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iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.
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?

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iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.
Can Android can Save Blackberry?
When Charles Warner said “Politics makes strange bedfellows” little did he know that 150 years later, the same quote will equally apply to technology companies! Microsoft-Salesforce, IBM-Apple are examples but the crown will belong to Blackberry if they launch a smartphone running on the Android OS. 
For those not following the rumour mills, the Blackberry device code namedVenice will run Android OS and come with a slider QWERTY keyboard. The speculation is that Blackberry will secure the Android OS and in the words of John Chen 'We only build secure phones and BlackBerry is the most secure phone so, if I can find a way to secure the Android phone, I will also build that.” Once you finish rubbing your eyes on John Chen’s use of ‘I’ in the above quote, I will make you rub your chin by saying it is the best idea from Blackberry for a long time.
Before you close your browser tab and start wondering if John and I have simultaneously gone cuckoo, let me try and explain why BB-Venice can easily become a blockbuster for Blackberry and revive its flagging hardware sales.
Today about 43% of all business mails and 57% of personal mails are first opened on mobile devices and nearly 8% of time spent on mobiles is either in reading or replying to mails. If we look at the typical use of smartphones, we find that text messaging, internet and email are the most popular features and all of these require heavy use of keyboards.
Let us pause here and rewind; from the time iPhone was launched, the physical keyboard was confined to history books and traded for a larger touch screen with virtual keyboard. The only company that BOLDLY (pun intended) persisted with physical keyboards was pushing an OS that should have retired before the physical keyboard. When BB finally upgraded their OS, the world had moved on and 84% of the smartphone market was split between Android and IOS. So to BB horror while they managed to launch a secure and touch friendly OS and put it on devices with physical keyboards, the users shunned the devices due to lack of the application ecosystem.
Let us now forward to 2015 when BB launches Venice with a secure Android OS, physical keyboard, full size touch screen, top of the line hardware specs, bundled with the Blackberry hub and managed by BES12. Now if all of the above happens, I don’t need to wear either my CIO hat and argue why organizations will love this device or wear my geek hat and argue why the retail consumers will grab it off the shelves. The only caution and spoiler to the party can be absurd pricing aka the Classic or Passport (they need to ideally price in the ballpark of Xiaomi and Oneplusone).
In summary adopting and securing Android can become the inflection point for Blackberry and can end their device woes, provided they get the pricing right. The play then will be in the MDM space and what how BB leverages its investment in the brilliant though unsung QNX platform.
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iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.
3 Things To Know About The Blackberry
After years of living in Apple’s shadow, Blackberry might just be on the verge of a revival. Priv, the company’s newly released mobile device, is giving smartphone users a compelling reason to ditch their iPhones for good. But what’s the draw?
1. It’s now part of the Android army. For the tech illiterate, Android is the mobile operating system you’ll find on almost anything that’s not an iPhone (which uses iOS). The Priv is Blackberry’s first entre into the world of Android, which means that Priv users have access to all the apps found in the Google Play store. 
2. There’s a physical keyboard. The clicking noise you so adored hearing while furiously typing emails and texts on early version Blackberry devices is back. What’s more, the phone also has a “virtual” keyboard option for those who’ve grown comfortable with tapping on screens. You can slide the screen up with your thumb to reveal a classic Blackberry keyboard; then slide it back down, and the phone will revert to touchscreen typing. 
3. The password protection is top-notch. Smartphones typically stay secure using a fingerprint, passcode or swiping pattern. The Priv, however, incorporates all three into an authentication method they call “Picture Password Technology.”
There’s an inevitable learning curve that comes with switching from one smartphone to another, but the Priv’s barrier to entry is surprisingly low. And the keyboard? Spend a few minutes tapping, and you’ll likely be tempted to cross over.
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iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.

What if Facebook partnered with Blackberry?

Facebook has gone under scrutiny lately for its security practices. With nearly a quarter of the world’s population now on Facebook, Facebook’s security may be at risk. According to The Guardian, a hacker was able to exploit a flaw and have created a hack to collect thousands of names, pictures, and locations from Facebook.

While this may not be a total compromise of Facebook’s security, there is a feature that enables users to search for other users by a phone number. This feature could allow a potential hacker to generate a script that uses Facebook’s API to create thousands of phone numbers and perform automatic searches which in turn is a search algorithm that could be used to hack Facebook accounts. By running a script like this, someone could potentially gather information to discover names, locations, and other details associated with a Facebook account.

So, is this something the general public should be alarmed about? Possibly. While many people post up their location, family photos, phone numbers, favorite shopping locations, etc. they be unaware that this information could be used against them. Bits of personal information could be piece milled together for possible identity theft. While this discovery may be harmless to many, users should make sure they keep their phone number private on Facebook. Phone numbers could be sold to various marketing companies who may hound users day and night and the victims may never know how their number was distributed.

Why BlackBerry?


While personal identifiable information (PII) may be up to the individual user to protect, the security of Facebook itself may be improved if they were to partner with BlackBerry. Why BlackBerry? BlackBerry may have lost its popularity among the masses that it once had however; the Defense Department still uses BlackBerry devices because of its security advancements.

BlackBerry has already partnered with Samsung to offer a higher level of security to Android devices. The reason being that the end to end encryption BlackBerry has to offer can be used for Samsung’s Knox system for additional layers of encryption support. This move is a large picture push with Samsung so they can bring their devices up to the government’s stringent security standards.

What does this have to do with Facebook?


How many status updates and selfies eventually make it from a mobile phone or device to Facebook? According to Digitaltrends.com, 350 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day! This could be a hacker’s playground if they were able to find an exploit into user’s accounts. However; a partnership between BlackBerry, Facebook could mean additional layers of security to make their user’s data safe and protected. With The BlackBerry/Samsung partnership, Android users would benefit from that security by default.

If you are reading this you probably have a Facebook account yourself. Wouldn’t you feel more secure in knowing your account would be much more protected with the power of BlackBerry behind it? Just a few years ago the HTC Status became the first smartphone in the US to have a physical “Share to Facebook” button which enabled the user to share photos, status updates, websites, and just about anything else by the press of a button. This partnership could bring that Facebook button to nearly every Android based Smartphone through their connection with BlackBerry.

Unfortunately, high profile hacks are growing more common these days which puts users at risk. While Facebook expresses concerns over user security, they are still just as vulnerable as anyone else to attacks and often put it on their users to protect their own data by limiting the amount of PII they distribute. However; Facebook users could benefit from a Facebook/BlackBerry partnership with the additional layers of security.
Tony Ortega
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iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.
Blackberry, the Experiment Begins

Blackberry, the Experiment Begins

Like so many others I was worried about my phone addiction. I didn't need any numbers to pontificate or graphs to compare, I simply knew it was time to put it down. I became the dashboard.

Quality time had devolved into a roomful of adults, and sadly kids, all stuck to their screens and their chairs and their thoughts.

So like many others I decided to do something about it.

Something drastic. No patches, no gums, just cold turkey.

I bought a Blackberry.

I had help. Two weeks ago my phone and I said good night, as every night and together we fell into a peaceful sleep. In the morning however, only one of us woke up. It was an odd, no drama death for a device, at least in my experience. It simply went to sleep and never woke up.

It is certainly not without sadness, holding a cold lifeless smartphone, but not because I attributed any lifeforce to it, but simply because it won't on it's own rot and give itself back. Dead as it is, it has nothing to offer. We all know this, perhaps you have a drawer somewhere filled with this.

So the #Blackberry experiment began. Thankfully I got no noise from the AT&T rep. It was not expensive. I figure she assumed I would just return it in a few days. This was my intention, or at least I assumed I would return it. Yet I still have it.


Do I still have it because it's better? Whoa now, first things first. When you get an email from me (and this thing does email spectacularly) and it says "Sent from my Blackberry 10 smartphone" don't believe that. It's not a smartphone for me. I'm just a smart guy with a phone.

I can't even begin to compare it to the iPhones, Androids and Windows Phones I have had over the years. Not better or worse, but different, certainly different.

This thing is, and for me only, a communications workhorse. Calling, texting, emailing, Social Media-ing, check. It has a browser. After that, I simply put the phone down.

So I pared down, but am able to keep in touch because you can't fall off the face of the earth anymore. We need this connection, not to feel alive or be fulfilled, but to do things like gets jobs and pay rents.

I have found that the above functions, the keeping in touch stuff, doesn't take much time. Then you can put down the dummy brick and communicate directly with the people around you. And that is fulfilling and that's what's going to keep me alive.

 Matthew Clarke, CC
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iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in tech-related topics.Our GOAL is to produce high-quality content for our millions of readers.
Blackberry Might Move to Android
Subsequent to procuring itself to some degree constrained accomplishment with the BB10 OS over the recent years, the diminishing Canadian cell phone organization BlackBerry may at long last go Android. How fruitful that wande
r will be is impossible to say however it will barely astonish anybody in case we're being fair.

As per another report by Reuters, the move is a piece of the organization's arrangements to concentrate on programming and gadget administration. This bodes well in light of the fact that it will further demonstrate that BlackBerry's trademark administrations and security can work generally also on Android.

The telephone to make utilization of this new organization is likely a touchscreen slider with a QWERTY console that was demonstrated at the MWC recently. The fact is obviously to bring the best of Android experience and a conventional console together. We absolutely don't anticipate that BlackBerry will discard the BB10 OS by any stretch of the imagination, either.

With its achieve, Android can help further BlackBerry's administrations to a bigger crowd. With a piece of the overall industry of under 1 percent, that is precisely what BlackBerry's inadequate with regards to at this moment.

Why the news wouldn't astonish numerous is clear, correct? For quite a long time BlackBerry has permitted individuals to load APKs on its BB10 telephones. It has officially propelled its abundantly acclaimed BBM benefit on Android (and iOS) in 2013 and has been working with a few Android producers including Samsung, every one of whom craving its historic security innovation.

It stays to be seen whether the organization will regard Android the same path as Nokia, which discharged a profoundly changed form of Google's OS which included a custom App Store. What's more, whether it will have as much achieve as those specific cell phones.
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