Starting off strong, then sharply losing its popularity for a while, BlackBerry recently came out with the Passport and has been trying to come back into the game in the smartphone market. Chen, its current CEO, is seeking to expand into China’s market, which he describes as huge but highly competitive.
In China, Xiaomi currently tops the percent share in the smartphone market. Chen recently met with Xiaomi’s CEO in order to discuss a potential business between BlackBerry and Xiaomi. China’s smartphone market is huge due firstly to its vast population and secondly to its rising standard of living.
CEO Chen holding the BlackBerry Passport
I believe that the BlackBerry Passport, which utilizes the focus strategy (differentiation), sets itself different from other smartphones by targeting mainly businessmen who seek convenience and efficiency while using smartphones. This conforms nicely to China’s market, and I think for BlackBerry China’s market would not be too hard to enter. This is because the rising standard of living in China leads to more businessmen and thus more demand of devices that would make business more convenient.
By potentially working with Xiaomi, BlackBerry is redirecting its course after losing popularity for a while in North America. I believe that with product uniqueness, BlackBerry can easily target businessmen of China and establish a position in China’s smartphone market.
Image credits: CBC News