The launch of BlackBerry Priv has brought a lot of excitement to the world of smartphones and the stock market. For so many years BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) was focused on developing its unique operating system. Circumstances forced them to switch to Android; the switch has worked out well for them as they have become relevant in the smartphone market. However, the company has to put a lot of effort to have a successful year in 2016- Android is not an assurance of success.
There are many challenges that the CEO, John Chen has to face. BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) has very few resources at hand, and its portfolio has weakened over the years and the brand has poor popularity outside of its home country. The big question is; what does the company need to focus on in the coming months?
Obviously, the company has to focus on the sales of smartphones. The CEO has previously stated that the smartphone division has to improve its returns; otherwise, it will be a jetsam. According to him, the smartphone department has to sell about five million units per year for it to remain relevant to the company in general.
Unfortunately, the company has not provided the number of sales for the BlackBerry Priv. it seems that the device has not been doing as well as expected, otherwise so many people would be aware there is such a device. If the device had made five million sales, lots of people would be confident purchasing a BlackBerry device running the popular OS, Android. The truth of the story will be revealed by the company’s quarterly report that is expected on December 18th.
The Priv has the potential of becoming the flag bearer of BlackBerry in 2016. However, there are challenges that the company will have to address. The price of the Priv is considerably high for a device with its specification. For that price, you can pick other devices with better specifications. The situation of the Priv will only become worse once the SnapDrago 820 processor is released. This processor is going to power most of the Chinese brands for a better price than the Priv.
We cannot hide from the fact that there are people who are still loyal to the brand. For this reason, the first devices to reach the market will be grabbed by the loyalists. But how many people are loyal to the brand? How many people still hold on to the belief that a BlackBerry device is ‘cool’?
To achieve the success they need, BlackBerry has to focus on the other departments other than smartphones. There exist BlackBerry services that are doing well such as BBM. The company has to ensure that the other services it provides increase revenues.
The Priv may make the company feel it has achieved success. However, the competition in the Android devices is stiff. The company has to build on the success the Priv has achieved. The road to success will be tough.
