At a time when Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is dominating the world with Android and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is maintaining its position as an end-to-end smartphone ecosystem provider, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is transitioning itself at an increasing pace.
Android and Apple iOS have completely dominated the market with a combined 96.4% of the market share compared to only 0.5% for BlackBerry. These numbers do indicate that BlackBerry is almost finished, but this holds true only if we believe that the Canadian firm’s entire business is based on the smartphone sales, says a report from N4BB.
BlackBerry not competing with Apple, Google
The truth is, in last year or so, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is transitioning from a hardware dominated business to primarily a services and software business. CEO John Chen has always asserted that he focusing on the enterprise, government, and business solutions, and expect the revenue from the software segment to rise significantly.
New features introduced by BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) highlights the same focus. BBM Meetings, Enterprise Identity, VPN Authentication, Project Ion, BlackBerry Blend, QNX are all focusing on the enterprise, and present a potential revenue options for the company. With innovation in the consumer smartphone market drying up, BlackBerry has rightfully chosen a perfect segment to focus on. Also, Google and Apple have not yet fully focused on these segments.
New segments like mobile device management business, the internet of things, mobile communications software, and mobile enterprise devices are the new areas for BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB), and these segments are largely untouched by Google and Apple. So, BlackBerry is already in lead in this new race, and therefore do not need to beat Apple, Google and other tech giants at their own games.
Going back to roots
Top players in the smartphone business have been coming up with their own hardware for a while now, but now the players are bring more direct with competition surrounding software or OS. Microsoft recently launched its own Windows Phone 8.1 devices, and biggest Android user Samsung also making efforts to popularize its Tizen. All these players have recently realized the importance of services unlike BlackBerry, which has been doing this from the start.
Even Samsung, who is way ahead of Apple in terms of sales volume, have partnered with the Canadian firm for their KNOX and BES 12 solutions. The partnership will help Samsung to strengthen its security, and will accelerate BES 12 deployment for BlackBerry.
Initially, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has its roots in the enterprise mobility solutions, but later it expanded to the world of consumer smartphones, and now again it is solidifying its position in enterprise. Therefore, there is no need for the Canadian firm to outperform Apple and Google. In a way, these tech firms will help BlackBerry by indirectly provoking IT departments to search for a secure multi-platform.
