BlackBerry has been suffering from low sales figures over the years. Revenues of the Ontario-based company has decreased by 31 percent in the last quarter of 2014. The continued falling of smartphone sales has placed BlackBerry's market share to below 1% at present. The company's chief executive officer, John Chen, said it will not be right for BlackBerry to go on selling smartphones given the current condition that is affecting shareholders and stakeholders alike.
Chen has outsourced manufacturing to Taiwanese and Chinese companies to reduce costs and has announced plans to release fewer models of BlackBerry in the coming years to keep the business afloat. To stay on the smartphone business, the brand can opt to continue reducing costs, stop selling low-end devices, and just focus on the professional audience, which BlackBerry has successfully targeted in the previous years.
"That's the most ideal case," Chen said in an interview with Bloomberg. "At a certain point in time, the economics take over."
In both the smartphone and low-end mobile markets, the company is bound to face stiff competition. The mobile market is already saturated. Smartphones are being dominated by names such as Apple and Samsung, whereas numerous startups have been competing for the lower-end devices. When it comes to affordability of such devices, Chinese and Indian brands have been winning buyers. The CEO has said that low-end mobile phones are "not Blackberry's sweet spot."
BlackBerry has had been a success in the smartphone market, with sales peaking in 2008-2010. The surge of iPhones and Android models has hit the brand hard. But all hope may not be lost for the company, which is rumored to release an android phone in November this year. The new phone is codenamed Venice.
Judging from initial responses on leaked photos of the device, it may just bring BlackBerry back on track.
