This paper presents a comprehensive new product plan for reintroducing the Blackberry smartphone to the market. Once the dominant smartphone brand worldwide, Blackberry lost its leading position after 2011 due to slow innovation and an overemphasis on corporate users at the expense of individual consumers. The plan examines the competitive landscape through Porter's Five Forces and a SWOT analysis, identifying Blackberry's unmatched mobile security reputation, existing infrastructure, and loyal customer base as key strengths. It also outlines opportunities such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 crisis and emerging markets. Short-term marketing goals focus on product improvement, promotional discounts, and consumer engagement, while long-term goals center on search engine optimization, brand awareness, and customer loyalty.
This paper provides a plan for reintroducing the failed Blackberry smartphone to the market. The Blackberry was once the most popular smartphone in the U.S. and other markets. Its formal introduction in 2006 marked a defining moment in the history of the smartphone industry. However, with its focus limited to corporate users and government agencies, Blackberry was slow to respond to the evolving needs of individual consumers. This gap presented a perfect opportunity for Apple, Samsung, and other rivals to oust Blackberry from its dominant position. By 2011, Blackberry had lost its leading position in the industry, and the smartphone continued losing market share to newer entrants offering more consumer-oriented devices. The dominance of Apple and other rivals may make it quite difficult for Blackberry to successfully re-enter the market.
The failure of the Blackberry has had a significant impact on not only the firm's performance over the last several years, but also its bargaining power over suppliers and buyers. As the dominant players in the market, Samsung and Apple now hold a substantially higher advantage over suppliers and buyers compared to Blackberry. For Blackberry to recapture its bargaining power, it must readjust its supply chain strategy and increase demand for its smartphone.
Despite this failure and reduced competitive advantage, Blackberry still holds an unbeaten reputation for mobile security. It remains the most secure smartphone compared to its rivals — a major strength given increased concerns about mobile security. The company can capitalise on this advantage to regain its relevance. More importantly, the firm can leverage the capital, technical, and reputational foundation it has built over nearly three decades of operation. Its prior experience in the smartphone market, prevailing customer base, and existing assets and infrastructure give it a particularly important advantage over both potential entrants and incumbents.
There are a number of opportunities Blackberry can depend on to reintroduce its products. These include the firm's existing customer base, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 crisis, emerging markets, the growth of cloud computing, third-party applications, and corporate-level strategies such as mergers, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships. In the short term, the firm should focus on product improvement, sales promotion, offers and discounts, tradeshows, conventional advertising (television and print), and online consumer engagement. In the long term, the firm should focus on search engine optimisation, increasing brand awareness and recognition, and building customer loyalty.
Blackberry is certainly not the first firm to experience this kind of failure. Many other firms have been in a similar or even worse situation. Though some have been unsuccessful in reversing their decline, others have succeeded. If properly reintroduced, Blackberry can adequately compete with Apple and Samsung. Indeed, Blackberry's failure can be viewed as a learning experience that provides important lessons about responding to market needs.
Formerly referred to as Research in Motion (RIM), BlackBerry Limited is involved in the production of mobile devices as well as the provision of wireless telecommunications software. One of the firm's major product lines is its smartphone, which was formally released in 2006. The smartphone came with innovative features such as wireless communication and web browsing, marking a significant transformation in the smartphone industry. Carriers around the world rushed to stock the device in their stores, and Blackberry became the first smartphone manufacturer to develop strong partnerships with carriers in the U.S. and beyond. Despite the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, Blackberry's smartphone continued to experience tremendous growth up to 2011. At the height of its success, Blackberry had in excess of 85 million subscribers worldwide and was described as one of the most famous smartphone brands globally, largely due to its highly innovative features.
In the years that followed, however, Blackberry's smartphone recorded a significant decline — perhaps one of the worst in the history of the rigorously competitive smartphone industry. Apple Inc. and Android vendors such as Samsung launched more innovative smartphones, reducing Blackberry's competitive advantage. Keen on consumer tastes and preferences, Apple and other rivals introduced devices with new operating systems and more appealing features such as touchscreen displays and sleek designs. In essence, Blackberry was slow to innovate, allowing rivals to overtake its market share. Today, Blackberry smartphones account for less than 1% of the total smartphone market. This failure has largely contributed to the organisation's declining performance since 2011, bringing it close to bankruptcy and forcing it to adjust its business strategy, change leadership, and dismiss a substantial portion of its workforce. Even so, a well-crafted plan can successfully bring the Blackberry smartphone back to the market.
The smartphone market is a highly competitive arena. Presently, it is dominated by powerful brands such as Apple, Samsung, HTC, and Sony. The marketplace has become even more competitive with the entry of LG, Huawei, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Google, and Wiko. These brands provide smartphones with impressive attributes and functionalities, including appealing designs, high portability, unparalleled multimedia features, massive storage, large touchscreen displays, long battery life, high-speed internet connectivity, and strong usability. These features matter greatly to the modern smartphone user.
Apple and Samsung have particularly revolutionised the smartphone arena by delivering devices that support a wide array of functionalities. Today, approximately three out of every four smartphone users carry an Apple or Samsung device. With significant attention to consumer tastes and preferences, Apple and Samsung have become so powerful in the smartphone marketplace that smaller rivals find it increasingly difficult to thrive, and new entrants struggle to gain meaningful market share.
Despite the tough competition, Blackberry's smartphone has unique features that cannot be overlooked. The Blackberry was designed with attention to mobile security and productivity. This explains why it remains the preferred smartphone brand for government agencies such as the White House, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). President Barack Obama was one of the most notable celebrity users of the Blackberry smartphone. If properly reintroduced, this security focus could be a significant source of competitive advantage — particularly in a world where mobile security is an increasingly major concern for both individuals and organisations. The uniqueness of Blackberry compared to most rival brands also stems from its compatibility with any mobile carrier.
"Supplier power, buyer power, entrants, substitutes, and rivalry"
"Blackberry's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats"
"Short-term promotions and long-term brand-building goals"
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