Monthly Archives: October 2013

From being number one in the smartphone industry to being an endangered phone company, could this be Blackberry’s chance to win back customers? Adding to what Jia Yi Liu discussed in her blog about Blackberry Ltd ‘s new release of BBM as an app, I think that this is a great opportunity for Blackberry to improve.

Hours after the release my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram’s news feed were filled with BBM contacts. Blackberry Ltd was on the way to rock bottom but this new marketing strategy could potentially save the company.  I agree with Jia questioning if customers will purchase the Blackberry device. By raising brand awareness they may be winning the interest of some consumers, but I don’t believe this is enough for people to make the change back to Blackberry from their Iphone or Android. These 160 character messages use up a phones data instead of as a SMS, a point of parity of many similar services like WhatsApp, and WeChat.

BBM is not something new and innovative; although Blackberry is trying, I believe that if they want to be successful they have to try something that is completely out of the box, and groundbreaking.

Low budget airline companies have made it their main objective to fly passengers at low rates. Making it cheap for travellers to fly also means they have to cut down on a lot of costs involved with the business.

There are expenses that the companies can do nothing about, like the fuel and materials for the aircrafts. Instead, they cut down the luxuries that you would get on a more expensive flight. Employing less workers, not providing food, cutting down on space for passengers are a few examples of how these companies have reduced their costs. Keeping their flying distances short is a way of saving money.

Recently Easy Jet has further decreased their onboard bag size to accommodate everyone’s belongings. Will squeezing in a few more bags and body benefit them?

By providing the bare minimum for customers, they have an opportunity to sell upgrades, which a passenger on other major airlines would have had for no additional costs. These small upgrades, for example priority seating, add revenue to their company. This allows for a bigger range in audience too, perhaps people want a cheap flight but are still willing to pay a little extra to get a few amenities.

Companies in the stock markets have taken some severe beatings, could the answer essentially be to go Private? A prime example is Blackberry, who has seen its stock market value to drop to about $6 billion dollars.

It is a constant test to be in a public company. Providing long-term shareholders their demands, and dealing with fast-money traders, activist investors and opportunists, requires immense amount of money, time, and energy. Could it be the fantasy of making big bucks in the initial public offering the reason why these companies take the leap?

Rewards of being in a public company can be massive, but the complexities with managing everyone can result in a decline in the stock markets. Private businesses allow more time for creating a long-term future that will benefit future stakeholders.

If Blackberry was to go private they could improve their business strategy and in the future come back into the public sector prosperous. There are many thriving private companies, for example Toys ‘R’ Us and Fidelity Investments. This new perspective can change the diminishing public companies to become successful privately owned corporations.

The dynamos of social media have been in an ongoing war to outshine each other, but what really is their strategy?

Each company started with a simple concept for their users, for example Vine’s main purpose is to share short, looped videos. The issue is that as new social media apps surface, with innovative ideas, everyone wants to incorporate the “next best thing” into their brand. When Vine emerged, Instagram decided to integrate videos into their news feed.

Social media enthusiasts use different apps for assorted purposes; one simply does not go on Pinterest to chat with people. By separating the companies, people unmistakably knew what they were getting at each site.

Competing with Facebook, Instagram, and others,Twitter started to loose money. With recent modifications to its service, Twitter has left people confused and dazed. It is still a top contender but could change be the reason for this fall in users?

Gene Muster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray says, “The future of social media is not going to be a winner-takes-all scenario. No service can be all things to all people.” Keeping a clear brand proposition simplifies trying to surpass one another, and leaves consumers satisfied.