To my friends and clients to the north (actually to the south if you’re in Detroit), I may owe you a qualified ap
ology.
For the last several years now, I have been harshly critical of Research In Motion, creators of the BlackBerry handsets and operating system – and for good reason. It is well known that RIM had a huge lead in the smartphone space – especially for businesses – but like the hare in the proverbial race, squandered its big lead, and got passed by Apple and then Android.
I have spoken to many groups of dismayed Canadian broadcasters, from panels at Canadian Music Week to private meetings with radio operators, about my dire predictions for BlackBerry’s future. At the core of my criticism was RIM’s inability to see the app opportunity that their counterparts in Cupertino so boldly staked out and developed.
And I was also armed with data like this slide from last year’s Techsurvey8. Not only were fewer and fewer consumers planning on buying BlackBerry phones (column on the far left), but more and more of those who were carrying around RIM products (column on the far right) were planning on defecting to Apple or Android devices. Not a pretty picture.
But today may be a new day, and the reviews for the newly announced Z10 are pretty darn good. Even those who have been deriding BlackBerry’s strategy and execution are reluctantly raving about the phone. And while the company – now known as BlackBerry – is still behind the two leaders, even guys like The New York Times’ David Pogue is singing the praises of what the Z10 has accomplished.
Even in the apps department, there’s hope. That’s because they have created a utility program that allows developers to convert existing Android apps to the BlackBerry platform. Still, we’ll see how much demand we get at jacAPPS from our more than 750 mobile clients. Will those who had given up on BlackBerry give the company another chance, especially the millions of BlackBerry users who had not defected to Apple or Android phones?
So today, a half-baked mea culpa. I honestly didn’t think that RIM/BlackBerry was capable of creating a phone that would pass muster with the critics. Now we’ll see what everyday consumers have to say.
It may come down to a question of brand loyalty, because as Pogue also points out, the Windows phones are great, too, but no one’s buying them.
But it also may be a story about perseverance – a quality that a few companies have demonstrated during the past few years, from Chrysler, Kodak, and others that were written off as dead.
Will you buy a BlackBerry phone?
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Did Blackberry reinvent the pencil? And did Microsoft do the same thing? The reviews on the Blackberry are positive, but does it do enough things better to entice iPhone and Android users who are already familiar with those platforms to switch?
With nothing from the old platform that’s familiar to old Blackberry users and not enough in the new one to provide a reason to switch, I wonder if Blackberry’s move was too little too late.
All good questions, Bob. What will it take for Android and Apple customers to make that big move? Thanks for your comment.
BB has always been solid. Way to much weight is given too application stores where most of them are fluff and quickly forgotten. Besides, these “apps” are a non-starter as they will give way to HTML5 and beyond. Those with the solid foundations will endure while those that are relevant only because of their “app stores” will have nothing to fall back on.
Jason, I appreciate the comments but while HTML5 may one day live up to its potential, the industry’s successes and failures especially in North America have been driven by applications. We’ll see how that plays out. Thanks for the comment.