A company that was previously ahead and in the smart phone market, failed in less than a decade by selling themselves for $4.7 billion, when previously being valued at $40 billion.
Their successful history
In 1996, Blackberry had a device that was a two-way-pager, one of the first to develop such a kind. It could send data over the internet that offered both delivery and read receipts – this is typical in messaging services these days.
In 2002, Blackberry’s smart phone was born, enabling a two-way messaging system. Over the next few years Blackberry was unbelievably successful, with a subscriber base growing from 534,000 in 2003 to over 5 million in 2006! In 2007, 1 in 3 smart phone purchases were a Blackberry device.
The downfall of Blackberry smartphone
Blackberry simply failed to adapt to the ever changing technology world. Suddenly, interacting through a touch screen became so vastly popular, but it wasn’t something that Blackberry had put on offer, unlike their rival Apple.
In 2008, Apple announced support for third party apps and the sales of the iPhone grew dramatically. And Blackberry, of course just couldn’t compare to what they offered. Blackberry only took Apple’s threat to business when it was too late.
Only when it was too late did something happen
To develop a phone that could compete with the iPhone, Blackberry produced the Storm. It was similar to Apple smart phones – Blackberry introduced touch screen to their devices.
Despite their aim to beat their competitor, it just wasn’t enough. Many said the phone was glitchy and slow making it no choice over the iPhone. Although this phone was manufactured badly, Blackberry continued to grow its market until 2010.
In June 2012, the Blackberry company embarrassingly announced the new software, Blackberry 10 was delayed a further year and another 5,000 job cuts – it all went downhill for them.
So, what’s happening now?
App providers on the Blackberry App World want to stop providing support onto these phones. Whatsapp have announced that the Blackberry OS app is going to be discontinued by the end of 2016.
The Blackberry Z10 – one of their latest developments has been designed to be a sim-free smartphone. The prices have been slashed in half, which previously happened with all their devices.
Now, Blackberry has decided to stop designing their own phones. Some phones are still going to be manufactured, so there is still a need for protecting your device against any damage. Although they are still being manufactured, it still suggests a further decline in sales and business for them. Oh, well onto the next adventure.
