Saturday the 21st of September in 2013, was chosen as the day when the (once) reputed Canadian smartphone giant BlackBerry had declared to roll out their BlackBerry Messenger aka BBM for users of Android and iOS. What followed next was utter mayhem. Today, on 21 October, 2013, it would be one month since the proclaimed release of BBM (#BBM4All) was going to take place. Till date, there is no sight of it and the entire blame falls on the unreleased version of BBM for Android which leaked out before BlackBerry made the official version available on the Google Play Store. What went wrong?
Barely four years ago, when Android and iOS was not a common sight in consumer hands, BlackBerry (Research in Motion as it was known then) dominated the market. Some big companies even went on to shell out money from their vault to equip its staff with high-end devices from RIM that could help them access mails in a secure environment. Their Enterprise Service was and still is one of the most flawless and secure management software designed for corporate sync ever, enabling the access of mails and communication even if an employee is sitting at home.
Communication was flawless; BBM was a hot favourite amongst the youth, corporates, executives, etc…in short everyone who owned the device. The BBM pin was a common sight in Facebook profiles and statuses; Twitter bios and tweets. When cross-messaging apps like Whatsapp was born, people even chose to display BBM pins there as their statuses. See the irony there?
BlackBerry was designed for the top working class and was adopted by the youth. It was simply foolish of BlackBerry to not keep up with the trend that was going to be set with the approaching iPhone (iOS) and Android smartphones. The latter two redefined the word “smartphones” in the minds of consumers. That altered the course for BlackBerry and set them spiralling downwards.
Corporates dumped their “dumb” BlackBerry devices. They could access e-mails in their new Android and Apple smartphones. Not only that, they could play Angry Birds…Now they even fancy playing Temple Run, Modi Run, NFS, FIFA or even watch movies. Almost everything that will entertain you while travelling or help you take a break from stressful work could be purchased or downloaded for free from Google Play Store. BlackBerry should honestly ask themselves, why will anyone enjoy playing BrickBreaker or Word Mole? Those were the kind of games they played as kids in the 1990’s when the good old Computers came with humongous CRT monitors.
Outdated OS, lack of applications that provided entertainment, Specs that couldn’t match up to its competitors and pricing. The jump from BB OS 7 to BB OS 10 signalled something is clearly going wrong inside their offices at Waterloo. The keypad generation was fading. Although some people still love the good old keypad, touchscreen technology was hoarding lovers with its expeditious development while BlackBerry was turning egregious.
Yes, BlackBerry was a revolution…But it was short lived. Look at what Apple has done in the world of Music by giving birth to the iPod Classic. Companies like Transcend, Sony, etc followed suit. Although today’s smartphones have become a substitute for Portable Music Players (PMP’s), some people, (like me) still enjoy carrying two devices.
BlackBerry has been only spiralling down since the launch was called off. BlackBerry Ltd was then involved in a proposed buy out by Fairfax Financial or BlackBerry co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Freginare are considering buying back the shares. What is happening on the ownership front is anybody’s guess and can’t be spoken about until it is official. BlackBerry then asked (I rather prefer the word, begged) in an open letter to consumers telling them not to lose hope and that they are still in the race. Yes, currently they are in the starting point of the race that began yesterday.
Read this column by Ewan Spence on BlackBerry’s Open Letter Fails To Address The Real Issue.
I rather hoped instead of taking a dig at Apple in the tweet below, they would have been better off had they successfully launched BBM for Android and iPhone.
Hey, at least waiting at home is better than waiting in line. 😉 #Android #BBM4ALL
— BBM (@BBM) September 21, 2013
All the excitement they built up before the launch has now been buried under the ground, completely dead! Today, Twitter is being flooded with the hashtag #UnfollowBBM.
Tweets about “#UnfollowBBM lang:en”
Nature has a common law for all, adapt or perish. It is really disappointing now, when you think that BlackBerry was once revered because it was everything a consumer wanted. Now the only feature they talk about is the BBM and that too on other operating systems; neither their hardware nor their ecosystem is a subject of their talking point.
Has everything gone wrong for the giant or the worst is yet to come? Tweet us your thoughts to @onlygizmos or comment below or on our Facebook page.
