The best job for a product manager to hold about five years ago was to work for Blackberry, which was the company that made the most well-known mobile phones. When I was a kid, wherever you went, you could often see people using the tiny Blackberry keyboards or using the small Blackberry trackballs. However, a lot of changes have changed in the last five years. The iPhone and Android came into the market, and Blackberry has been hit difficult times. Could this brand be saved?
How did Blackberry Go Down?
The reason for BlackBerry’s challenging times is relatively simple to pinpoint. In the past, the only smartphone that was accessible was BlackBerry. They did an excellent job of developing the messaging platform they had developed, and with each release, their phones became only a little better. But then Apple and Samsung came to the party, and the BlackBerry product managers did not update their definition of product development.
One of the things Apple (and Samsung) did was create a sleek phone that everybody wanted. They also backed their phones by launching a successful application store that was available for the phones and also urged developers to develop software that runs within their smartphones. People began buying these phones, not only because of the features they could offer, however, but also due to the variety of software purchase of the phone would give them access to.
The result of all this competition was market share losses. BlackBerry has dropped from an average market share of 50% around five years ago to around 1.9 percent at present. It’s clear that this will not look great on any resume of a product manager. The CEO of the company has taken steps to correct issues by cutting down on operating costs by 30 percent. The company is also seeking to attract back central government and large corporate customers.
Can Blackberry get up and running?
BlackBerry’s product management team BlackBerry is faced with a significant job ahead of them: preserving their brand. To accomplish this, they’re going to need to build an app store that’s as extensive and as useful as Apple as well as Google’s Android has created. They’ve already started the first steps towards achieving this by allowing the operating system to users. They’re reaching out to organizations such as IBM as well as VMWare to determine if they are interested in creating mobile device management software that can work with BlackBerry devices.
One reason why BlackBerry finds itself in a dire state is that due to their decline in shares in the market, profits are also declining. BlackBerry’s BlackBerry management team is seeking ways to replace their revenue streams. They are looking into ways to make use of the 85 million people who use BlackBerry Messaging (BBM). It is believed that if they let advertisers access this messaging channel, advertisers could create their own channels, which would bring in users.
At the end, when product managers looked at the business model used by BlackBerry, they came across an interesting fact. It turned out that it cost the company more to produce their mobile phone than it was producing profits from the phones. This led the product managers to make a decision to exit the manufacturing of phones. BlackBerry has since transferred its entire manufacturing of phones production to Foxconn Technology Group. This will enable BlackBerry to focus on issues that will enable them to help save the company.
What does all Of This Mean For You?
There was a time when Blackberry was the reigning king of the mobile phone hill. But, as with everything else in life, the times have changed. In an age filled with iPhones or Android devices, the Blackberry brand appears to be stuck in the mud. Does the job description for Blackberry product managers have any words about saving the brand?
The answer is: maybe. Blackberry fell in this bind by securing their system too tightly. They didn’t let the system open and let other companies create on top of it. It’s changing now. They’re now allowing outside companies to develop apps that work with Blackberry OS, and they are expanding the models of phones they offer.
The most important thing, in this case, is the speed of action. In the future, Blackberry product managers will have to be able to react quickly. They will not be able to a standstill. Therefore they must develop faster. This is feasible; however, ultimately, the entire process is in the hands of Blackberry’s Blackberry management of the product…
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