The BlackBerry was a milestone in smartphone development, popularizing the QWERTY keyboard and holding a sizable market share throughout the mid 2000’s. By marketing the BlackBerry as a must have device for the business community and the ideal phone for text messaging, the BlackBerry was able to provide ample value to customers from a variety of market segments resulting in a significant increase in market share. However, their position at the top of the smartphone industry was challenged with the introduction of Apple’s first iPhone. The iPhone’s touchscreen became industry standard but BlackBerry founder, Michael Lazaridis, strongly favored the QWERTY keyboard and continued to push it onto the consumer.
After the introduction of the first iPhone “Verizon asked BlackBerry to create a touchscreen ‘iPhone killer’; however, the result was a flop, and Verizon turned to Motorola and Google instead.” Lazaridis’ unwillingness to adapt to changing consumer preferences caused BlackBerry to slowly become stale and out-dated. Had more resources been dedicated to the development of an “iPhone killer” after the release of the first iPhone then perhaps loyal BlackBerry users would have been more inclined to stick with BlackBerry rather than making the switch to Apple. Research in Motion’s (RIM) Inability to adapt to changing consumer preferences resulted in marketing strategies which were not well received by the consumer. Attempts at criticizing the difficulty of typing on an iPhone’s touchscreen vs. the BlackBerry’s keyboard were ineffective due to consumer’s preferring the benefits the touchscreen provided.
Ultimately, BlackBerry updated its own touchscreen product line but the result was underwhelming in comparison to similar products from its competition. The rise and fall of RIM shows that companies that fail to acknowledge and adapt to a changing market environment will ultimately be wiped out by their competition.
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