BlackBerry! Back in 2021?
“Blackberry is set to launch its 5G smartphone in 2021 with the old-school QWERTY keypad!
If you’re using a smartphone, you should be having a question! (if not yet, raise it now!)
What happened to Blackberry? Why there are no smartphones these days from this popular brand?
You would be surprised to know that in 2011, more than 50 million Blackberry phones were sold!
BB used to have a 50% percent market share in the USA and 20% globally!
BB kind of took an exit from the smartphone business and launched their last smartphone in 2018, well they didn’t launch any smartphones for the last 2 years but now the Pheonix has risen back from the ashes!
They’re set to launch a smartphone in 2021!
The fall of BB was due to many reasons such as:
- Not respecting the competition which came initially from Apple and Android!
- Sticking to their QWERTY keypad when the world was having a transition towards touch screen.
- Restricting BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) to their hardware only.
FYI: BB Messenger was like WhatsApp of today! It was very popular!
- A small application store, very few apps were available for users.
But launching a QWERTY keypad smartphone again? Will it succeed?
I guess, it’s better to invite someone who has been a BB fanboy for many years!
Smital Ruparelia — An Enterprise Sales Professional for the last 15 years and a BB user from 2008 to 2016! Let’s ask him!
Anand: BB back then was pretty much popular, What do you think became the choice of smartphone users to go for BB?
Smital: BB was primarily an email phone. Basically the easy of use, best security, a quick email, and BB Messenger were the best features of BB. And it was typically for business people but it also gained popularity amongst youngsters later on!
Anand: BB recently announced that they’re going to come back in 2021 with a physical QWERTY keypad smartphone, Won’t it be a competitive market as people have forgotten the physical keypad and even BB Messenger is not used at all?
Smital: Definitely! It will be really difficult for BB to regain market share compared to the touch screen phone market. They will have to offer some extraordinary features to gain consumer trust. Though switching from iPhone to BB would be very difficult for me ;)
Parting words: BB should give the best of all features else there are high chances that the Berry would taste sour again and people would stick to their sweet Apple!
References: Verge, Business Insider
