{"id":6487,"date":"2018-02-01T16:10:47","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T21:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\/"},"modified":"2018-02-01T16:11:51","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T21:11:51","slug":"blackberrys-fall-from-grace","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"BlackBerry\u2019s Fall from Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the late-2000s, Research in Motion\u2019s (RIM) BlackBerry smartphone was seemingly everywhere and looked like it was here to stay.\u00a0 In 2009, Fortune\u00a0<\/em>named RIM the World\u2019s Fastest Growing Company with earnings growing at 84% YOY.[i]<\/a>\u00a0 Time <\/em>stated, \u201cThe device was so ubiquitous on Wall Street and Capitol Hill that it earned the nickname CrackBerry.\u201d[ii]<\/a>\u00a0 The BlackBerry was the first device to \u201cpush email\u201d \u2013 allowing users to received emails when they were sent rather than having to check email constantly.\u00a0 BlackBerry\u2019s computer-like QWERTY keyboard was the first on a hand-held device and allowed for much faster typing than the old numeric keyboard which all other mobile phones had.\u00a0 BlackBerry also had enormous Network Effects, as millennials loved the chat function BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) and one could only BBM with other BlackBerry devices.\u00a0 At 21% worldwide phone market-share in 2009, BlackBerry really was the first successful smartphone.\u00a0 However, by the end of 2013, BlackBerry\u2019s market share had fallen off a cliff to under 1%. What happened? How did this incumbent and winner become a loser? How was this fall from grace so expedited?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/blackberry-phones-rise-and-fall-chart-2017-2<\/a><\/p>\n

On the flipside, as BlackBerry crumbled, Google Android and Apple iPhone came to dominate the smartphone market.\u00a0 By the end of 2016, Android held a 85% market share while iPhone held a 14% market share.[iii]<\/a>\u00a0 In September 2016, Blackberry announced it was exiting the hardware business to focus on software.\u00a0 At that time, Blackberry had officially fallen to 0.0% of the smartphone market, with just under 208,000 devices running BlackBerry OS sold.[iv]<\/a><\/p>\n

I believe two main factors contributed to BlackBerry\u2019s demise.\u00a0 First, BlackBerry incorrectly believed that the corporate world rather than the consumer world would drive smartphone adoption.\u00a0 BlackBerry focused on attributes such as security and keyboard ease of use to come to dominate the corporate market.\u00a0 Focusing on its corporate users, BlackBerry insisted on creating phones with full keyboards, despite seeing the feedback from the majority of users that they preferred touchscreens.\u00a0 BlackBerry saw its devices as email-enabled mobile phones, rather than the powerful mobile computers which Google and Apple envisioned.\u00a0 While BlackBerry was focusing on the keyboard, Google and Apple were focusing on entertainment attributes such as better cameras, speakers, and video viewing.<\/p>\n

Second, BlackBerry did not take advantage of the consumer-focused application economy which drove massive adoption to iPhones and Androids.\u00a0 Both iPhones and Androids encouraged third-party developers to build applications to be sold on their application marketplaces.\u00a0 Applications changed phones from email-enabled mobile phones to full-fledge mobile entertainment hubs.\u00a0 Once droves of users started trading in their BlackBerry\u2019s for iPhones and Androids, Network Effects further expanded BlackBerry\u2019s problem.\u00a0 BlackBerry Messenger only worked between BlackBerry\u2019s and so became less and less applicable.\u00a0 Similarly, users of iPhones and Androids interacted with each other via applications which were not available on the BlackBerry.<\/p>\n

When BlackBerry tried to launch a consumer-focused device with a touchscreen rather than a keyboard in 2015, the device did not stack up well against the sophistication of the Android and the iPhone, which were then both several generations in.\u00a0 Thus, focusing on corporate rather than consumer and not adapting once it became obvious that was the wrong decision paved the road to BlackBerry\u2019s demise and ultimately towards being a loser.<\/p>\n

[i]<\/a> http:\/\/archive.fortune.com\/magazines\/fortune\/fortunefastestgrowing\/2009\/snapshots\/1.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[ii]<\/a> http:\/\/business.time.com\/2013\/09\/24\/the-fatal-mistake-that-doomed-blackberry\/<\/p>\n

[iii]<\/a> https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/272307\/market-share-forecast-for-smartphone-operating-systems\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[iv]<\/a> http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/blackberry-phones-rise-and-fall-chart-2017-2<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the late-2000s, Research in Motion\u2019s (RIM) BlackBerry smartphone was seemingly everywhere and looked like it was here to stay. However, by the end of 2013, BlackBerry\u2019s market share had fallen off a cliff to under 1%. What happened? How did this incumbent and winner become a loser?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2517,"featured_media":6489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[102],"class_list":["post-6487","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-loser"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/digital-winners-losers-2018\/","yoast_head":"\nBlackBerry\u2019s Fall from Grace - Digital Innovation and Transformation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BlackBerry\u2019s Fall from Grace - Digital Innovation and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the late-2000s, Research in Motion\u2019s (RIM) BlackBerry smartphone was seemingly everywhere and looked like it was here to stay. However, by the end of 2013, BlackBerry\u2019s market share had fallen off a cliff to under 1%. What happened? How did this incumbent and winner become a loser?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Digital Innovation and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-01T21:11:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/02\/BlackBerry_Bold_in_Hand.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"220\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"165\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\\\/\",\"name\":\"BlackBerry\u2019s Fall from Grace - Digital Innovation and Transformation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/BlackBerry_Bold_in_Hand.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-01T21:10:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-01T21:11:51+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/BlackBerry_Bold_in_Hand.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/BlackBerry_Bold_in_Hand.jpg\",\"width\":220,\"height\":165},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Submissions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"BlackBerry\u2019s Fall from Grace\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/\",\"name\":\"Digital Innovation and Transformation\",\"description\":\"MBA Student Perspectives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"性视界Action\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BlackBerry\u2019s Fall from Grace - Digital Innovation and Transformation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BlackBerry\u2019s Fall from Grace - Digital Innovation and Transformation","og_description":"In the late-2000s, Research in Motion\u2019s (RIM) BlackBerry smartphone was seemingly everywhere and looked like it was here to stay. However, by the end of 2013, BlackBerry\u2019s market share had fallen off a cliff to under 1%. What happened? How did this incumbent and winner become a loser?","og_url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\/","og_site_name":"Digital Innovation and Transformation","article_modified_time":"2018-02-01T21:11:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":220,"height":165,"url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/02\/BlackBerry_Bold_in_Hand.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\/","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\/","name":"BlackBerry\u2019s Fall from Grace - Digital Innovation and Transformation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/02\/BlackBerry_Bold_in_Hand.jpg","datePublished":"2018-02-01T21:10:47+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-01T21:11:51+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/02\/BlackBerry_Bold_in_Hand.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/02\/BlackBerry_Bold_in_Hand.jpg","width":220,"height":165},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/blackberrys-fall-from-grace\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Submissions","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"BlackBerry\u2019s Fall from Grace"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/#website","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/","name":"Digital Innovation and Transformation","description":"MBA Student Perspectives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"性视界Action","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/6487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hck-submission"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2517"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/6487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}