BlackBerry, a time of new technology icon, lost in a few years will be its pioneering smartphones, a victim of its inability to keep pace with the innovations of rivals a highly competitive market. Monday, three days after announcing the cancellation of 40% of its workforce, the group said it would be acquired by a consortium of investors led by the Fairfax fund, its largest shareholder, for $ 4.7 billion – the same day, as a symbol, Apple claimed record sales for its new iPhone Looked at a time as the manufacturer of the coolest smartphones -. if not the most important – the group Canada has lost its momentum by failing to follow the pace set by his rivals: “They did not think anyone could replace”, says Gerry Purdy, an analyst who follows the mobile sector at Compass Intelligence In his eyes, BlackBerry – Research in Motion, the group adopted the name of its smartphone in January 2013 – has been slow to respond face the threat posed by the iPhone launched by Apple in 2007, and smartphones using the operating system from Google, Android, appeared the same year. “Their big problem was the delay to launch an advanced operating system in the market, advanced Gerry Purdy. They developed in 2010, and it took three years for it to arrive on the market. [. ..] So it was six years “after the launch of the iPhone. “The market was changing too fast,” he says.
“The market was changing too fast”
Acquired by investors led by Fairfax funds BlackBerry should out of the stock market to restructure away from turmoil in financial markets. For some, this could pave the way for dismantling the group. “Their business management mobile is what you can find the best in the industry,” Justice Gerry Purdy, referring to the possibility that the group has to manage and control large fleets of BlackBerry mobile in business. “What is the most is their security software and device management, it has been their forte to dominate in business and government. They could abandon phones and specialize in software there few years, but they were intoxicated by the revenue equipment sales, “he says.
Strategic Relations
The group still has some 70 million customers around the world, but most are equipped with devices of its former range – the latest BlackBerry 10 platform, having failed to win. According to the specialist firm IDC, the group only accounts for 3% of the smartphone market, when Android phones Team 8 of 10 in the world and 13% Apple system. “Fairfax will be lucky if he gets his bet and make money,” predicted Roger Kay. “If BlackBerry must save, this will require a strategic relationship with another group in the area of solutions for businesses.”
But for Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates, BlackBerry as a whole is worth more than the sum of its parts: “I think it is better to keep the three branches of the company [the appliances, services and cooperation] intact, it is preferable to create long-term value. ” “Quit the Exchange and may recall the founder, Mike Lazaridis [a possibility raised in the press, Ed] could give them a little time to restore order in their business,” he says.
