BLACKBERRY : The Aftermath

Since the launch of the blackberry OS 10, there have been blogs, columns in newspapers, articles on the web, analysts on TV all reviewing  and asking the question, can the Blackberry OS 10 SAVE Blackberry? I watched, read, analyzed and here are my thoughts.

The blackberry OS 10 has paved way for the development of the Blackberry Z10 and the Blackberry Q10 which pundits say are revolutionary products in BlackBerry’s quest to take over the smartphone market which they previously dominated. Firstly I would like to thank Blackberry for giving its enthusiasts a product that they have waited for and which I believe is worth the wait. Remember the story about the Eagle in its quest to have a new lease of life? I see Blackberry as the Eagle which flies to the high mountains when, it is aged and undergoes the painful process of shedding its feathers and talons in order to acquire new ones after which it flies even higher and becomes better. To say the Least, it has been that period for Blackberry. The last three years have seen the Canadian smartphone maker go through a painful process.

First, was the ouster of the Company CEO and Founder Michael Lazaridis after shareholders felt he was not doing enough to keep the firm in profitability? According to the Verge theverge.com/rim-blackberry-mike-lazaridis-jim-balsillie-lost-empire, Lazaridis saw Blackberry then called RIM as the same old firm he had created as a young engineer. The other painful part of the Blackberry process of shedding the feathers was the flop of the Blackberry products such as the Porsche, Milan, and London which had been named after cities to make it easy to identify with the user. I remember reading about them (Telegraph.co.uk/technology) and the comments from users weren’t as pleasing. Their flagship[ tablet the playbook was dismissed as a disaster based on the fact that it lacked what most Blackberry’s were known for swerve email capabilities. The ouster of Blackberry as the premier smartphone by small players such as Samsung from Korea and others such as Apple was a hard pill to swallow to. Subsequently, the Blackberry shares nose-dived.  I remember my Friend Emmanuel Chenze telling me Blackberry is as good as gone. It’s the next Kodak.

Rim shares Nose-dive

The Playbook Tablet

Moving on with our analogy of the Eagle, Blackberry moved up the “hills” Being its Waterloo Headquarters and reorganized itself. The firm acquired small firms which would strengthen its research and development wing and help it develop what is today the Blackberry OS 10. In addition to that Blackberry was notorious for having few applications in the BB App world and it held events known as the Blackberry Jam that brought together App Developers who created Blackberry Apps. To tackle the problem of apps, The Blackberry OS 10 is now lets you download Android Apps and use them on your Blackberry.  Other old talons that have been shed are the dropping of the name RIM to Blackberry which was a concrete Re-branding exercise. The reconstitution of its Board to include members who would help the firm steers in the way of its goals was also a key decision that has enabled the firm re-energize.

Blackberry Z10, running on BB10.

 

The Blackberry Torch-Running on Blackberry OS 7

A peep at the BB10

 Blackberry 10 launch

First the new Blackberry OS has totally changed its face. According to Crackberry.com, not a single line of Code from Blackberry OS 7 was used in the Blackberry 10 which goes on to tell the amount of time and resources that were invested in making it a good product. In fact, Users have had to wait for 3 years to get their hands on the new OS which explains how much hard work was put into. Users of the new OS admit that the OS is actually awesome especially with the Peeking ability that lets you balance full screen usage such that you can balance the usage of your device. This allows “Fluid Workflow” which to me is simply multitasking. Blackberry is set to launch an update for their tablet the Playbook. Meaning users will soon us the BB10 on their Tabs something they have longed for. Blackberry is a product that was tailor made for the enterprise or the business people. Blackberry has included mobile cloud into the new OS which will be offered as data Centre as a service meaning your Blackberry will act as your Virtual Machine (I shall talk about Cloud computing soon). Others are swerve multitasking as well as better functionality and simplicity.

SECURITY

  The complex Blackberry security

Security is a critical aspect of the BB range of devices. As you may well remember, during the Egyptian uprising, Blackberry services popular known as BBM was widely used to spread messages on the revolution as the RIM’s system couldn’t be penetrated. BB is widely used in firms due to its robust systems and ensures that company data is not accessed by unauthorized parties. In this regard, BB10 has integrated the Blackberry Enterprise Server with the awesome Blackberry Balance framework thereby ensuring users jeep personal and business data on the same device without the option of either being accessed.

WINNING?

There is a popular saying that Once you go Black, You never Go Back.  Whoever said this must have been intimating at Blackberry. Blackberry has a cult following and millions of loyalist who didn’t abandon the brand even when it was on the blink of collapse. BlackBerry needs to know that to succeed it will have to do so with the Users. Most of them love Blackberry for their Blackberry Internet Service.BB10 was initially developed without the capabilities which have prompted the firm to launch the update today after massive backlash from users. On top of that, it needs to ensure that consumers enjoy multitasking capabilities as well as regular updates of the OS. In addition, a wide array of smartphones from which consumers can choose is also something Blackberry should do if winning is part of the game.

The very popular Blackberry Messager (BBM)

I also posted this on my twitter page today www.twitter.com/amarueric that Blackberry needs to concentrate on gaining back its market share from the competition and then concentrate on individual markets. Just this afternoon, Blackberry announced that the BBZ10 will not be launching in Japan and other non-core BB markets. This may have been prompted by the fail of the City named BB smartphones. This strategy will ensure that Blackberry makes more sales and also stage an aggressive marketing       campaign as they badly need the sales. In this regard BB also needs to engage carriers to market the new smartphones aggressively. This is already underway in South Africa, the States, and The UK and hopefully Safaricom will do so soon.

Hurdles

Off course, there are a few problems BlackBerry will face in its quest. The market is already saturated with Smartphones and content at this stage is King. The phone maker needs to come up with an all-round strategy tackling both the app world, the OS, the marketing and research and development if it is to edge out the competition. The competition, in this case Samsung, has come up with Safe, to offer robust smartphone security which is one of the areas that gave BB an edge over the competition. The timing is also a bit wrong as the S4 is launching sometime in May, windows phone and also the next apple product. However, Thumbs up to Blackberry You did IT!!!

GO BLACKBERRY!!!