BlackBerry’s failure to keep up with Apple and Google
was a consequence of errors in its strategy and vision. First, after growing to
dominate the corporate market, BlackBerry failed to anticipate that consumers —
not business customers — would drive the smartphone revolution. Second,
BlackBerry was blindsided by the emergence of the “app economy,” which drove
massive adoption of iPhone and Android-based devices. Third, BlackBerry failed
to realize that smartphones would evolve beyond mere communication devices to
become full-fledged mobile entertainment hubs
Read the article at: http://business.time.com/2013/09/24/the-fatal-mistake-that-doomed-blackberry/#ixzz2gNApoaoa
Read the article at: http://business.time.com/2013/09/24/the-fatal-mistake-that-doomed-blackberry/#ixzz2gNApoaoa
The recent decline of BlackBerry basically demonstrates what happens when a technological giant fails to provide innovation for its customers in a market that evolves at a breakneck speed. We would really appreciate your partecipation in answering the following questions:
1) What would have been for BlackBerry the best alternative to stay competitive within its industry?
2)How much important has been for BlackBerry the incapacity of riding the transition from the corporate world to the consumer market?
Moreover, it would be nice to see some statistics in class, so it would be nice if each member uses vot.rs to see what the general audience thinks.
Please go on vot.rs and enter teh following codes.
For question 1: 46 96 60
For question 2: 76 98 86
Group: WhatsApp
RispondiElimina1
BlackBerry made many mistakes that brought to the their final failure: this company wasn't able to predict the future market needs, maybe because they weren't expecting the great success of the touchscreen, in fact BlackBerry was the first company to give the QWERTY keyboard to a phone, but they stopped there believing that they already reached the future. The only way they could avoid this mess was (as Google's Android did) to follow and imitate Apple. Apple was able to create a new way of thinking about a phone and a market: the App Store. Blackberry had a huge competitive advantage a few years ago, and they should have used it to quickly create their own apps, investing in R&D for software and hardware and not stay truthful to their own identity of QWERTY mobile phone.
Moreover Blackberry has limited itself giving rise to a narrow market,the one composed by the business men who have as a main concern the working performance and who are not interested in social or other apps (those offered by Apple and Google in their handsets ).
This strategy has revealed itself a failure,because it automatically excluded the remaining categories of mobile-phone customers: teenagers,housewifes,adult people not only focused on work performance and others.
Blackberry showed its inability to manage a competitive advantage gained a few years before and its scarse ability to forecast and choose the most suitable future-oriented strategy .
2
Blackberry was businesses' favorite phone, every businessman was using it, it was the perfect accessory for a “twenty-first century Yuppy”, the possibility to read and send emails directly from the phone was a huge invention that helped the lives of many businessmen. Blackberry's mistake was to think that the “new phones” (such as Iphone and Android) were indicated to a market full of normal costumers that wanted apps just to play or take photos; the company couldn't understand that soon these apps would replace Blackberry's email advantage.
They could follw the trend of these “new Phones” thinking that companies or businessmen would never change their “beloved yuppy phone” to a phone full of “unnecessary apps”! Big mistake!
GROUP: GO HARD OR GO HOME
RispondiEliminaThe introduction of the mobile device known as Blackberry has revolutionized the lives of many businessmen and wallstreeters, making it top notch equipment for the financial world. It became the first worldwide developer of a new type of phone, the smartphone; but as the years went by, the firm failed to account for the shift in utility of this new kind of phone. The big innovation here was that consumers, and not only businessmen, were starting to buy a Blackberry and it got quickly substituted with an easier to use and more user friendly type of smartphone introduced by Apple Inc. This new smartphone greatly satisfied the needs of simplicity mixing them with the the complex dynamics of a computer-based programme. What Blackberry did in those years was to continue producing a one way only type of device without taking into account the threats of substitution by consumers set forth with the emergence of the I-Phone (a more intuitive and consumer oriented device). Instead of quickly trying to adapt this innovation strategy into their device, and maybe even continue to produce a baseline of businessmen oriented devices, it waited too long and is now in the position it is.
Blackberry should have been in contact with his customers' needs: touchscreen devices with an app store. It should have mainly pressed on the built of a new Research and Development department for Apps.
RispondiEliminaBlackBerry had a competitive advantage thanks to its introduction of the QWERTY keyboard, that completely substituted the numeric keypad. Since Blackberry was not keeping up with the researches of his competitors, his competitive advantage was completely taken off by the disruptive technology of touch screen introduced by his rivals.
Since it was producing a mobile phone used especially by businessmen, it continued to deal with this target, without implementing a single device with several functions and designed for the labour world and personal enterteinment.
Moreover we believe that in this way BlackBerry missed the opportunity to enlarge its market, due to a lack in the development of semiprofessional cameras, "charming" design and a useful and rich appstore.
In conclusion, BlackBerry failed to understand that ordinary people, not businessmen, would have rebuilt the smartphone market. We deem that its only lifeline will be the merge with FairFax company.
(Coke does not Joke Group)
EliminaGroup: BENZ
RispondiEliminaJust a few years ago BlackBerry was one of the best-seller mobile on the Market, but once it failed, its decline went on rapidly and it is still not over.
There are many mistakes that this well known company has made.
First of all BB failed because of its “Myopic” Strategy. They didn’t “anticipate” the evolution of consumers’ needs, and most of all they didn’t “listen” to the external environment, trying to adapt themselves to the new technologies, following the general trend of the leading innovative Firms.
BlackBerry didn’t also know how to keep and update their Competitive Advantage.
It has been the first company to sell on the Market a phone with a physical Qwerty keyboard, but the consumer’s taste changed in a unpredictable way, preferring the touch-screen and the new applications that the competitors introduced.
The Network Effect that BB faced was linked both to their short term oriented strategy, that limited them from investing in R&D and in innovation, and also to the narrow Market in which they were working, addressing their projects to a “selected” consumer. BB’s mobile was projected most of all for business men, because its email advantage, but doing so, they didn’t find a “community” of consumers to whom to sell their products.
Group: BENZ
RispondiEliminaJust a few years ago BlackBerry was one of the best-seller mobile on the Market, but once it failed, its decline went on rapidly and it is still not over.
There are many mistakes that this well known company has made.
First of all BB failed because of its “Myopic” Strategy. They didn’t “anticipate” the evolution of consumers’ needs, and most of all they didn’t “listen” to the external environment, trying to adapt themselves to the new technologies, following the general trend of the leading innovative Firms.
BlackBerry didn’t also know how to keep and update their Competitive Advantage.
It has been the first company to sell on the Market a phone with a physical Qwerty keyboard, but the consumer’s taste changed in a unpredictable way, preferring the touch-screen and the new applications that the competitors introduced.
The Network Effect that BB faced was linked both to their short term oriented strategy, that limited them from investing in R&D and in innovation, and also to the narrow Market in which they were working, addressing their projects to a “selected” consumer. BB’s mobile was projected most of all for business men, because its email advantage, but doing so, they didn’t find a “community” of consumers to whom to sell their products.
Group: G3
RispondiEliminaYes, the strategy of the former giant is fallatious. That’s what the stock pricve says, that’s what people think. But most of those very people argue that BlackBerry failed to adopt the changes of the smarthpone industry o f the non-business market. That is the case with BB’s lagging behind the touchscreen and multimedia revolution, however they tend to forget the preciousness of BB for the business market. First of all it’s data protection system which is considered the best among it’s competitors and it’s ability to be configured for the corporate needs.
The depreciation of the company might well be born by the reasonless desire to follow the broad “regular consumer” market. The interest expressed towards the BB phones by those consumers was temporary and would have been so in any case considering Apple and Android competition. Instead we think that it would be better to choose in which market to compete and which niche to occupy. A logical solytion could be to concentrate on the corporate market and abandon the consumer market at all. Or to do the opposite and move to the consumer market (although the competition there seems much more aggressive and the future less predictable). So, the strategy was indeed fallatious, but the implications of this statement are different.
Group: PDF Management
RispondiElimina1.
In 2009 Blackberry was the market leader in the mobile (smart)phone industry. This changed rapidly because while Blackberry was resting on its' laurels Apple and Windows made important innovations. They focused on consumers' desires instead of the business/government sector. This resulted in the 'invention' of the app store and phones with touchscreens in line with consumer demand. Now Blackberry is not even close to the company it once was. We therefore think that the best strategy for Blackberry would have been to recognize that the customers' desires were changing.
2.
The incapacity of Blackberry to ride the transition from the corporate world to the consumer market has been really important. While Blackberry was market leader in the mobile phone market and specialized in phones for the business/government sector, they forgot to explore the market further and to tap new segments of the market, the consumer segment for example (housewives, teenagers, etc).
Furthermore, it appeared that businesses were also interested in the new smarthphones with apps provided by Apple, Google Android and Windows Phone. Part of these businesses have started to substitute their Blackberry for phones of its competitors, so that Blackberry also ended up losing market share in the segment of the market in which they were specialized.
Blackberry conquered the market with an innovative product which was very popular among the business people. In exactly the same way Apple conquered the market with a more innovative and better product. The only difference is that Apple focused on the market for all consumers and not only the business people like Blackberry did.
RispondiEliminaJust to say that Blackberry should have done the same as Apple is a bit easy after all. But at least it could have improved the Blackberry phone for business people by introducing apps and more options on the phone than just email/internet/calling. By doing so Blackberry would still have the same amount of sales and customers even though the market share dissappears because the new entrants in the market would go for other smartphones.
Having said this the incapacity of riding the transition from the corporate world to the consumer market was not the main problem for Blackberry. If Blackberry would be innovative focusing on the corporate world and would succeed in this, Blackberry would still be one of the biggest companies of the US.
Group Februaries:
RispondiEliminaTo stay competitive Black Berry should have completely changed strategy.
Today's smart phone industry requires an open mind towards what customers want and need and BB didn't follow this trend.
Black Berry had a great idea at the beginning introducing the QWERTY.
This keyboard was a new feature that helped the launch of the product by distinguishing it from the other older phones.
The problem rose when Apple introduced the Iphone, which was a completely new phone, innovative design, and overall with the TOUCH screen. Apple received a huge feedback from customers that loved the idea. BB decided much later to innovate itself and to introduce the Z10, which was a touch screen phone.
All the critics referred to it as just a bad copy of the I-phone.
So why didn't blackberry try to come up with something new and innovative to completely “wow” customers and be different??
The phone still had some missing features able to attract a new range of customers.
In the modern world phones are not just used to send text messages, to call or read email but they also provide entertainment and a great deal of services to always be in contact with the web. This is mainly done through the services offered by the “Apps”. This is one of the main points were Blackberry lacks. It wasn't able to introduce this features in its phones so to reach not only business men, but also a wider range of customers that with their (I)-phones do much more.
Group: Spanish Team
RispondiEliminaThe best alternative to Blackberry would be to understand and anticipate the markets needs and the consumers needs to be updated and not to lose market share.
Another alternative could be to have an operating sistem based an android or Google to reseach the app market.
In the other hand, we consider that Blackberry shouldn't stop making devices just for comunication but also to entertain. Less business more entertainment.
2)
Blackberry was very succesful in the business market at the beggining and they were also highly succesful in the consumer market because there wasn't a big competition in this commerce.
Apple and android already exist but they don't have that much importance in internacional business.
The problem was not the transaction from the corporate world to the consumer market (pust e-mail and qwerty keyboard was a very innovaty and succesful) the actual issue was they didn't know how to develop their devices to make competitive and survive on the app's world.
Group ReJa
RispondiElimina1) When we take a look at BlackBerry, the main difference to its competitors was the QUERTY keyboard, this was their strength and so they established a competitive advantage.
BlackBerry mainly focused on business people and it was a very popular smartphone among them, generally the email-device and off course because of the BBM which was revolutionary at the time.
So, what went wrong? What SHOULD HAVE BEEN the alternative for BlackBerry to stay competitive?
In our opinion, BlackBerry did a great job in making mobile phones. They were very innovative at first, shown with the email-service they offered. The thing they should have done is not making a device with a touchscreen, no they should have invest money in entering the “App-world”. Without possibilities to install apps on a BlackBerry, people didn’t buy their mobile devices but for example an Apple instead. Why would you by a phone that doesn’t have the possibility to use WhatsApp, play popular games etc. Here the company really missed the departure to the new future. By the time BlackBerry realized the big importance of Apps it was too late to recover and it already lost his position on the market.
2) Blackberry is the best example that you can't repose on the fruits you earned in the past. They really did everything wrong what they could do !
A main factor was focusing only on the corporate world which is only a small branch of the population, they missed the transition to the new generation and it's behavior towards smartphones. This forced BlackBerry to it's knees and near to bankruptcy.
Group: DANELVIC
RispondiEliminaAs far as we are concerned, BlackBerry should have definitely followed its competitors trying to innovate their products in order to offer the best possible services according to the current circunstances. Blackberry should have forseen its customers' neccessities so that they could keep competitive in the market and not get stuck.
The main problem is that the company did not manage to introduce innovative features that would be essential in order to grow, so BlackBerry's power market decreased amazingly.
On the other hand, BlackBerry found that Apple and Android became able to compite with BB's competitive advantage that was its free chat. Indeed, one of its most important costumers, business employees, started to use other services and some features like keyboard were rejected by the public.
In concusion, Blackberry should have innovated more the corporate aspect so that, nowadays, this company would still be at the top of the market.
It is evident that Blackberry couldn't manage to face the incumbent competition of Apple and Android, and this is mainly due to bad choices it has made, starting from its strategy.
RispondiEliminaThe best alternatives for Blackberry to stay competitive in this industry was:
trying to anticipate consumers' needs as the phone market was developing and becoming more and more competitive;
it should have adjusted its supply to the new products, beacuse one of the main reason of Blackberry' s decline is having failed to keep up with expectations;
using the same services Apple was giving differentiating its products on an other side, since an huge share of this industry belongs to Apple;
they should have developed more ideas instead of believing there could be no possible evolution after the qwerty keyboard and that the touch screen wouldn't be of great success amongst consumers;
making his customers' range larger including more than only business men.
The incapacity of riding transactions from the corporate world and to predict and choose the best strategy for keeping its first success has been decisive for the failure of the company, because it lost its place in the phone market.
Group: CB
RispondiElimina1) Blackberry's best option to keep competitive would have been differentiating its products and by doing so creating a consumer oriented model with fancy features and a more enjoyable operating system so that more people could be attracted by the Blackberry ecosystem. More simply Blackberry should have continued investing in hardware and software research instead of focusing on minor updates that were ininfluent from the consumer's point of view.
2)Blackberry's incapacity of leading the transition from business oriented devices to consumer oriented smartphones has proved crucial, it is indeed trivial to consider that while there is a limited number of business users there are almost infinite comsumers who just want their life to be easier thanks to a mobile device.
Group: R.E.S
RispondiElimina1)Blackberry could have exploit its rescources taking an advantage on differences with Apple, for example by introducing more intuitive apps, main concept for the smartphones, to grant a wider range of customers in particular the younger ones.
It should have been more outwardly open and should have realized customers' tastes and desires were changing .
2)Incapacity is one of the factor that contributed to Blackberry's breakdown,in which are also included a narrow concept of costumers' tastes, no flexibility with respect to innovation and the incapacity to follow the current trend; Blackberry was initially made for bussiness purposes and it remained stick to that throughout the years.
GRASSHOPPER
RispondiEliminaAccording to recent researches involved the best technological firm such as Apple, Samsung BlackBerry. It is clear that the last company mentioned it is in a tough business situation. Therefore, BlackBerry during the last years lost market power because they did not change business strategy and developed a smart phone that it is not so smart at all. BlackBerry remained faithful to the “old style” characteristic such as keyboard and software. Apple and all the other firms developed a device that allows people to use the phone with touch screen and new applications. BlackBerry lost consumer’s loyalty and comparative advantage with other firms. It is important in our time to be creative and inspire people to be in love with a new products such as Apple did in the 2007 with the IPhone. I believe that BlackBerry need to be innovative if they want to came back to the business. Blackberry should focus on app creation, which is vital for people’s ordinary lives.
Blackberry has experienced an incredible fall in value from 2009 onwards. Mainly the events that led to this were a combination of strategic myopia and a modification if the market which was better intercepted by companies such as Apple. Having deviced a phone for a certain target of customers Blackberry continued pursuing only this branch of the market and failed to realize how much it had expanded well beyond the corporate world. The consumers that make up the bulk of the market are now looking for easy-to-use phones that are not just for e-mails but for a facilitated version of web browsing and entertainment sharing. They are captivated by the App world which doesn't belong within blackberry. The company could have removed it's cherished keyboard and further developed its technology to suit the tastes of new consumers and not simply rely on its past users. It could have adapted to passing times, understanding how technology isn't perceived as a means to work more efficiently but first and foremost as a way to keep in touch with friends and stay connected, up to date, to have fun. We aren't looking for high efficiency in business transactions. We're looking for entertainment.
RispondiEliminaGROUP: TRIPLE A
RispondiElimina1)The BlackBerry experience is the proof of how the disruptive innovation leads to others opportunities when trends shift in the market. In fact, with the introduction of the Iphone, Apple applied the strategy of “thinking different” by taking away unnecessary features like buttons, options and distractions, while BB tried to outwit Apple with more sophisticated business options (email with a phone-attached gadget). In order to stay on the top, BB had not to constantly work on logical upgrades, but it had to enhance facilities for which Apple had(and has) a competitive advantage: hardware speeds (the introduction of ITunes), design and the AppStore.
2)Since Apple and Android cannibalized the phone market with the introduction of devices which go beyond the corporate world with the consequence of reaching the satisfaction of needs and wants of costumers, BB failed to keep up-to-date with current changes in modern trends. So this fact has been crucial for the actual BB crisis.
group: Ikea
RispondiElimina1) In the case of BlackBerry industry we notice that the company failed to predict costumers' needs and wants. To stay in the competitive industry a company have to predict the trends and the technologic innovations in relation also to competitors; in this case Google and the Android system or the Apple's Iphone. BB products become obsolate because the firm was not able to compete in the smartphone market with big errors in strategy, product and advertising vison and the failure to anticipate new technological trends like the fact that BB contiued producing phones with keyboards even if consumers preferred touchscreen.
2) The incapacity of riding the transition from the corporate world to the consumer market causes BB's decline. The company was one of the superior enterprises of the phone market because the company became a no consumer friendly not seeing the needs of costumers. There was lack of flexibility talking about innovations and crisis in expand producion in other sectors rather than only in the cellphones market.
Group: Penguin Business
RispondiEliminaBlackberry, once the most profitable company in Canada has been subject to a rapid decline in the past years. The cause of this is its failure to provide customers with products they would actually buy. While companies like Apple and Google focused strongly on consumer-friendly, easy-to-use touchscreen devices Blackberry was unable to transition to the new market where the consumers are at the centre.
The company lost the competitive advantage it had achieved through phones that were aesthetically captivating and with push e-mails because of the lack of experimentation (odd enough for a company that used to be known as Research in Motion). Blackberry failed to anticipate the new market where phones need to be more than mobile calling devices: the company wasn’t ready to welcome the apps world, being the sole provider for softwares on its operating system and it didn’t furnish anything on the entertainment side either. The consequences of its present-focused strategy were enormous: in a short time the company found itself forced to be sold on the market.
The strategy that Blackberry should have pursued, should have been similar to Apple’s dual strategy: it should have kept producing its phones- which had already gained a good niche on the market, the one of business men and people who needed emails and an elegant phone that would fit in their work environment- and started working on new devices. It could have tried to struck a deal with Google to have an operating system more similar to Android, which is undeniably easier to use and be ready for the arrival of the apps through a more open app store. Alternatively it could have decided to focus on new consumers, producing less costly phones for example, and tried to exploit characteristics of markets in different parts of the world such as China.
1) Only five years ago, blackberry defined the phone market and now the company is being sold to avoid shut down . What happened?Blackberry was the first phone to introduce a direct email service on their devices, and had a very strong security system for its users but when customer desires changed, for example the need of a more simple and easier too use phone, a larger and touch screen and most importantly a larger range of apps it was not able to adapt its phones to these needs. Now it finds itself with a very large unsold inventory and defines only a 3% of the smartphone industry. Blackberry failed to make a comeback in the market, after Apple and other competitors introduced their smartphones in the industry: it didn't embrace new hardware formats, it didn't improve its operating system, it didn't satisfy consumer desires nor improve the phones themselves. The main issue was that BB didn't understand was that the key to growth was the simplicity of the software and most importantly the apps! It stayed behind, ignoring consumer demands and while IPhone became the best phone on the market, it's competitors caught up but Blackberry didn't move fast enough and failed in its comeback.
RispondiElimina2) The incapacity of riding the transition from the corporate world to the consumer market was fundamental for blackberry s failure. We think that it was the main reason of its come down because innovation is the most important factor to take in consideration when developing new softwares, technologies and phones.