Blackberry pushed out a new smartphone called Passport in 2014. However, the sales volume of Passport was not satisfactory. The design of Blackberry Passport was based on the form of an actual passport. The gentle shape of the back cover is comfortable for user to hold in hand[1].The focused customer segment of Passport is the professional people who need to make important decisions with various occupations such as business men, pilots, doctors and designers. Besides, the theme of the Blackberry Passport is ‘work wide’.
According to Porter’s (1980) generic strategies, the focus strategy concentrates on a narrow segment and, within that segment, attempts to achieve either a cost advantage or differentiation [2],which suggests that Blackberry should specifically focus its customer segment on a certain profession (e.g. company managers) instead of vague focus on those people who need to make crucial decisions. Worse still, the Blackberry Passport is neither cheap nor convenient, comparing with other smartphones, such as iPhone 6 and Samsung galaxy s6.
Although Blackberry used to be the largest smart phone manufacturer in the world, the company has made mistakes about customer segment positioning in recent years. I think Blackberry should not develop new products that cater different consumers, but should produce products that are specialized for the people in a certain working area with specific functions. I also propose that Blackberry should exploit the markets in developing countries like China, Brazil and India and their market needs.
Reference:
- http://ca.blackberry.com/smartphones/blackberry-passport/overview.html
- Porter, M. E. (1980). Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and C New York: Free Press.