In the midst of the hype surrounding the release of the iPhone 6, Blackberry began selling its new flagship smartphone, the BlackBerry Passport. As mentioned in the article, the phone does not follow conventional designs one may expect from a smartphone. This is what BlackBerry is going for; BlackBerry is trying to appeal to a niche market for business people. I think this is all part of a focus differentiation strategy, and perhaps this is one of the only strategies that can work to BlackBerry’s advantage. In a market dominated by iPhones and Android phones, there is almost no place for BlackBerry phones. There is no incentive for the average phone user to switch from iPhone or Android to BlackBerry when iPhone and Android are seen as being superior. However the BlackBerry Passport can have a market in the among business people who, as the article mentioned, can view spreadsheets  and other productivity functions on the BlackBerry passport which has a wider screen than other smartphones. The wider design is BlackBerry’s way of differentiating from its competitors in order to focus on a niche market. There are always risks that come with differentiation since the unique product may not sell well. For BlackBerry, which is in a bad financial situation, the risks are especially high because should the product fail to sell, the company’s financial situation will further worsen. It seems premature for BlackBerry to plan to release an unconventional device each year when the company is still suffering losses every quarter.