Preceding the newly released Passport was Blackberry’s Z10, which represented RIM’s final, desperate attempt to compete directly with major smartphone producers Apple and Samsung. Featuring a similar design and operating system to Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy series, the Z10 failed to distinguish itself within a highly competitive marketplace, and was ultimately destine a failure. Juxtaposed against the Z10 is the Passport, Blackberry’s latest attempt to re-install itself as a major player within the smartphone market. As fellow blogger Sincere Cheong notes, “everything about the Passport is different or even strange compared to the other competitive smartphones on the market,” evidence of Blackberry’s renewed strategic focus on differentiation. Rather than catering to the typical smartphone user, the Passport represents a return to Blackberry’s roots, boasting features “customized solely for the working professional” (Cheong).
It was only a few short years ago that the Blackberry was without question the phone of choice for the business professional. In Collegehumor’s video series Start-up Guys the characters, themselves comically hyperbolized representations of businessmen, are inextricably linked to their Blackberry phones. In “Start-up Guys Go Back to School,” BBM (Blackberry Messenger) is referred to as the most important marketing term. Note the date: December, 2011. In less than three years, the Blackberry has gone from the face of the business world to relative insignificance. With the release of the Passport, Blackberry hopes to restore the company to its former glory. By focusing on implementing features designed to facilitate business-related tasks, as well as highlighting traditional strengths “security, cybersecurity, and personal identity production” (Babad), Blackberry hopes that a return to its core value proposition will turn around an otherwise floundering company.
http://blogs.ubc.ca/sincerecheong/2014/09/29/blackberry-passport-entry-into-the-competitive-market/
Start-Up Guys Go Back to School. CollegeHumor. CollegeHumor, Dec. 2011. Web. 4 Oct. 2014.