What BlackBerry should do in order to survive in very competitive world of Smart phones and stay unique?

What BlackBerry should do in order to survive in very competitive world of Smart phones and not lose its uniqueness?(My point of view)

Recent years the world market changed completely. And we see that such great market leaders as Nokia, Blackbery, Erricson, Siemens and others lost their positions completely. Old, uncomfortable Symbian OS with poor functionality have been changed to IOS, Android and Windows mobile. In this article I will try to analyze mistakes which were done by Nokia, HP and Blackberry, and what would be my plan to give a new birth for Blackberry as if I had such possibility as one of company’s decision makers.

If we check TOP 5 smartphone makers, we can see that 4 out of 5 companies are using Android as a primary OS. The exception in this list is Apple with closed solution such as IOS.

Each year we hear that some companies are trying to create Android killer, but they fail. To develop own devices based on own software, is a self killing decision, as the power of brand is not as strong as Apple has, and nowadays we see similar devices with similar design, as companies afraid to take a risk and introduce something completely new. Everyone tries to copy solutions of competitors, this is how business works.

Web OS, Meego, failed, due to one big reason, the limited numbers of Apps available. Developers are not interested to make programs for software which is used by very limited number of people, it’s not profitable and too risky.

The mistake which was done by Nokia is a decision not to use Android and concentrate on Windows, finally, the business was sold for 5-10 times lower price than it could be before making a decision of using Windows as the core and only OS.

Finally in my article I came up to Blackberry case. What unique and interesting Blackberry has?

1. Nice and unique Business design
2. Unique OS, and such a great App as BBM
3. Blackberry fans from Business field.

What are the main weaknesses of Blackberry?

1. Limited apps in own Appstore (we will not consider Android Play market for Android Apps)
2. Own OS, which has lots of critics and needs a lot of money for development. And due to sales of Blackberry phones are not that big, it affects the popularity of OS and interest of Developers to make Apps for Blackberry.
3. Poor marketing and approximately high cost (mainly due to small q’ty production comparing to TOP 5 smartphone manufacturers)
4. Number of income sources is limited. Only from sales of Smartphones and maybe from Apps Market.

In more deep analysis I could find more minuses, but these are the core in my opinion.

What would I change if I could?

1. I would divide smartphone lineup in to two categories:
2. Business phone (Built for business purpose, for business people. Based on own Blackberry OS, more safe to use, and more encrypted for business purpose)
3. Smartphone (Mass market) – based on Android OS, with original Balckberry design, with possibility to change back case in to colorful ones (red, green, blue,…). These additional accessories would be available on Blackberry store. Also it’s possible to give license for world biggest Accessories producers to produce these cases.

         Availability of Android lineup could help produce goods and satisfy needs of mass audience, which could lead to increase of Market Share and Brand awareness. The growth of sales could help to decrease some parts cost.

1. Licensed access to Blackberry OS to other developers such as Samsung, LG, HTC, LENOVO, ZTE,…

Let’s assume there would be fee $1-$2 from each device sold on Blackberry OS, that could lead to increase of profit, additional income method will help to diversify business which will lead to increase of Blackberry brand awareness, interest from developers to Blackberry OS, as the number of devices on this OS will increase.

1. More Apps in Store, will lead to increase of income from store posting fees. Which also will lead to diversification of income sources.
2. I think for Blackberry OS, it’s important to cooperate with Business service providers, to create unique, super safe, and useful business tools, which could help in everyday business life of mobile phone owners. The possibility that these apps will be sold will be very high, which also means that the profit will increase.
3. Special Business solutions (Software modifications of Blackberry OS with Apps related to special needs in each sector of Business) as Mobile phone for “Oil Industry”, Mobile phone for “Finance”, “Bank Sector”,… could help become the top player on Business sector, by providing unique, safe complete solution for the industry.

These are the key thing I would consider to change in Blackberry business first. There are tons of different solutions which could help, and maybe it’s time to make real changes?