Blackberry’s Fortune
On January 30, Blackberry announced its new Blackberry 10 series. Z10 is an all-touched smartphone without physical keyboard, just like iPhone. Z10’s twin, Q10, keeps a traditional blackberry keyboard with a multi-touched screen. Blackberry initiated this move in a critical moment, after all for the past 3 years; its share in American smartphone market has tumbles from about 35% to only 1.6%.
In order to retake the ground it lost, Blackberry needs to gain some new momentums. In terms of appearance, Z10 looks like any other multi-touched phones and has nothing special. According to a professional review,
Z10 performs well in touched keyboard, operational system and camera, but showing no major superiority over others. In addition, it has a serious drawback that its system can only access to 70,000 apps, which are only 10% of Apple’s apps . So, what’s special about Z10?
In comparison, Q10 might win over some praises, since Blackberry’s time-honored keyboard remains intact in it. Its unique design combining physical keyboard with multi-touched screen makes it an innovation. On one hand, it certainly satisfies some diehard Blackberry fans’ appetite for physical keyboard. On the other, a multi-touched screen brings about convenience and somehow keeps the phone in fashion.
All-touched phones, like iPhone, Samsung changed many people’s habit. I used to be a keyboard fan, but iPhone has changed my typing habit. Now, I have also adapted to the screen and love to typing by it. How many customers would still be attracted by the physical keyboard? It would be a key concern.
In conclusion, I don’t think Blackberry 10 could put an end to the downturn of the company, since Z10 could not differentiate itself in the market, while Q10 may experience hard times as the group of physical keyboard lover keeps shrinking.