Four Reasons Why BlackBerry Is Missing The Mark

What is BlackBerry up to? At least in the Indian market? Just a couple of days ago, the Canadian handset-maker has launched yet another mid-segment touch-and-type phone – BlackBerry 9720 – priced at around Rs 16,000. It’s not exactly cheap and the specifications won’t thrill you either. The latest BB10 operating system is missing once again, so is Near Field Communication (NFC). The new device has been fitted out with the old-fashioned 7.1 OS, but you will find the signature Qwerty keyboard (it has 35 keys upfront), a 2.8 inch capacitive touchscreen, an optical track-pad for navigation, a 5 megapixel rear camera that can record video (but no front-facing camera), FM radio, 3G connectivity, Bluetooth 2.1 and the BBM Voice for free chat over Wi-Fi.

It is definitely a dampener, prior to a big event BlackBerry is apparently planning in line with Samsung and Apple. Checking reviews and user opinions on various news and shopping sites (one of them is Amazon’s Junglee.com), we have found that the product has drawn flak from most people due to lack of originality and innovation. Is that why the tech giant is repeatedly failing to get its act right in India and abroad? Simply upgrading its operating system and producing more updated handsets are not enough to keep it going. Somewhere along the way, BlackBerry has lost its cool and something amazing needs to happen now to pull it out of the rut. But there are more reasons than one that we would like to explore.

Been there, done that, but to what effect?
For some time now, BlackBerry has tried to do anything and everything that came its way, trying to save the sinking ship. The company is considering going private and looking for a strategic partner. It is also mulling a split-up and sell-off plan concerning its handset/hardware business. But it could be difficult to convince private investors or potential buyers that its current and upcoming range of smartphones and devices would have a long-term future with enterprises and business customers unless the company makes up its mind about what it wants to do on a priority basis and does it fast. Like when it decided to take BBM™ (BlackBerry Messenger) cross-platform or introduced the BBM Channels. Smart and timely moves – both of them.

As for hardware, Blackberry has its finger in every pie, but can we really call it earth-shattering? Some good things are happening though, in spite of the not-so-wow smartphone models we get to see. Its next-generation (but undoubtedly overpriced) smartphones Z10 and Q10 running on the latest BB10 OS were launched in January this year, and it is leaked that the company has already developed a new 10.2 OS with lots of features like app manager, actionable notifications, Wi-Fi Direct and more. That can push sales, especially if the upgraded OS is integrated with all BB10 devices without the price shooting up too much. But these are, after all, ‘essentials’ nowadays and Samsung already has some of these features. Although it has moved away from the tablet segment after the PlayBook failed to impress, the firm is reportedly developing a 5 inch phablet (in direct contention with Samsung?) dubbed as the Z30. It has been leaked a number of times and is expected to be released by the year-end. Do we have a game-changer there? Let us wait and see.

Price points a pain, at least in India
If BlackBerry has lost its focus globally, that is also getting reflected in the kind of products it is pushing in India without any specific pricing strategy. Apart from the popular Curve, we don’t see too many cheap handsets (below Rs 10K) here. Of course, the company was never about volumes or mass market, but price points should be right if one is actually targeting the emerging markets and have competitors like Samsung, Nokia and Sony in the mid-range price segment. BlackBerry has never rolled out a sub-$100 (about Rs 6,000) device like Nokia or Samsung – so it is already at a disadvantage to capture the mass market. As for high-end phones like Q5, the cheapest BB10 device in the Indian market, one needs to shell out a whopping Rs 25,000.

Old tags are passé; innovations need a future window
Although pricing plays a crucial part in a price-sensitive market like India, one cannot ignore the innovation factor. Think of the latest offerings from Nokia or Sony or even HTC (I am excluding Samsung and Apple from this as they have so many firsts to their credit). There is always something new – be it the best smartphone camera (Nokia 808 PureView or Lumia 1020) or the biggest RAM (the upcoming Sony Xperia Z2 is rumoured to have 3 GB RAM) or the best audio (HTC One). After all, we are living in a world of ‘dual persona’ smartphones where the thin line between business and personal worlds often overlap. So the ‘business only’ tag of BlackBerry is not likely to cut the ice with the Millennials and the products must live up to their definitions of work, fun, thrill and entertainment. The BYOD issues world over is proof enough that most of us want the best of personal and professional worlds on the same gadget. In fact, that could be one of the reasons why Apple’s latest iPhone comes with a fingerprint sensor. What would keep business data more secure while we have some fun and frolic off work?

It matters when you get more users
Business communities are die-hard BB fans, of course. But if BlackBerry requires a facelift or even a complete changeover from its traditional business image to survive the future, it makes sense to work across several niches and come up with different products even. Imagine a different kind of BlackBerry for college-goers, young professionals, mid-level managers, senior corporate, home-makers and senior citizens. In addition to generic features, each could come pre-loaded with relevant apps and smart technologies. It’s not as impossible as we think. We are the BlackBerry Boys (an Indian commercial) already shows you the tilt and the change. Incremental upgrades, even from a company like Apple, spell the death of innovation (and that’s when it boils down to gold versus plastic). So all we need now is just an amazing BlackBerry with some real value and the magic could be back again.