Unfortunately the title is slightly misleading. With the release of the Passport, a phone that is clearly focused on business professionals, Blackberry could very well be on the rise to capture themselves a small market share in the smartphones business. However, gone are the days of Research in Motions prime, where it seemed as if everybody on the street had a Curve or Bold. The new Passport is tapping into a market that they “virtually invented in 1998 with the first BlackBerry.”
Blackberry does not have any resources to actually discredit the smartphone giants like Apple and Samsung (although it seems like Apple is doing a fantastic job of this all by themselves), so they smartly opted to appeal to the business world and establish a niche market who prefer a physical keyboard over a touchscreen keyboard.
While Blackberry has become nearly irrelevant in the past years, their phones still bring major value to the smartphone market. Blackberry phones have always been the most secure on the market, from BBM to acquiring their own email servers to keep people protected. This is one area where Apple is losing customers at the moment, with the leaks of iCloud pictures from celebrities. In addition, many people have switched from Blackberry to Apple in the past and as of late, consumers are not impressed with Apple’s “Bendgate” and software issues. In fact, it could be argued that ever since the passing of Steve Jobs, the company has been declining in the quality and innovation that Apple customers have grown to love.
Blackberry released the Passport at the right time. It has the opportunity to reach out to business professionals and companies that want their information secured, while also developing a niche market out of people transitioning away from other smartphones, like the iPhone for example.
The article referenced in this blog post can be found here.
Image can be found here.