left Blackberry following a year behind. I conclude stay behind on their competition which makes it a matter of time with arguing that Blackberry should have appointed a new until Blackberry succumbs to the success of the competition. management with a fresh perspective managing Blackberry in the new technological era with fierce competition. It is not until 2013 that the CEO and other managers stepped down, and 3. MANGERIAL EFFECT ON ADAPTIVE blackberry became desperate for a new strategic course. Even considering tragically splitting the company and selling the CYLE remaining parts to companies who are luring for Blackberry’s It is only logical consider why an organization would remain patents and technologies. November 4 2013, the sale plan is behind in a state of cyclic adaptation misalignment and not make aborted and Blackberry receives an investment for one last try an effort to catch up or redesign to match their competitors as under leadership of the new CEO John Chen. Is the new the adaptive cycle is merely a model and also adaptive in nature management a good choice? I believe so. As long as which means everything is possible. Continuing the analysis of Blackberry’s adaptive cycle will become more radical and Blackberry, an explanation for the fact Blackberry continuously innovative, in order to push the company out of cyclic remained in cyclic adaptation misalignment is given in this adaptation misalignment. But time will tell. section. One reason Blackberry found itself trapped behind is that speeding up their adaptive cycles did not yield desired results. Recall, after Apple introduced the iPad, Blackberry responded quickly with their playbook in an attempt to match up. I argue that speeding up the adaptive cycles in a business is not the right methodology to get an organization out of the cyclic adaptation misalignment. Speeding up your adaption cycles leads to rushing which results in quality loss as demonstrated by the failure of Blackberry’s fast responsive with the Playbook tablet.

Another reason why blackberry remain behind is from the managerial perspective. Pre-iPhone, or before 2007, Blackberry had little competition in their field of secure data communication networks like BBM, email services, and even some of their mobile devices where state of the art. What is noticeable from the complete duration of the existence of Blackberry is that their innovation consisted of refining their existing technologies. This they did successfully leading to their

• BlackBerry /

BlackBerry's success led to its failure

With a little help from apple and google.

By Vlad Savov

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It’s mobile prehistory at this point, but there was once a time when the ultimate smartphone you could get was a BlackBerry. Before Apple’s iPhone arrived, Google’s first Android prototypes were basically BlackBerry clones . It’s easy to think of the stratospheric rise of Android and the iPhone over the past few years as inevitable, but we sometimes forget just what outsiders both of these platforms once were. Back in 2006, neither Apple nor Google had established relationships with carriers. Neither had a loyal following of business users to bolster its consumer proposition. And neither had the best text-input method ever devised for a pocketable device. BlackBerry, then known as Research In Motion, did. And it’s partially because of those advantages that BlackBerry is this week shuttering its phone design and manufacturing for good.

The story of BlackBerry’s mobile demise stretches so far back that we wrote a forensic dissection of it back in early 2012. It’s actually to the company’s credit that it managed its crash landing as well and for as long as it has done. BlackBerry persists today and has refashioned itself around its enterprise and software services, which have been propping it up for a while, and doesn’t look to be in danger of following in Nokia or Palm’s ill-fated footsteps.

Android manufacturers came in with nothing to lose at the time of greatest innovation

But the reason why BlackBerry is interesting today is that it provides a prime example of an incumbent business being disrupted by sprightlier newcomers. Success, as BlackBerry had a decade ago , breeds two interrelated negatives: conservatism and complacency.

At the time of the iPhone and Android’s arrival, the whole mobile industry was on the precipice of moving to bigger touchscreen displays. That was the destination that technology was evolving toward, and it was a trend that Apple jumped on with perfect timing, and later companies like HTC and Samsung exploited to the fullest. HTC was never influential enough to unilaterally dictate that screen manufacturers build bigger, and the prime reason for its repeated success at the start of this decade was that it had nothing to lose and just kept moving to the latest spec with the greatest speed. Most Android OEMs, in fact — companies like LG and Sony along with Samsung and HTC — essentially functioned as dumb conduits for the latest specs. Dual-core processors become available and LG was so fast to implement them that it got a Guinness World Record for it (and a bunch of dissatisfied users owing to its buggy performance ).

Focusing on the tens of millions of customers it already had, BlackBerry missed out on the billions that were to come

While all the tumult and furious evolution was happening on the Android front, BlackBerry was more concerned with protecting what it already had instead of conquering new lands. It’s understandable. The majority of big businesses and government organizations relied on BlackBerry’s superb security, reliable email, and utilitarian functionality to keep their workers productive on the move. BlackBerry Messenger had even accomplished the unlikely feat of making a business device popular among young users as well. Nokia’s Symbian might have had the biggest share of the global market, but BlackBerry dominated in the United States, which has been the tastemaker for new technology products since forever. It was just a comfortable place to be in.

It’s hard to argue that BlackBerry should have thrown away all the goodwill and loyalty it had accrued with customers and thrown itself into the large-screen smartphone race. The BlackBerry keyboard will remain an iconic part of mobile history precisely because of how effective and popular it was. It’s just that the mobile industry went through a uniquely transformative period of rapid evolution at a time when BlackBerry was best served by making iterative improvements.

BlackBerry thought it had more time and room for error than it actually did

But being conservative and seeking to appease existing customers was only half of the problem. BlackBerry also exhibited hubris with disturbing regularity. It launched the PlayBook tablet without an email client on board. It insisted, along with Adobe, that Flash would be the future of rich mobile content , and it delayed the release of a spec-competitive smartphone until it had a chip powerful enough to handle the requirements of Flash. BlackBerry believed people would wait for its superior product or would put up with limitations, because, well, it’s BlackBerry. If that sounds like Apple’s approach with things like the recent headphone jack removal , the big difference is that BlackBerry was selling tens of millions of devices per year at its zenith, whereas Apple now does close to double BlackBerry’s annual tallies each quarter. The latter simply has more latitude to act haughty.

It’s the very definition of complacency to think that you have more room for error than you actually do. And that was BlackBerry, a company that knew it had a lot of assets and advantages, and therefore exhibited a reluctance to embrace change and a consistent smugness about what it had already accomplished. To be fair, most of BlackBerry’s biggest mistakes — things like keeping BBM locked down to its own hardware in a world where the cross-platform WhatsApp grew into a $19 billion business — are historic, but it was as recently as last year that the company’s CEO was showing off a new device without actually being familiar with what it could do, or even what its peculiar name, Priv, is supposed to stand for.

So now, with a quiet whimper of irrelevance, BlackBerry departs the smartphone market that it once helped to shape and define. It's an instructive lesson to any company with less than a billion users of its products or services: no matter how good you may already be, there's always the potential to do better, and if you're not willing to change and do the scary new thing, someone else will. Adapt or die.

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Bits | behind the downfall at blackberry, behind the downfall at blackberry.

Ever since Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis stepped down as co-chairmen and co-chief executives of BlackBerry, neither has spoken much in public about the once-dominant smartphone maker’s fall into near market obscurity. The two and many others have opened up, however, to two reporters from The Globe and Mail in Toronto: Jacquie McNish, a senior business writer and author of several books and Sean Silcoff, who reports about the company. The resulting book, “ Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry ,” which will be published in the United States on Tuesday, fills in some details of the early history of BlackBerry. And its later chapters offer gripping details about the emotional and business turmoil surrounding its near collapse.

How did you gain what seems like extensive access to Mr. Lazardis and Mr. Balsillie?

Ms. McNish: Sean opened the door in 2013 when we were doing a long-simmering investigation into the company. Up until that point, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis were very frustrated with the common narrative and they were willing to tell a much more complex story.

At times, Sean and I felt like we were therapists. We interviewed 120 people and I think the vast majority of them have some form of post-traumatic stress syndrome.

What was their initial reaction to the iPhone?

Mr. Silcoff: It was an interesting contrast to the team at Google, which was working on smartphones at the time. Google seemed to realize immediately that the world had changed and scrapped its keyboard plans.

At BlackBerry, they sort of dismissed the need to do anything about it in the short term.

Ms. McNish: One thing that they misunderstood is how the game had changed when AT&T announced its deal with Apple. BlackBerry had built its whole business model on offering carriers products that worked efficiently on their networks.

The first thing Mike Lazaridis said when he saw an iPhone at home is that this will never work, the network can’t sustain it. What they misunderstood is that the consumer demand would make carriers invest in their networks.

Verizon’s need for an alternative to the iPhone, which was sold exclusively by AT&T at first, forced BlackBerry into the touchscreen business. Why was the result, the BlackBerry Storm, a technical and sales disaster?

Mr. Silcoff: Verizon presented them with a very tight deadline to deliver a touch screen. It was very early times for touchscreens and it wasn’t clear that the iPhone would end up as the model for the market.

Mike Lazaridis hated typing on glass, so he came up with a new vision for glass that required users to push on it. That combined with the deadline and an inadequate operating system meant that there were a lot of long odds going against BlackBerry.

It was their biggest order ever. But when the Storm came out late and buggy for Thanksgiving 2008, what they hoped would be the next big move was disaster for the company.

Ms. McNish: One of the big reveals for us in the book was the enormous power wielded by carriers in the smartphone race. Verizon pushed BlackBerry to deliver its touchscreen Storm phone in little more than a year and when the rushed product failed, Verizon demanded $500 million to recover its losses. BlackBerry balked at the big ask, but in the end shouldered more than $100 million in repairs and other benefits.

In the wake of Apple’s ascendency, carriers have seen their clout and economic value significantly diminished as customers spend more of their smartphone money on Apple phones, apps and other content than they do on carrier bills. It is one of the greatest wealth transfers in our generation.

Although it was phone purchases by consumers that brought BlackBerry to its peak, did the company ever understand that segment of its business?

Ms. McNish: David Yach, the former chief technology officer, said that he learned in retrospect that beauty mattered, fun mattered. That was so antithetical to BlackBerry. It was aimed at efficiency, security and all the practical things people in the biz world want.

What do you see for the company they left behind for John Chen, the company’s current chief executive?

Ms. McNish: Their biggest investor is a long term player — they are not looking for a quick fix.

And they have time, in part because of BlackBerry’s legacy of very prudent fiscal management.

Mr. Silcoff: John Chen has a tall order on his hands. Their revenues are still falling there’s no clear indication yet that the world needs more BlackBerry phones. He has an ambitious plan but he has yet to show that his software will start delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in in new revenues.

This was a company that had $20 billion in revenue and changed the way we communicated. It’s not likely we’ll see that lightning strike again.

What's Next

The Rise and Fall of BlackBerry: A Lesson in Technological Evolution

Rishi Mundra , Subham Kumar

The story of BlackBerry is a cautionary tale of a once-dominant player in the smartphone industry who ultimately fell from grace. At its peak, BlackBerry was a trailblazer, pioneering on-the-go communication and email with its iconic keyboard-enabled phones. However, the company's slow adaptation to changing market trends, lack of consumer focus, and missed opportunities ultimately led to its downfall. In this article, we shall shed light on the key factors that contributed to BlackBerry's decline and examine the lessons that can be learned from its spectacular failure.

The Rise of BlackBerry Missed Opportunities and Lack of Adaptation The Rise of the iPhone and Android The Failure to Innovate The Shift to Software and Cybersecurity Lessons Learned from BlackBerry's Downfall

The Rise of BlackBerry

BlackBerry, initially known as Research in Motion (RIM), emerged in the late 1990s and quickly gained traction in the smartphone market. The company's early success was fueled by its innovative products, such as the Interactive Pager 950, which introduced on-the-go communication and email capabilities. With its signature keyboard and secure messaging system , BlackBerry became synonymous with professionalism and efficiency.

Throughout the early 2000s, BlackBerry continued to expand its product portfolio and solidify its position in the market. The introduction of the BlackBerry Pearl series, Curve, and Bold product lines further cemented the company's success. BlackBerry's user base grew rapidly, and by 2011, it boasted more than 50 million units sold worldwide.

Missed Opportunities and Lack of Adaptation

Despite its initial success, BlackBerry failed to anticipate and adapt to key market shifts, leading to its downfall. One of the critical mistakes made by the company was its slow response to the touch screen revolution. While competitors like Apple were going for touch screen technology, BlackBerry remained loyal to its keyboard-enabled devices. This decision proved to be a significant misstep, as consumers increasingly gravitated towards touch screen devices.

Furthermore, BlackBerry's lack of consumer focus played a significant role in its decline. The company primarily catered to corporate and government customers, neglecting the broader consumer market. While BlackBerry's devices offered robust security and email capabilities, they lacked the intuitive user experience and app ecosystem that consumers were seeking.

The Rise of the iPhone and Android

The introduction of the iPhone in 2007 marked a turning point in the smartphone industry . With its sleek design, touch screen interface, and extensive app store, the iPhone changed the way people interacted with their mobile devices. BlackBerry, however, failed to recognize the iPhone as a direct competitor and continued to focus on its core business customers.

At the same time, Android smartphones began to gain traction, offering consumers a wide range of device options and customization capabilities. BlackBerry, with its limited device selection and lacklustre app store, struggled to compete with the growing popularity of iPhones and Android devices.

The Failure to Innovate

Another critical factor in BlackBerry's decline was its failure to innovate and keep up with evolving consumer demands. While BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) gained popularity as a messaging platform, the company missed the opportunity to expand its user base by locking the service exclusively to BlackBerry devices. Competitors like WhatsApp , which offered cross-platform messaging, quickly surpassed BBM in popularity and user adoption.

Additionally, BlackBerry's operating system (OS) faced significant limitations in terms of app availability and user experience. While competitors like Apple and Android devices offered a vast array of applications, BlackBerry struggled to attract developers and provide an appealing app ecosystem for its users. As a result, BlackBerry devices became increasingly outdated and less desirable to consumers.

The Shift to Software and Cybersecurity

Recognising the need for a strategic pivot, BlackBerry decided to shift its focus from hardware to software and cybersecurity . In 2016, the company ceased smartphone manufacturing and transitioned into a software firm. Today, BlackBerry specialises in providing cybersecurity solutions and software services to businesses and governments.

The shift to software has allowed BlackBerry to leverage its expertise in security and build a new business model. The company offers a range of products and services, including endpoint security, threat intelligence, and secure communication solutions. BlackBerry's cybersecurity offerings have gained traction in the market, positioning the company as a key player in the industry.

Lessons Learned from BlackBerry's Downfall

The rise and fall of BlackBerry offer valuable lessons for companies operating in the fast-paced and ever-evolving technology industry. First and foremost, adaptability is crucial. Companies must be willing to embrace change and respond to shifting market dynamics. BlackBerry's failure to recognise the significance of touch screen technology and adapt its devices accordingly proved to be a fatal mistake.

Secondly, consumer focus is essential for long-term success. While BlackBerry initially targeted corporate and government customers, it failed to recognise the growing importance of the consumer market. Companies must understand the needs and preferences of their target audience and prioritise delivering a compelling user experience.

Furthermore, innovation is key to staying competitive. BlackBerry's reluctance to innovate and introduce new features and functionalities limited its ability to attract and retain customers. In today's fast-paced technology landscape, companies must continuously innovate and evolve to meet the ever-changing demands of consumers.

Lastly, strategic pivots can be necessary for survival. BlackBerry's decision to shift its focus from hardware to software and cybersecurity allowed the company to capitalize on its strengths and remain relevant in the industry. Companies must be willing to reassess their business models and make bold decisions to adapt to changing market conditions.

The rise and fall of BlackBerry serve as a powerful reminder of the importance of adaptability, consumer focus, innovation, and strategic pivots in the technology industry. While BlackBerry's dominance in the smartphone market may be a thing of the past, the company's transformation into a software and cybersecurity provider demonstrates its resilience and ability to evolve.

The lessons learned from BlackBerry's downfall can guide other companies in overcoming the challenges and opportunities presented by technological advancements. By inculcating change, understanding customer needs, pushing for innovation, and making strategic shifts when necessary, companies can position themselves for long-term success in an ever-changing market.

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The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again?) of BlackBerry

The roller coaster journey of the world's original smartphone leader.

In many ways, BlackBerry was the producer of the world’s first widely-adopted premium smartphone brand. At its peak, Blackberry owned over 50% of the US and 20% of the global smartphone market, sold over 50 million devices a year, had its device referred to as the “CrackBerry”, and boasted a stock price of over $230. Today, BlackBerry has 0% share of the smartphone market and has a stock price that has hovered in the high single digits for most of the past few years. How did BlackBerry fall from such soaring heights?

First, a little bit of history. BlackBerry was founded in 1984 (as Research in Motion) and was originally a developer of connectivity technology like modems and pagers. In 2000, the company introduced its first mobile phone product in the BlackBerry 957, which came with functionality for push email and internet. Over the ensuing decade, the BlackBerry became the device of choice in corporate America due to its enterprise-level security and business functionality. Even after the competitive entry of the iPhone in 2007 and Google’s Android OS in 2008, BlackBerry was certainly not destined for failure. In fact, BlackBerry continued to dominate the smartphone market through 2010, when it still held over 40% of domestic and nearly 20% of global market share.

Ultimately, however, it was a combination of slow market reactions, focusing on the wrong end market, misunderstanding the smartphone’s value proposition, and poor execution that sealed BlackBerry’s fate.

Slow market reaction to competition. BlackBerry’s leadership initially dismissed Apple’s touchscreen iPhone, insisting that users preferred their physical keyboard. When the iPhone sold well, BlackBerry hastily released a touchscreen device (BlackBerry Storm), which often didn’t work properly and was met with horrendous reviews. Subsequent devices reintroduced the keyboard in a combo touchscreen-keyboard setup (e.g., BlackBerry Bold), which momentarily stemmed the tide, but would eventually prove misguided as the market continued moving toward larger screen real-estate.

Pathways to a Just Digital Future

Focusing on the wrong end market . As Apple and Google made smartphones accessible to the mass consumer by creating slick user interfaces and attractive apps, BlackBerry remained doggedly focused on its enterprise customers and their security and connectivity requirements. This was the traditional innovator’s dilemma at work – BlackBerry catered to its most important customers that generated most of its revenue and profits, and hence neglected the end market that would ultimately become the most important. When enterprises adopted “Bring Your Device” policies, it was no surprise that employees began replacing work BlackBerries with personal iPhones or Android phones en masse.

Misunderstanding the smartphone’s value proposition. In part due to its enterprise focus, BlackBerry innovated primarily around feature improvement – faster email, better security, etc. In doing so, it missed the value proposition of the smartphone as a platform for personal productivity and entertainment. While Apple and Google built a moat around their third-party app ecosystems, BlackBerry’s insistence on first-party development made its devices far inferior. Even its most popular app, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), was leveraged ineffectively – by mandating that BBM be installed only on BlackBerry devices instead of building up a larger user base across platforms, BlackBerry missed the opportunity that third-party messaging apps like WhatsApp eventually took advantage of.

Poor execution. Even when it did try to adapt, BlackBerry couldn’t execute properly. The launch of the touchscreen Storm in 2008 was a colossal failure. The 2010 release of the Playbook tablet was largely derided for a lack of native email, calendar, and contacts applications. Even its more recent incarnations, like the BlackBerry Priv in 2015, suffered from ineffective product launches, poor functionality, and incoherent value propositions.

It’s not surprising that BlackBerry lost the smartphone wars. But BlackBerry’s story may have another chapter that is yet to be written. Since bringing on turnaround veteran John Chen as CEO in late 2013, BlackBerry has given up on producing phones and has reinvented itself as a software and services business. Leveraging a portfolio of enterprise security products and riding the wave of automotive innovation with its QNX system, Chen seems to have righted the ship. In its most recent quarter (Q3 2017), BlackBerry reported 7% growth in software and services and guided to 10-15% growth for the year. In the autonomous vehicle space, BlackBerry has partnered with Baidu, Nvidia, and Qualcomm to secure their software. Investors have rewarded the company – its stock price now sits around $13 per share, a level not seen since mid-2013. Though the situation looks more promising than it has for a long time, only time will tell whether BlackBerry will rise again.

• BlackBerry Financial Reports. https://us.blackberry.com/company/investors.
• “BlackBerry Doubles Down on Car Software With Hack Protection.” Bloomberg.Com , January 15, 2018. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-15/blackberry-doubles-down-on-car-software-with-hack-protection .
• “BlackBerry Jumps as CEO Forecasts High End of Revenue Range.” Bloomberg.Com , December 20, 2017. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-20/blackberry-beats-estimates-on-new-government-software-contracts .
• Dunn, Jeff. “Here’s How Dramatic BlackBerry’s Fall Has Actually Been.” Business Insider. Accessed January 31, 2018. http://www.businessinsider.com/blackberry-phone-sales-decline-chart-2016-9 .
• Reed, Brad. “Why the BlackBerry Storm Was the Single Biggest Disaster in Smartphone History.” BGR (blog), May 25, 2015. http://bgr.com/2015/05/25/worst-smartphone-ever-blackberry-storm/ .
• Savov, Vlad. “BlackBerry’s Success Led to Its Failure.” The Verge, September 30, 2016. https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/30/13119924/blackberry-failure-success .
• Vara, Vauhini. “How BlackBerry Fell.” The New Yorker , August 12, 2013. https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/how-blackberry-fell .
• Warren, Christina. “BlackBerry Bust: RIM Takes a $485 Million Hit on the Ailing PlayBook.” Mashable. Accessed January 31, 2018. https://mashable.com/2011/12/02/playbook-485-million-charge/ .
• Woods, Ben. “The Road to BlackBerry 10: The Evolution of RIM’s OS and BES.” ZDNet. Accessed January 31, 2018. http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-road-to-blackberry-10-the-evolution-of-rims-os-and-bes/ .

Student comments on The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again?) of BlackBerry

Thank you for the post, very interesting! I totally agree with the reasons why Blackberry lost the smartphone war. I also agree with the new CEO’s vision on no longer focusing on phones and targeting software, security, and internet of things. I believe that this is a good way of staying in business. Only one new though on this space, should they still use the brand Blackberry for selling their services? should the company still be named Blackberry? isn’t Blackberry’s brand related to an obsolete and weak technology? Is this the best way to proceed in terms of marketing?

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The Rise and Fall of Blackberry

The launch of the BlackBerry by Research in Motion (RIM) in 1999 laid the foundation for the development of smartphones.  The next decade was a period of spectacular growth for RIM, making its two co-CEOs billionaires.  At the end of 2007 the company had a market capitalization of more than $60 billion.  Sales peaked at almost $20 billion in 2011.  In 2016 sales were $2.2 billion and the company had lost money for four straight years.  Market capitalization was $4 billion in August 2016.  The future of BlackBerry (the company changed its name from RIM to BlackBerry) as a hardware company was uncertain.

The demise of the BlackBerry is a lesson for other gadget makers

BlackBerry Ltd is pulling the plug on service for its once-ubiquitous business smartphones, which were toted by executives, politicians and legions of fans in the early 2000s.

Key points:

BlackBerry has been leapfrogged by the iPhone

In recent years, BlackBerry switched to cybersecurity software and embedded operating systems for cars

BlackBerry's 5G phone is still coming out, though with significant delays

Top executives hungered for their “crackberries” and that allowed the company to charge premium prices. 

The addiction propelled it to over $110 billion (USD $80 billion) market capitalisation in 2008. 

BlackBerry’s unique selling point was email on the go. But, soon, iPhones hit the market. 

Former US President Barack Obama, one of BlackBerry's most celebrated users, made headlines in 2016 when he was asked to give it up and replace it with an unnamed smartphone.

With a more-intuitive operating system and a vast number of apps, users around the world started switching to the iPhone and didn't stop.

Blackberry's fall marks the end of an era as the phones, which had tiny QWERTY physical keyboards, pioneered push email and the BBM instant messaging service.

In recent years, the company pivoted to making cybersecurity software and embedded operating systems for cars.

Social media has been alight with tributes. 

One Twitter user reminisced it was a "fabulous machine" and hoped the company's phones would be resurrected.

In a document published in 2020, the company said it would take steps to decommission legacy services for BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry OS operating systems and added devices running on them would no longer be supported and may not be able to receive or send data, make phone calls or send messages reliably.

A US judge last week rejected the company's bid to dismiss a lawsuit claiming it defrauded shareholders by inflating the success and profitability of smartphones using BlackBerry 10 OS, and said the class-action case could go to trial this fall. 

Lesson to learn

Makers of early digital organisers, GPS devices and video cameras have all been likewise gutted by rival gadgets that leapfrogged them. 

Wireless-speaker specialist Sonos, for one, has learned the lesson: It now embeds virtual-assistant technology from Amazon.com.

And TV streaming hardware outfit Roku has moved into content. They have their work cut out to stay in front. 

BlackBerry's lesson is that, when cult gadgets start losing their edge, it's hard to pull out of the descent. 

Of course, the company may not agree.

Late last week, Onward Mobility – the company that got the licence to produce BlackBerry phones in 2020 — put out a statement saying: "Contrary to popular belief, we are not dead."

Onward Mobility says its new 5G BlackBerry phone is still coming, although it was supposed to launch in 2021. 

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The Fall of BlackBerry: How Ignoring Innovation Led to Decline

In the ever-changing landscape of technology, adaptability is key. Our latest blog post delves deep into the rise, fall, and potential resurgence of BlackBerry—a brand that once dominated the mobile tech world but faltered due to its failure to innovate. From its early days as a corporate darling to its struggle to keep up with giants like Apple and Android, we explore the critical decisions that led to BlackBerry's decline. But the story doesn't end there; BlackBerry is fighting for a second act, pivoting its focus towards software and services. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a business leader, or someone intrigued by the dynamics of success and failure, this article offers valuable lessons in innovation and adaptability. Don't miss it!

Time for Designs

From Tech Titan to Falling Star: The BlackBerry Odyssey

Remember the days when the BlackBerry was the epitome of cool in the corporate world? When that tiny keyboard and unique trackball were the ultimate symbols of business savvy and connectivity? BlackBerry was more than just a smartphone; it was a status symbol, a game-changer that redefined our concept of mobile communication.

But what happens when an industry titan becomes a relic? When the disruptor gets disrupted? Imagine leading the market one moment and becoming a case study in failure the next. Intrigued? You should be.

In this comprehensive exploration, we'll journey through BlackBerry's meteoric rise to its unfortunate decline. We'll dissect the critical decisions, market shifts, and, most importantly, the glaring lack of innovation that led to its downfall. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a business leader, or someone interested in the dynamics of success and failure, this article promises to offer valuable insights.

By the end of this read, you'll understand how even giants can stumble and what it takes to stay ahead in the fast-paced world of technology. So, let's dive into the cautionary tale of BlackBerry, a brand that went from ruling pockets to barely hanging on.

The Rise of BlackBerry: The King of Early Smartphones

The dawn of a new era.

In the early 2000s, BlackBerry emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the mobile technology landscape. Founded by Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin in 1984, the company initially focused on developing wireless technologies before venturing into the world of mobile devices. When BlackBerry launched its first smartphone, the BlackBerry 850, in 1999, it was nothing short of revolutionary. At a time when mobile phones were primarily used for calling and texting, BlackBerry introduced the world to the concept of a smartphone—a device that could handle emails, browsing, and more, all while fitting into your pocket.

The Corporate Darling

BlackBerry quickly became the go-to device for business professionals. Its secure email services, courtesy of end-to-end encryption, made it a hit among corporate users who needed to stay connected and handle sensitive information. Companies adopted BlackBerry devices en masse, making them a staple in boardrooms and offices worldwide.

Unique Features: More Than Just a Phone

What set BlackBerry apart were its unique features that catered to a professional audience:

QWERTY Keyboard: The physical QWERTY keyboard was a game-changer. It made typing emails and documents significantly easier compared to the numeric keypads of other mobile phones.

Trackball/Trackpad: The iconic trackball, and later the trackpad, offered precise navigation, a feature highly appreciated by users.

BBM (BlackBerry Messenger): Long before WhatsApp and iMessage, BBM was the instant messaging app that allowed for quick and secure communication between BlackBerry users.

Long Battery Life: In an era when smartphones had to be charged almost daily, BlackBerry devices boasted impressive battery life, another huge selling point for busy professionals.

Push Email: BlackBerry's push email service was groundbreaking. Emails appeared on the device as soon as they were received, a feature that was revolutionary at the time.

Market Domination

By the mid-2000s, BlackBerry had captured a significant share of the smartphone market. In 2010, the company boasted over 50 million users and was valued at approximately $40 billion. It seemed like BlackBerry was unstoppable.

The Market Shift: When the Tides Began to Turn

The evolution of consumer preferences.

As the late 2000s rolled in, the smartphone landscape began to shift dramatically. Consumers were no longer content with just email and messaging capabilities; they craved multimedia experiences, touch interfaces, and a plethora of apps to make their lives easier and more entertaining. The demand for smartphones that could serve as all-in-one entertainment hubs began to rise, and BlackBerry's business-centric model started to show its limitations.

The Touchscreen Revolution

The introduction of touchscreen technology was a game-changer. While BlackBerry clung to its physical keyboard and trackball, the market was moving towards sleek, button-less designs. Touchscreens offered a more intuitive and dynamic user experience, making tasks like browsing the web, watching videos, and playing games more enjoyable.

Enter Apple and Android

Apple's iPhone: In 2007, Apple launched the first iPhone, and it was an instant hit. With its revolutionary touchscreen interface, high-quality camera, and the introduction of the App Store, the iPhone redefined what consumers expected from a smartphone. It wasn't just a phone; it was a status symbol, much like what BlackBerry had been in its heyday.

Android Takes the Stage: Not far behind was Android, Google's open-source operating system. Android offered something that neither BlackBerry nor Apple could: flexibility. With a range of manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, and LG adopting Android, consumers had a wide array of devices to choose from, each with its unique features and price points.

The App Ecosystem

One of the most significant shifts was the rise of the app ecosystem. Apple's App Store and later Google's Play Store offered a multitude of apps for everything from navigation and productivity to gaming and social networking. BlackBerry's app store, BlackBerry World, couldn't keep up in terms of quantity or quality, further widening the gap between BlackBerry and its competitors.

The Shift in Market Share

As Apple and Android devices gained popularity, BlackBerry's market share began to dwindle. By 2013, BlackBerry's global market share had plummeted to just 0.6%, a stark contrast to its dominant position just a few years prior.

Ignoring Innovation: The Downfall of a Titan

Stuck in the past.

While competitors like Apple and Android were busy pushing the boundaries of what smartphones could do, BlackBerry seemed stuck in a time warp. The company continued to focus on its traditional strengths—secure email services and a physical keyboard—ignoring the clear shifts in consumer preferences and technological advancements.

Missed Opportunities

Touchscreen Reluctance: BlackBerry was slow to adopt touchscreen technology. When it finally did with the BlackBerry Storm in 2008, the execution was poor, and the device was plagued with issues, tarnishing the brand's reputation.

App Ecosystem: BlackBerry failed to invest in a robust app ecosystem. Its app store, BlackBerry World, lagged far behind Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store, both in terms of the number of apps and the quality of those apps.

Consumer-Centric Features: BlackBerry largely ignored the growing demand for better cameras, social media integration, and multimedia capabilities, features that were becoming standard in smartphones by competitors.

The Ill-Fated BlackBerry 10

In a last-ditch effort to regain market share, BlackBerry launched its new operating system, BlackBerry 10, in 2013. While it was a significant improvement, offering features like BlackBerry Hub and BlackBerry Balance, it was too little, too late. By this time, consumers and even corporate clients had moved on to iPhones and Android devices, and BlackBerry 10 failed to make a significant impact.

The Cost of Complacency

BlackBerry's reluctance to innovate or adapt to market changes had severe consequences. Its market share plummeted, and the company faced financial losses, leading to layoffs and restructuring. In 2016, BlackBerry announced it would stop making its own smartphones, a move that symbolized the end of an era.

The Consequences: The Numbers Don't Lie

A plummeting market share.

At its peak in 2010, BlackBerry controlled about 20% of the global smartphone market. Fast forward to 2013, and that number had plummeted to a mere 0.6%. This drastic decline was not just a loss in numbers but also a loss in BlackBerry's influence and relevance in the market.

Stock Prices Take a Hit

The decline in market share had a direct impact on BlackBerry's stock prices. In 2008, BlackBerry's stock was trading at an all-time high of around $148 per share. By 2013, the stock had crashed to less than $10 per share, erasing billions in market capitalization and shaking investor confidence.

Financial Struggles

The company's financial performance mirrored its dwindling market share and stock prices. In 2013, BlackBerry reported a loss of nearly $1 billion in the second quarter alone, leading to a series of layoffs and restructuring efforts. The company was forced to write down unsold inventory, and  rumours of a potential sale began to circulate.

Loss of Corporate Clients

One of BlackBerry's most significant setbacks was the loss of its stronghold in the corporate world. Companies that had once been loyal BlackBerry customers began to adopt "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) policies, allowing employees to use iPhones and Android devices, which offered better features and flexibility. This shift further eroded BlackBerry's market share and revenue streams.

Fading Cultural Relevance

Beyond the numbers, BlackBerry lost its cultural relevance. Once a status symbol and a staple in pop culture references, BlackBerry became synonymous with outdated technology. The brand that was once a household name for innovation and connectivity was now a case study in business schools on how not to manage change.

Case Studies: Lessons from the Corporate World

In the fast-paced world of technology, BlackBerry is not the only company that has faced the challenge of adapting to market shifts. Let's take a look at some other notable case studies that offer valuable lessons.

Nokia: Another Fallen Giant

Much like BlackBerry, Nokia was once a dominant force in the mobile phone industry. However, Nokia failed to recognize the potential of smartphones and the shift towards software-centric devices. Despite a late partnership with Microsoft to launch Windows Phones, Nokia couldn't regain its lost glory and eventually sold its phone business to Microsoft in 2014.

Microsoft: A Tale of Redemption

Speaking of Microsoft, the tech giant itself went through a rough patch in the late 2000s. Faced with declining PC sales and the failure of Windows 8, Microsoft seemed to be losing its edge. However, under the leadership of Satya Nadella, Microsoft pivoted towards cloud computing with Azure and reinvented its software offerings, successfully adapting to the new tech landscape.

Kodak: The Cost of Ignorance

Kodak, once synonymous with photography, is another example of a company that failed to adapt. Despite inventing the digital camera, Kodak was reluctant to transition from film to digital, fearing it would cannibalize its film business. The result was bankruptcy in 2012 and a loss of relevance in a world it once dominated.

Netflix: The Art of Reinvention

On the flip side, Netflix serves as an excellent example of successful adaptation. Starting as a DVD rental service, Netflix saw the potential of online streaming early on and pivoted its business model. Today, it's a global leader in streaming services, producing original content and continually innovating to stay ahead of competitors like Amazon Prime and Disney+.

Tesla: Disrupting the Status Quo

Tesla, led by Elon Musk, has successfully disrupted the automotive industry by focusing on electric vehicles and sustainable energy. While traditional automakers were slow to adapt to the growing demand for eco-friendly options, Tesla seized the opportunity and is now a market leader in electric vehicles.

Lessons Learned: The Takeaways from BlackBerry's Decline

The imperative of innovation.

If there's one lesson to be gleaned from BlackBerry's decline, it's the absolute necessity of innovation. In a rapidly evolving market, resting on your laurels is not an option. BlackBerry's initial success was indeed groundbreaking, but technology waits for no one. Companies must continually innovate to meet changing consumer demands and stay ahead of competitors who are also innovating at breakneck speeds.

Adapt or Perish

BlackBerry's story is a textbook example of the "adapt or perish" principle. When consumer preferences shifted towards touchscreen interfaces and versatile app ecosystems, BlackBerry was slow to adapt, sticking to its tried-and-true formula of a physical keyboard and secure email services. This resistance to change led to its downfall, emphasizing that adaptability is not a choice but a requirement for survival in today's competitive landscape.

Listen to Your Customers

One of BlackBerry's critical mistakes was not listening to its customer base. As iPhones and Android devices began offering better cameras, more apps, and a more engaging user experience, BlackBerry seemed to ignore these growing consumer demands. Businesses must always keep a finger on the pulse of what their customers want and need, adapting their products and services accordingly.

Diversification is Key

BlackBerry's heavy reliance on the corporate market made it vulnerable when companies started adopting Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies. This highlights the importance of diversification—not just in terms of product offerings but also in target markets. A more diversified portfolio can act as a safety net when one segment of your business is struggling.

Timing Matters

While BlackBerry did eventually attempt to innovate with the BlackBerry 10 operating system, the timing was off. By then, most consumers and businesses had moved on to other platforms. This underscores the importance of not just innovating, but doing so at the right time before you lose your market relevance.

Perhaps the most overarching lesson from BlackBerry's decline is the cost of complacency. Success today does not guarantee success tomorrow. Continuous improvement, a willingness to adapt, and a forward-thinking mindset are essential for long-term success.

Expert Opinions: What the Analysts Say

The importance of staying ahead.

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower," said Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple. This quote encapsulates the essence of BlackBerry's decline. The company that was once a leader in mobile technology became a follower, unable to keep up with the pace of innovation set by competitors like Apple and Android.

The Risk of Ignoring Consumer Trends

Ben Thompson, the author of the tech newsletter Stratechery, has often discussed the importance of aligning with consumer trends. He notes, "Companies that fail to align their products with the direction in which the market is headed will inevitably face decline. BlackBerry is a classic example of this."

The Corporate Perspective

Jean-Louis Gassée, a former Apple executive and industry analyst, has pointed out the dangers of corporate inertia. "BlackBerry's decline is a textbook case of corporate culture becoming a hindrance. They were so focused on protecting their enterprise business that they became blind to the consumer market's needs," he says.

The Broader Implications for Tech Companies

Mary Meeker, renowned for her annual Internet Trends Report, has spoken about the broader implications for tech companies. "BlackBerry's story serves as a cautionary tale for all tech companies. In a world where technology is evolving at an unprecedented rate, adaptability isn't just a 'nice-to-have'; it's a necessity," she states.

The Future of Mobile Technology

Tomi Ahonen, a mobile industry consultant, sums it up succinctly: "The mobile world moves at a breakneck speed. BlackBerry's failure to keep up serves as a warning to all players in the mobile ecosystem. You either evolve, or you become extinct."

The Future of BlackBerry: A Glimmer of Hope?

The shift to software and services.

After years of decline and a decision to stop making its own smartphones in 2016, BlackBerry has pivoted its focus towards software and services. The company now specializes in enterprise software, cybersecurity, and embedded systems, aiming to leverage its reputation for security and reliability in new markets.

BlackBerry QNX: A New Frontier

One of the most promising avenues for BlackBerry is its QNX platform, a real-time operating system designed for critical infrastructure and embedded systems. QNX is finding applications in various industries, including automotive, healthcare, and manufacturing. It's a far cry from smartphones, but it's a sector where BlackBerry's emphasis on security can be a significant asset.

Cybersecurity Ventures

Given the increasing threats to cybersecurity, BlackBerry has also ventured into providing end-to-end cybersecurity solutions. Their suite of products aims to protect businesses from cyber threats, leveraging BlackBerry's long-standing reputation for secure communications.

Partnerships and Collaborations

BlackBerry has been actively seeking partnerships to bolster its new business avenues. For instance, it has collaborated with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to develop a secure connected vehicle software platform for in-vehicle applications. Such partnerships could be crucial for BlackBerry's revival.

Financial Turnaround?

While it's still early days, there are signs that BlackBerry's pivot is starting to pay off. The company has reported modest but consistent revenue growth in its software and services segment, indicating a potential path to profitability.

A Lesson in Humility and Adaptability

As BlackBerry attempts to reinvent itself, it serves as a living case study in business adaptability. The brand that once ruled the smartphone market is now fighting for relevance in entirely different sectors. Whether or not BlackBerry will succeed in its new ventures remains to be seen, but it's clear that the company is not going down without a fight.

Conclusion: The Rise, Fall, and Potential Resurgence of BlackBerry

BlackBerry's journey is a rollercoaster ride of innovation, market dominance, and eventual decline. Once a pioneer in mobile technology, BlackBerry lost its way by failing to adapt to changing consumer preferences and technological advancements. Its story serves as a cautionary tale for businesses in all sectors, emphasizing the critical importance of innovation and adaptability.

However, the BlackBerry story isn't over yet. The company is in the midst of a transformation, pivoting from hardware to software and services. While it's too early to predict whether this will lead to a resurgence, BlackBerry's attempts at reinvention offer valuable lessons in humility and adaptability.

Final Thought : As you go about your day, tapping away on your touchscreen smartphone, take a moment to ponder this: What are the BlackBerrys in your life or business? Are there areas where you're resisting change, clinging to the familiar at the expense of innovation and growth?

We'd love to hear your thoughts on BlackBerry's journey and the lessons it offers. Do you think BlackBerry has a chance at a second life in the tech world? Share your insights in the comments below. If you found this article informative and thought-provoking, please consider sharing it on your social media channels. And don't forget to subscribe for more in-depth articles that explore the fascinating world of technology and business.

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The 3 Reasons BlackBerry Failed Spectacularly—and Why They Might Rise Again

Blackberry rode the massive highs, but has long embraced the crushing lows.

At the beginning of the 2010s, BlackBerry was a force to be reckoned with in the smartphone industry. However, things changed over the second half of the decade. Even introducing BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) to non-BlackBerry devices couldn't turn the tide, with the tool no longer working on Android or iOS since the end of May 2019.

But why did BlackBerry lose such a stronghold in the smartphone sector? How far has Blackberry actually fallen, and could we see a renaissance in the coming years?

How Far Has BlackBerry Fallen?

BlackBerry's decline was more dramatic than LG's smartphone failures because of just how strong its position in this particular market was. In the UK, BlackBerry held a 33.02% smartphone market share in December 2011, according to Statista . Within two years, however, that had shrunk by around just under half to 17.44%. Since the end of 2013, BlackBerry has faded even further into the abyss as far as the UK is concerned. In December 2021, Statista reported in the same research cited above that BlackBerry now had a 0% smartphone market share in Britain.

Worldwide, BlackBerry's decline has been just as spectacular. As Gartner reported in February 2017, just 210,000 devices with its operating system were sold in the fourth quarter of 2016. That was much worse than in Q4 2015, which itself wasn't great either—with fewer than 907,000 devices sold and a 0.2% market share.

Why BlackBerry Declined So Badly

BlackBerry's fall from grace was spectacular, and that drop doesn't happen overnight. Usually, failures of this kind are the boiling point of years' worth of bad decisions.

So, where did it all go wrong for BlackBerry?

1. Slow to Adapt

At its peak, BlackBerry's innovation kept us all on our feet. BBM revolutionized instant messaging, and its devices also helped speed up smartphones to what today are effectively portable mini-computers. But unfortunately for BlackBerry, the Storm—which featured a touchscreen—was perhaps too early for consumers to be willing to adopt such technology en masse.

The problem, however, came afterward. The Storm's failure may have influenced BlackBerry's decisions with future phones—many of which had physical keyboards, even though more consumers were ready to adopt touchscreen technology.

The Storm failed for numerous reasons other than its touchscreen, though. One such issue was the difficulties users faced with Wi-Fi (or lack thereof). You could also attribute BlackBerry's decline to its failure to adapt in other areas, such as its camera. And as we can see today, many smartphones have cameras that could rival their DSLR and mirrorless counterparts. If you're in the shop for a new device, you might want to consider which phone has the best camera .

2. Losing Its Core Market

Another reason BlackBerry's fall from grace was so steep is that it didn't pay as much attention to the likes of BlackBerry-created phones for businesses. As such, it didn't see the iPhone as a direct competitor.

BlackBerry's desire to cater to people in business was pretty evident in the design of its devices. While you could respond to emails, send instant messages, answer calls, and browse the web, you couldn't do anywhere near as much as even the early iPhones made possible.

Meanwhile, the other smartphone giants looked at the everyday consumer. Their devices were about convenience and accessibility, two things which—conveniently enough—people working for big companies also desire with their devices.

As time progressed, consumer-oriented phones became more popular in business environments too. They could also do everything BlackBerry devices could and then some. Nowadays, you can use several free apps for managing your own business and to improve collaboration as an employee.

3. The BlackBerry Operating System

Another key reason behind BlackBerry's failure was its loyalty to its operating system—despite some significant flaws.

One issue with BlackBerry's early OS versions was how few apps you could download compared to Apple and Android devices. While BlackBerry eventually opened its app store to more popular apps, the damage was already done by that point.

BlackBerry users disliked using their app store for several reasons, with user experience being one major complaint. Customers also reported several smartphone performance issues, such as lagging and freezing. And while BlackBerry devices later switched to Android, these problems were hard to ignore.

Could BlackBerry Make a Return?

BlackBerry's glory days in the smartphone space are long gone, and as mentioned on the company's website :

On January 4, 2022, BlackBerry decommissioned the infrastructure and services used by our legacy software and phone operating systems.

But while BlackBerry's glory days in the smartphone space are long gone, the company isn't necessarily dead altogether.

New Products and Services

BlackBerry is nowhere near its old size. In 2011, for example, the company made almost $20 billion in revenue, according to Statista . Comparatively, that figure in 2022 was "just" $718 million.

Considering how much space in the smartphone market BlackBerry has lost, you could argue that's still a pretty reasonable figure. The main reason why BlackBerry has continued making money is that the company has shifted its attention to new products and services.

Much of BlackBerry's core offering these days focuses on cybersecurity. The company has, for example, begun focusing on how companies with hybrid or remote working agreements can ensure that access to their servers is more secure.

BlackBerry also offers various other crucial B2B services, such as AI-powered systems that protect against ransomware. So, there's every chance that you'll work for an employer using BlackBerry's technology in the future.

Helped largely by its market focus shift, the company anticipates a rosy future. As reported by Reuters in May 2023, BlackBerry said that it expects revenue in 2026 to range anywhere from $800 million to $960 million.

BlackBerry's Failures Can Teach Smartphone Companies a Lot

Failure is often the biggest teacher, and BlackBerry's smartphone market share decline has taught the world a lot about business and innovation. While you could argue that the likes of Apple had a better long-term vision for consumer smartphones (and how they might operate in the world of work), many of BlackBerry's failures were its own doing.

BlackBerry's decision to focus on cybersecurity instead looks to be a better approach, and the company's experience in B2B products and services will allow a stronger focus on its strengths. You'll probably never use a BlackBerry smartphone again, but you certainly may utilize its technology in one way or another.

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• Local & State

Resurgam festival, a massive yard sale and more things to do this weekend

Comedian Dave Attell is in town, Zephyr Ice is serving up cool treats and food trucks are out in force (there's an app that will tell you where).

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We’re not entirely sure how the weekend weather is going to shake out, but either way there’s a whole lot going on, so let’s get to it.

Maine Roller Derby skaters competing at Happy Wheels Skate Center in Westbrook. Photo by Jim Vernier

On Saturday and Sunday, Maine Roller Derby’s first international tournament happens at Happy Wheels Skate Center in Westbrook. There will be several exciting flat-track bouts, and if you’re a Mainer, tickets are half off.

Get a discount on tickets to Maine Roller Derby’s international tournament

Max Abraham runs through Moon Tide Park while performing with the band Corpus Chicanery at last year’s Resurgam festival. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

The Resurgam Music and Arts Festival is Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Ocean Gateway marine terminal and surrounding areas. The list of performers is about 17 miles long and includes Oshima Brothers Band and professional hula hoop and circus artist Nettie Loops.

Resurgam festival returns this weekend with music, arts and more

Local musician Toby McAllister, pictured here at The Press Room in Portsmouth, would of course play at a local venue on his perfect day. Photo by Corey Fitzgerald and courtesy of Toby McAllister

Another musician you can see at Resurgam is Toby McAllister from Sparks The Rescue. McAllister unpacked his perfect Maine day for us, and it includes a hike in Grafton Notch and a stop at Puzzle Mountain Bakery in Newry for cookies.

My Perfect Day: Hiking Old Speck, eating tacos and sweets, playing a show – for musician Toby McAllister, it all strikes a chord

Comic Dave Attell plays the State Theatre in Portland, June 8. Photo courtesy of the State Theatre

There’s plenty else cooking this weekend , including Yoga in the Park on Saturday and the Walk the Working Waterfront tour. Both are in Portland. Or you can shop till you drop at Maine’s Ultimate Spring Yard Sale Saturday at Cumberland Fairgrounds. Need a few laughs? Grab a ticket to see comic Dave Attell at the State Theatre Saturday.

Waterfront tour, giant yard sale, comic Dave Attell

Zephyr proudly tells its customers that everything is made in house with real fruit and no dyes. Photo by Megan Gray

Satisfy your sweet tooth with something a little different this weekend. Zephyr Ice in Portland serves shaved ice atop a scoop of regular or vegan ice cream. Choose from a variety of syrup flavors, all made in-house with real fruit.

For cool, customizable treats, breeze on in to Zephyr Ice

Mainely Burgers food truck. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Should you fancy a food truck fix, check out our massive, always growing food truck guide and get busy chowing down.

A guide to 87 food trucks rolling through Maine

A Foodtruckalico Instagram post featuring the Ugly Dumpling food truck. Photo by Justin Velgos

For even more food truck fodder, we suggest heading to Food Truckalico on Instagram . A couple of times a week, the account shares details about where and when you can find trucks in the Portland area.

Follow the food trucks with Food Truckalico on Instagram

A newspaper article about a Comegato sighting from web series “Tracking the Comegato.” Photo courtesy of Kate Kaminski

If the weather does indeed relegate you to the indoors, curl up on the couch and fire up the new web series “Tracking the Comegato” about a beastly human-weasel hybrid that may or may not exist.

Could this human-weasel hybrid from Maine join the ranks of Bigfoot?

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