Running head: Why did Blackberry Fail?

Assignment-2

Parikshit Agarwal

BBA Section-A

O.P Jindal Global University

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Why did blackberry fail?

Blackberry Limited is a Canadian company which manufactured a line of branded

smartphones and tablets by the name of blackberry. The company was founded in 1984. It was
the first company to create hysteria in the market with the push email services which proved to
be a boon for constant market workers and corporate users. Blackberry also introduced the
Blackberry OS for their smart devices called as the BB10 OS for smoother and better functioning
on the go. However, blackberry’s downfall came with advent of the technological giant Apple’s
iPhone.

Blackberry ignored the oncoming tragedy that apple bought for the other players in the
market. This resulted in their gradually demise and dim future prospects. In a period of time their
devices couldn’t compare with apple, followed by a flurry of performance issues, consideration
of the devices as ‘old man’s phone’ by the public, the plain black gloss look which sounded
‘professional’. However, with the generation advancement required advancements in the
technology with blackberry failed to keep up with in time. Even the device’s in-built
specifications were low as compared to the newer models of apple and Samsung. Low RAM and
geekbench score, old display technology, heating issues with inability to even run a small sized
game were some of the factors that caused a turning point.

Blackberry’s market approach consisted of a single line industry market model where the
profits acquired from the success of one product allowed research and development for the next
product line. With the sales going down their research and development suffered. The blackberry
senior directors and development are still stuck behind in the past focusing on the existing
millions of the customers they had instead of the billions they could have got if they would have
kept the pace. Blackberry refused to let go of the physical keyboard from their devices
considering it to be more professional and handier. But they didn’t realize the widespread
importance of pop up touch screen keyboard technology that apple had developed. The subtle
and simple plain black look was too old for the newer generation of people who valued their
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social image more over work considerations. Their downfall was an accumulation of many
factors which resulted in blackberry losing 50% of their market share.

In 1984, Research in Motion (RIM), the parent company of blackberry was founded with
blackberry selling its first mobile device releasing in 1998. With RIM adding voice calling
capabilities in 2002 to its first ever product range, the company is listed in Nasdaq 100
companies. The company now has about 2 million subscribers using the devices. The tech giant
hits 4 million subscribers by 2005 adding multimedia functions to its devices. RIM becomes the
most valuable company on the Toronto Stock Exchange hitting market capitalization of $67
billion. The company now has 10 million subscribers but is caught stuck in the ground by the
overwhelming response that the apple’s new iPhone provides. Apple’s simplicity triumphed over
the complicated and complex nature of smartphones. All the hardwork and dedication of 8 years
put into the blackberry was voided with the launch of a single product which didn’t take years to
blossom.
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Blackberry considered the launch of apple’s smartphone as a playful toy for teenage.
With vast features brought with the new launch, blackberry somehow managed to save its
reputation of a business email device. Blackberry launched the Storm model in 2008 in a bid to
tackle apple, but it unfortunately was a white flag of surrender. The BB10 OS launched by
Blackberry was another failed attempt to compensate the sales taken away by the Android OS
launched in 2008. Android was much faster and smoother in terms of performance compatibility.
The android was compatible with most devices in comparison with the Blackberry OS who
restricted their system to a wide range of apps and services by third party developers. Blackberry
launched the Blackberry app world in competition to apple’s app store but did not succeed due to
limitations of versatility. Blackberry was not consistent in their approach and couldn’t defend
their position from the upcoming competitors with all the tools at their disposal. With an ignorant
attitude, considered that people would still prefer the classic blackberry over the newer
technology.

Blackberry couldn’t adapt to the changing dynamic environment. A business must

constantly monitor the changes that occur in the technological environment around them, which
may have a major and considerable impact on its working in adherence with the society. It
defines the pace of research and development. Blackberry failed in this ideology because of their
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single line market model (using the profits of the previous product for R&D of the next). They
couldn’t keep with the pace of development. They were stuck to their values of a professional
outlook on their devices. They considered the value of their physical keyboard and traditional
features that drove them for so long to continue helping them ahead in the race. The Storm model
was late to be launched in the market. BlackBerry OS was released after the release of android in
2008. All of these decisions were taken after the competitors’ entry.

Blackberry took less consideration of their stakeholders. customers as stakeholders hold a

valuable position in the business. Their objectives are mainly to get a good value for goods or
services purchased, receive high customer service and receive after sales service; all of which
Blackberry failed to provide to its customers. Decrease in the product built quality, lower
performance, bulkier phones; all of these factors contributed in low customer satisfaction. As far
as employee satisfaction is concerned, Blackberry due to heavy losses in 2013 laid off more than
2000 thousand jobs. In the next four year, another 5000 employees were laid off by Blackberry.

With the advent of the 2000s, blackberry gained massive business power. They gained
economic power with a massive share in the market in the field of pagers and later on email
service devices. Almost all of the corporate world would use a Blackberry. In 1997, blackberry
established its “push email service”, a pioneer of innovation at that time. In 2003, they produced
voice calling features in their phones thus dominating the technological market. Putting in
physical keyboards to replace numeric keyboards was a massive development. Cultural power
refers to product design customized as per the society. Blackberry was all about customer
compatibility in the 2000s.

So, what do we take away from this? First it is important to understand that blackberry
was and will always be the founding father of modern mobile phone technology. In industries
where there is innovation, it is important to have the ability and attributes to stick to the course.
These attributes make a difference between a brand image that succeeds and a brand that fails. If
you are the first in a market and you possess such luxury, then unlike Blackberry, you must
defend that hard-earned position with all the tools and resources available in your arsenal. being
first may not guarantee success as businesses who come in as competitors have a lot to step on
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and learn from to develop themselves. But it certainly gives an advantage as you are the market
leader in that field with a brand image that allows people to believe in your innovations.

But what could have Blackberry done? In my opinion, the downfall of Blackberry was a
series of bad decision making due to selfishness and ignorance. When the iPhone came out, the
then CEO of Blackberry rejected the idea that an iPhone could replace a blackberry. They were
in their own bubble of pride that their market dominance would last forever. Businesses come
and go in the market. Blackberry didn’t innovate fast enough and held on their image instead of
developing it. Poor technological advancements killed their products. Better resources in their
device to improve them would have helped. Their refusal to adapt to changing end user
expectations hastened their dismissal.
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References

1.Savov, V, BlackBerry's success led to its failure,

https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/30/13119924/blackberry-failure-success

2. Seth, S, Investopedia, BlackBerry: A Story of Constant Success & Failure,

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/062315/blackberry-story-constant-success-
failure.asp

3. https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/bb/historical

4. Appolonia, A, How BlackBerry went from controlling the smartphone market to a phone of
the past, https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/how-blackberry-went-from-controlling-the-
smartphone-market-to-a-phone-of-the-past/articleshow/72171551.cms

5. Gustin, S, The Fatal Mistake That Doomed BlackBerry,

https://business.time.com/2013/09/24/the-fatal-mistake-that-doomed-blackberry/

6. Savov, V, BlackBerry's success led to its failure,

https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/30/13119924/blackberry-failure-success