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BlackBerry : The Unsmart Smartphone maker

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Harmeet
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Now the take over agreement between BlackBerry and Fairfax collapsed, and the Canadian smartphone maker was left hanging in the lurch, the board of management of BlackBerry need to go to a calm and quiet place, sit down and do some assessment about the company - not its future but its present. They need to ask themselves where exactly do they stand right now, and need to find out what should be their course of action for today. It is said that if you can plan your 'today' properly, you do not have to plan for your future.

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If observed closely, then its evident that the original smartphone maker has failed to behave smartly in the recent past. They failed in sensing the pulse of the ever changing technology space and more importantly they could not foresee the obvious demands of the consumers in an increasingly competitive market where every rival of yours is waiting to snatch your customer. And most importantly, they forgot the basics of any business - customer, and they failed in giving the due importance to them. The BlackBerry team could not satisfy the very legitimate demands of the customers.

The team BlackBerry needs to ask themselves few very basic questions. First, they need to do a proper assessment of the company and find out what are the issues with the firm. If looked closely, then the Canadian smartphone maker does not have as many issues as it appears to be. BlackBerry still has a huge brand pull - people still vouch for it, it has great devices in terms of hardware, and its a debt free company. Plus, they got $1 billion investment from Fairfax recently. Then what is it that plaguing the firm? They have one big issue - that they are loosing ground as well as revenue against its rivals like Apple or Samsung. Not a big deal, that can be overcome.

Traditionally, the customer wanted to be a free bird. It needs a great product which is affordable. Undoubtedly, the world has changed after the entry of android to the market as it gave plethora of options to the consumers as well as developers - both devices as well as services. If the consumer gets a better product or service from your rival, then it has all right to ditch you and hang on to the new one. You can't stop it or you offer such an amazing user experience like that of Apple that you always have your set of customers as part of your family. But BlackBerry, you are not Apple, and you do not have to be. You have your own set of followers, just try to retain them. Offer them innovative products and unmatched services.

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People have not seen much of your smartness in your smartphones in the recent past. Your last two operating systems have failed miserably, your last 4-5 smartphones and the all the tablet categories did not make any move. Then what are you left with?

The fact is if you do not make any move in your products and services, then your customers would make a move - to your rival.

What's wrong in embracing android as an operating system, if your own OS does not excite your customers? What is important to you - your customer or your ego? The recent example of BBM launching in android and iOS brought you more than 20 million customers in just one week, doesn't it give you enough hints?

The newly appointed interim CEO of BlackBerry John Chen says he would focus more on services than on devices. That would be one of the biggest blunders in BlackBerry's history and could prove as the last nail in the coffin. It has no financial issues, plus it got another round of investments wroth $1 billion, what the company needs to do now is behave little smartly. Drop your sell out plans, invest the money on innovation, embrace an operating system that your customer wants, and make them happy. And you are on the roll again. Its a very simple world, BlackBerry.

 

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