While scrolling my Facebook page,I came across an article titled:"The Death of BlackBerry"which was written by a close friend Mustafa Ziraba,a tech columnist with a Ugandan Newspaper and self proclaimed Windows phones fanboy. His few weeks old article reminded me how for the last 5 years I have witnessed cynics spelling doom and gloom for BlackBerry, yet it remains number in many countries and reporting record sales together record subscriber numbers.Ziraba just like many others is totally out of touch with reality.However, I do agree with some of his observations.To Apple's fanatics, iOS is well-developed, but want to actually inform you that it is the oldest mobile operating system in the market older than Android, webOS, Windows Phone, while BlackBerry 10 is now the newest mobile platform.
In my opinion,the main reason for all the negative stories is that the shareholders are only focusing on the US market, and not other big markets where Blackberry is miles ahead in terms of popularity and sales like UK, Chinese, Indian and European market, which despite being less mature,while combined they are far bigger than the US market and are not facing saturation.Actually the UK, India,Europe and USA markets combined are about the same size as China.BlackBerry is still doing well in China and studies whows it will still be top dog until 2020 with current trend.Android isn't and iPhone is nowhere to be seen.And that is a bad thing about BlackBerry?Does such promising figures show growth or downward trend.
I want to say that RIM is in no death spiral and want to tell prophets of doom that those firms that grow their market share by 25% don't die and if you know of any send me an email. For your information, as a registered developer,I can assure you that RIM would continue to innovate, and that the new QNX-based operating system would kick off its next technology growth curve.I know Android phone exists because some far-sighted computer scientists gave UNIX away free to US colleges in the 1970s.As a result,they gave the source-code of the operating system away for free in the early 1990s.Today,they have became the CEOs of today and the programmers of today.
There is no doubt that Blackberry capturing that teenage market secures their long-term future but US statistics dependent analysts means they only focus on one market and therefore their arguments are not justified.Plenty of analysts and wannabe tech insiders have written off BlackBerry and some have even earmarked its burial date.I urge you told your horses because Canadian giant is here to stay.Save your energy to something else.Recently,the company new CEO Thorsten Heins revealed that the next-generation software for BlackBerry's smartphones is ready to compete.Thornton made the remarks while addressing more than 2,000 technical developers. Blackberry is still a great and useful phone and even in my home country Australia the phone is still a force to reckon with.
Its form factor might not be as sexy as some of the newer phones but its secure for the IT department at least unlike the faulty iPhone and Virus infected droid powered brands.Of course it goes without saying I am an iPhone fanboy but that does not mean I cannot appreciate what some other great devices offer especially BlackBerry.Most of my friends are Apple acolytes with iPhones, forever telling me BB are dead in the water.Whether am walking on the streets or wherever I go,I see loads of BlackBerry users especially in the 'youth' demographic and this means it looks like BB is doing well.iPhone does more than my BB, but the BB email is great and many people like the keypad and as compared to many smartphones it has decent battery life too.It is true that the Canadian company has lost market share and market value after being comprehensively outplayed by technology giants Apple, Google and Samsung.
But it is betting that yet-to-be-released products powered by its new QNX operating system will improve its image after a year of product delays.The smartphone market is still young, and there are huge opportunities for all manufacturers both with consumers and business and for someone to write off BB demise is awful.The new technology used in BlackBerry 10 devices, will set the standard for a new user paradigm for use in the home, cars, Tablets and in smartphones.Tell me which other manufacturers has had such an impact?Although its taking a little while for BlackBerry to fully transition to the new QNX-based operating system, there is no doubt in my mind that once it is ready to go, it will provide an exciting experience for consumers and will only get better as it's a powerful technical platform to build upon for the next decade generation of mobile phones.
RIM said in December that it is delaying the launch of phones based on BlackBerry 10 until the later part of 2012 as it is awaiting the availability of a high-powered chip.
Also, a long-awaited software update for the PlayBook is still due before the end of February. Authoritative market research that the BlackBerry is the No 1 smartphone in Malaysia, Britain, Spain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and the Netherlands and that two billion BlackBerry apps had been downloaded from RIM's App World. Six million BlackBerry apps are downloaded every day.Those stats were really exciting, and with all the recent negative publicity, this data put things into context, and actually BlackBerry is doing well in the app space.
Few can dispute that blackberry hardware is probably the best on the market while their devices are always well built and the keyboards are very good to use, much better than a touch screen keyboard.Android is not safe for the enterprise. A company first needs security for their email communication and due to the open nature in android all apps from any source can get installed, and it means is not suitable for the enterprise where security is paramount which is why BlackBerry is the number one with business community and those people who care about privacy.
In technology industry, research shows how fluid things can be where this year's winner is next year's biggest loser.In the end it's about what you can do with the device, and there's nothing to touch them social media or enterprise wise.Services like BlackBerry Balance just don't exist outside the BlackBerry Infrastructure. Playbook device may not have the range of apps of an iPad, but its still a good device especially for those who want something different.It is annoying that people are always arguing this Blackberry vs Android vs iPhone debate. There is no better option at the moment because it depends with taste,usage and preferences to mention but three because these phones suit different types of people. If you're old or are design-oriented you will go for the iPhone and if you're not an internet and apps addict and just need a phone for communications and ease of typing you'd go for the Blackberry.
If you're a nerd who likes something highly customized you will probably go for android powered phones.There is no such thing as a better phone, these days everyone can get the phone they want and it isn't really about the price although it might be for some people depending on how deep your pockets are. In my conclusion,I want to say corporate BlackBerry which is the darling of IT departments, users attachment to physical keyboards and customer loyalty will keep BlackBerry brand going but talks of death are premature. So, RIM will be around for long and they may not be Apple and they never were. They have no debt like other manufacturers and they make loads of cash every year and still manage to sell millions of phones despite apparently being at "deaths door" according to Mustafa Ziraba. If BlackBery is dying pity,may the oracles help the rest of commerce.
