Following the news that BlackBerry’s shares have fallen 13% after it announced it would not be selling itself to Fairfax Financial Holdings, I have been pondering what the future holds for BlackBerry.
Fairfax, BlackBerry’s biggest shareholder, was planning to lead a consortium of firms in a takeover worth $4.7bn. But Fairfax was reportedly struggling to raise financing needed for the deal.
So it seems that a company that was on top of its game just four years ago now only holds 2.9% of the market and cannot even find a buyer to pick up the pieces.
Less than two years ago, BlackBerry appointed Thorsten Heins as its new CEO as he pledged to make the BlackBerry smartphone relevant again. But the year ’13 proved unlucky for the Canadian company as it reported $968m loss in Q2, cut 40% of its workforce and was put up for sale as the new handsets failed to salvage its floundering reputation. Heins has since been forced to stand down amid the ongoing tumultuous situation at the company.
As Heins’ attempt to save BlackBerry by re-launching its handsets failed, I like many others believe that the future of BlackBerry lies with its software and services for corporations.
Indeed, the hallmark of tech-savvy businessmen and women is their ‘work BlackBerry’. Not only do the handheld devices all connect to their company’s intranet, but BlackBerry has one of the most efficient email routing systems on the market.
All emails sent to and from BlackBerry devices are routed through the BlackBerry infrastructure, repaying the cost of multiple redundant connections to carriers across all of the BlackBerry Enterprise Servers around the world.
The BlackBerry Enterprise Solution encrypts all emails with the addition of user’s own encryption keys stored in the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and on the individual device. This means that the content is secure to the point that even the operators of BlackBerry infrastructure cannot view the content of messages.
On their website, BlackBerry calls its security function ‘The cornerstone of the BlackBerry solution.’ And I think this may be what they need to look at going forward: exemplifying their Enterprise Solution and its security features.
BlackBerry could also expand on its other software offerings, such as its BBM app. While relying on BBM alone to save the company would be a band aid for a bullet wound, the recent launch of the BBM app for iOS and Android demonstrates how BlackBerry could infiltrate the software market for non-BlackBerry users. However, with other instant messaging services such as What’s App already popular, it seems unlikely that non-BlackBerry users will switch to a BBM app as it doesn’t offer any unique features, aside form communicating with those BlackBerry users.
In a similar vein, BlackBerry could expand on its cloud services. As it becomes clear that cloud is the future, many companies are jumping on the bandwagon and lots of startup cloud companies are appearing. However, with cloud comes a security issue. So customers are more likely to go to a big name they can trust like Amazon Web Services and Google where the IT professionals have forgotten more about cloud than most of us will ever even learn. Cloud could be a good side-line for BlackBerry if they embark on a software-focused business plan, but consumers aren’t going to think of BlackBerry first and foremost when considering who to use as a cloud service provider.
So, I don’t think BlackBerry should put all its eggs in a smartphone and BBM basket, but instead look to email and business services, and perhaps even cloud computing.
