For many years the market has witnessed the death of BlackBerry. The name BlackBerry was associated with smartphones, keyboards and email. Today, several of these aspects still apply. In a market where all smartphones look comparable, BlackBerry returned to its trademark physical QWERTY keyboard in the recently launched Classic as well as offered a keyboard on a square shaped cellphone call the Passport. Its appreciated because of its screen size and keyboard.
Yet, the mobile market has progressed therefore also has BlackBerry. It would be crazy to think of BlackBerry as exclusively a mobile phone maker. It’s clear that phones are a part of its vision however not the whole of its vision. Smartphone sales won’t be the linchpin for a market turn-around.
For a theoretically dying company, BlackBerry has actually been very hectic. It returned to its roots as an enterprise company and reinforced its reputation as a security company. It’s specifying a course to advance from a hardware company to a software and services firm. Let’s evaluate a few of BlackBerry’s achievements over the past year. The company:
Reinforced its customer app story using a collaboration. One of the big knocks against BlackBerry (and Microsoft for that matter) was its absence of consumer mobile applications. The capability to run Android apps on a BlackBerry has reduced this problem. To further minimize this problem, BlackBerry struck a handle the Amazon Appstore making it easier to download apps. It also expanded its enterprise focused mobile application ecosystem with partnerships with Bloomberg LP, Box, CellTrak, Cisco, Entrust, SAP, and others.
Made a substantial play for the enterprise mobile management market. Enterprise Mobile Management is an essential part of any type of enterprise mobile strategy. BlackBerry was known for management of its devices but needed to provide these solutions across a broader variety of mobile operating systems. The company supplied cross-platform cell phone management in BES12. It also inked handle BrightStar and Ingram Micro to disperse BES12.
Reinforced its security throughout all product groups from phones via software. It bought Secusmart to provide additional voice and data file encryption and anti-eavesdropping solutions. It obtained Movirtu, a Virtual SIM platform that permits workers to have 2 contact number (review split in between company and individual use) on a solitary device. It revealed BlackBerry Blend for the enterprise which makes it possible for workers to firmly accessing personal and work data from their BlackBerry smartphone on any kind of desktop computer or tablet computer. It also offered Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry, VPN Authentication by BlackBerry, and BBM Protected (for Android, BlackBerry and iOS systems). In general, the company has actually been greatly focused on offering a vast array of security options.
In a shock action, BlackBerry partnered with Samsung to deliver richer mobile security for Android. It also executed a critical arrangement with Salesforce.com to connect Salesforce.com customer connection management (CRM) applications and systems to BlackBerry’s EMM solution.
These are simply a variety of the company’s announcements. On the whole, it was an excellent year for BlackBerry. The company invested heavily in developing and acquiring remedies to meet enterprise flexibility demands. It also quelled worries that it would lose money by successfully managing its supply chain, inventory, and costs.
While it still declined in smartphone market share, phones aren’t the future lifeline of the company. (In reality, it’s tough for any individual other than Apple and Samsung to make money at making phones.) A business customer can either buy these devices as part of the all natural solution or simply prefer to use the software and solutions.
In particular areas, especially managed and security conscious sectors, BlackBerry could see new device purchases as the corporate-liable market regains steam. For instance, Mackenzie Health, a regional doctor serving a populace of more than half a million individuals, announced that it will use the BlackBerry Classic and BES12. Yet the actual win for BlackBerry will be in supplying new security and identity/authentication services and management for non-traditional devices, such as IoT.
Source: Forbes
