Blackberry has officially risen from the ashes again, and I for one couldn’t be happier. People that know me, know that my favourite phone of all time was my beloved Blackberry Curve. Not only did I type as fast as the wind, but it provided all the basic functionality you would probably need. You could connect to internet, you had a small selection of apps, you had social media, and you had the oh so popular Blackberry messenger.
When BlackBerry Mobile’s partnership with TCL ended, we all assumed the end of the company. But with a new partnership with OnwardMobility and Foxconn, we can look forward to a new launch of Blackberry phone with a physical keyboard. The new phone will be manufactured by FIH Mobile and will be available in North America and Europe in the first half of 2021. As of yet there are no more complicated details, but the development will focus on productivity and security. Both of which were trademark features with Blackberry phones. It also seems as if OnwardMobility is aiming for enterprise customers in its ability to get work done on the go but also securely. In addition, they also aim to appeal to the everyday user with basic requested functionality such as an array of apps and a great camera.
BlackBerry’s rise, fall, and rise?
It’s worth reminiscing through Blackberry’s history. They were the monarchs in the mobile world, with their tech-savvy phones that appealed to both professionals and a younger crowd with BlackBerry Messenger. If you can believe it, a whooping 50% of all cellphones in the US consisted of BlackBerry’s at its peak. But what ultimately marked their downfall was actually their key feature; security. While it may seem like a given reason to buy a Blackberry, it limited the range of apps for users in a time where apps were on the rise. And knowing that security is a focus this time around as well, one Blackberry enthusiast can only hope that they figure out how to provide a secure as well as open sourced operating system. Not one or the other.
But if I think the other way around, the app library is so large now that I barely even know what apps I want to download and let alone use. In addition, research shows that there are 60-90 apps installed on the average smartphone, but only a few of these are used on a regular basis. The majority of mobile time is actually spent using three apps. Maybe this means that we’ve ridden out the breakthrough wave of apps, and now know a little more of what we want and actually need. Because let’s be honest, haven’t we all installed like a thousand apps through iPhone history, only to delete most that aren’t necessary. I mean who even needs 10 different apps to edit photos? And for this reason, maybe this is the perfect time to enter the market with a more specific selection, that only consist of the best and most secure.
In addition, security was something we saw as a given with the extremely advanced smartphones. But when news emerged of how Facebook can sell your data to third parties without consent, everyone thought a little differently. With both of these points in mind, maybe we needed the mobile digitalization journey in order to realize that we don’t really need so much functionality, and would prefer quality over quantity. This ultimately marks a huge era of opportunity for Blackberry if they’re able to meet these needs with their core features. But time will only tell if what ultimately defined their downfall, might give speed to their rise again.
Future of BlackBerry
In addition, given the current situation in the world, being able to work from home securely is crucial. And if BlackBerry is able to suffice to that need with a holistic solution that both enables productivity and security, with a large enough library of apps to serve all basic professional needs – They’re ought to see some success in the competitive Android market.