Blackberry revival of the pass or epitaph?

Text / Sun Yongjie

Recently, the news that BlackBerry is about to launch a Passport full-keyboard smartphone with a virtual virtual keyboard combination has caught the attention of the industry because Passport presents a square compared to the appearance and shape of current mainstream smartphones. In this regard, the official BlackBerry Passport concept described is wonderful appearance but easy to read, and its positioning in the enterprise market. The industry also considers Passport as the last hope of a BlackBerry rejuvenation. So wonderful the Passport BlackBerry can out of the doldrums it?

In fact, the products (including smart phones) shape design and experience has always been a matter of opinion. Specific to Passport, at least from the product level, the same screen size is equivalent to two iPhone width design, so that it has no advantage from the portability and maneuverability; followed by its nearly square screen for related applications What is the fit (which is also related to experience) is not a small doubt; the last is the price. From the current BlackBerry's ASP, it is still far higher than the current mainstream Android and Windows Phone handsets, Passport final price is still unknown. When we need to remind the BlackBerry is that BlackBerry had previously tried to use the Sure keyboard system on a smart phone called "Storm", but eventually ended in failure.

If the above-mentioned product itself against the tide of the remaining problems to be resolved BlackBerry remains the potential challenge, then BlackBerry's current position in the smart phone industry's position and influence is the key to determining whether the BlackBerry can recover.

It is well-known that the smartphone industry is faced with a bottleneck and a transition period both in terms of innovation and market growth. This is characterized by a lack of innovation and a shift in growth momentum from the more established mature markets to the less expensive emerging markets. In this case, if we want to gain a foothold in the market, we may even find it difficult to develop our business.

First, in the high-end market, brand loyalty (both for old users and new users) will play a crucial role as the market becomes more saturated. That's why Asymco's analysis suggests that the iPhone may instead be the user's first choice when it comes to market, referring to the first smartphone users. Unfortunately, BlackBerry brand loyalty is declining. According to Morgan Stanley's latest survey of smartphone loyalty, the iPhone topped the list with 90% brand loyalty, while Blackberry was the bottom-second to only 31% of the 8 mobile phone brands surveyed ZTE is two percentage points higher than Nokia, Motorola and HTC, which are equally on the verge of danger. It is precisely because of the decline in brand loyalty,

Do not underestimate the real impact of brand loyalty. According to the latest statistics from the British mobile phone recycling website, the gap between iPhone and BlackBerry is getting bigger and bigger. Currently, only 8% of BlackBerry users said they are very loyal to the BlackBerry brand, while 66% of BlackBerry users want to upgrade to iPhone. In April of this year, BlackBerry announced that it would not renew its agreement with U.S. operator T-Mobile because T-Mobile launched a BlackBerry redemption strategy to buy iPhone, during which 94% of BlackBerry users replaced the old device Other equipment. Under such circumstances, the BlackBerry Passport stand out?

Also in the low-end market, let's not talk about whether Blackberry intends Passport into this market, but from the current mobile phone boss Samsung for three consecutive quarters of profit decline, its low-end market competition (mainly with the Chinese mobile phone Vendors) is one of the main reasons, but the industry knows that, in addition to Samsung's high-end market in addition to the competition with the Apple iPhone, the main source of revenue and profits are still in the low-end market, that is, Samsung in the The competitiveness of the low-end market is still very strong, but smartphones represented by Chinese manufacturers more competitive in this market, coupled with Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia to customize Nokia's Nokia X series and Lenovo Momo's Moto E-series Motorola in the low-end market onslaught, making the BlackBerry in this market is unlikely to find a breakthrough.

Another point that can not be ignored is that when the current BYOD is increasingly popular today, Passport still throws too much emphasis on the selling point of the enterprise market (users). Recently, Google, Samsung and other companies in the smart phone business cooperation indicates the future The power of Android phones in enterprise applications, combined with the influence of iPhone in the enterprise market, the advantages of the former BlackBerry has long ceased to exist.

Coincidentally, just as BlackBerry promoted Passport, the well-known 24/7 Wall Street insisted the BlackBerry brand will disappear in 2015, based on data analysis of BlackBerry sales decline, loss and market share declines. So is Passport exactly what BlackBerry expects to be a passport for its own recovery or an epitaph of 24/7 Wall Street predictions? Perhaps it is true that next year we will see the outcome, but from our above analysis, the situation is not optimistic.

(Disclaimer: This article represents only the author's point of view, does not represent the sina position.)