After years of anticipation, frustration,
and delays, Research in Motion (now
re-branded BlackBerry ) finally lets
BlackBerry 10 loose. So now what?
That's the question a lot of folks in
the industry are asking now that
BlackBerry is just days (or months,
depending on region) from competing
in the market with the first
legitimately new product in more
than a year and a half. BlackBerry 10
offers a refreshingly slick and unique
experience, and the two
smartphones, the Z10 touchscreen
BlackBerry and more traditional Bold-
like Q10, look fairly competitive.
But whether they're enough to turn
some heads and win lost customers
back remains to be seen. The past
few years have seen BlackBerry's
once dominant smartphone market
share virtually wiped out, with iOS
and Android grabbing 92 percent of
the share of smartphones sold in the
fourth quarter, according to Strategy
Analytics.
After a long stretch in which much of
the industry and many investors had
written off the company, BlackBerry
has more recently enjoyed a renewed
sense of excitement -- and
heightened expectations -- over the
last six months. The company's stock
has more than doubled during that
period. This week, however, the stock
has fallen nearly 12 percent amid
fears that BlackBerry may not pull
that comeback off after all.
Still, with BlackBerry 10, BlackBerry
has its foot in the door of the
smartphone market. CNET is here
with some unsolicited advice on
cracking that door wide open.
Keep the message clear
Many slick products have faltered in
the market because of mind-
numbingly dumb marketing
campaigns. Blackberry needs a
simple, clear, and unified message
pushing a handful of advantages that
BlackBerry 10 has over the
competition. It needs to avoid trying
to be too cute or fancy with the ads
--BlackBerry users and the power
users the company is targeting value
their time, so get to the point
quickly.
"BlackBerry has to hit end user
squarely right between the eyes on
how this platform works," said Ramon
Llamas, an analyst at IDC.
That message had better flow down
to the salespeople on the floor,
whether that's in a carrier store or a
big-box electronic retailer.
Consumers don't have a lot of time
to fuss with learning a new operating
system, so BlackBerry needs to cut
through the noise with its selling
point.
BlackBerry seems to get that. Chief
Marketing Officer Frank Boulben said
during the launch today that every bit
of marketing will contain a real-world
example of one of the benefits of
BlackBerry 10.
BlackBerry also needs to run its own
massive campaign and not just rely on
carrier partnerships. The last few
years have shown that the companies
who succeed are the ones that have
taken the marketing efforts into their
own hands. That's why Apple and
Samsung Electronics are dominating
and LG and HTC have lagged.
BlackBerry has a lot of work to
rehabilitate a brand that's taken more
than its share of lumps over the past
few years. While BlackBerry
executives would argue the
BlackBerry name is still cool to some
people, in reality it has a real uphill
climb to get people -- particularly in
its home market of North America --
to care about BlackBerry again.
Get some carrier love
While BlackBerry needs to establish
its own identity, the company will
need the support of its carrier
partners. While most of the carriers
have said the right things about
BlackBerry 10, it remains to be seen
just how enthusiastically they will
actually promote the products.
Again, having the salespeople at the
various carrier stores familiar and
comfortable with the BlackBerry
devices will be crucial to some of
them actually recommending the
phones to consumers. Ideally,
BlackBerry should convince the
carriers to offer financial incentives to
promote BlackBerry 10 products, but
in the least the salespeople should be
aware of the products. As we've seen
with the Lumia 900 and AT&T,
sometimes the execution is lacking .
BlackBerry should shy away from
exclusives as well, and so far, that
appears to be the case. All of the
national carriers in the U.S. will sell
the phone, although the company
would only say it would be available
in mid-March.
While the carriers have talked about
fostering a strong third mobile
ecosystem, it's still unclear whether
that No. 3 player will be BlackBerry,
Windows Phone, or some other
upstart platform. BlackBerry will have
to fight for its position.
"Because of the fast-rising adoption
of smartphones, 2013 represents the
last, best hope for BlackBerry 10 --
along with endangered specimens like
Microsoft's Windows Phone, Nokia's
Lumia and Mozilla's Firefox -- to
create a viable third smartphone
competitor in the market," said Ian
Fogg, an analyst at IHS.
Defend the business front
BlackBerry, ultimately, is still about
big businesses and corporate
agencies. While the company has
made some progress getting some
agencies and companies to test out
the devices, it will need to put a lot
of effort into focusing on businesses.
Samsung Electronics and Apple are
already making significant headway
into the business and government
worlds, and BlackBerry needs to push
back hard with BlackBerry 10.
Features such as "Balance," which
allow the phone to have separate and
secure personal and work identities,
should help win the hearts and minds
of the IT manager.
But BlackBerry needs to be wary of
the bring-your-own-device trend,
where employers support whatever
phones their employees bring in.
While the company believes BYOD is
a trend that works in its favor, it has
arguably been the worst hit by the
phenomenon.
Suck up to the BlackBerry faithful
CEO Thorsten Heins likes to talk the
company's 80-million-strong
customer base. Well, it's time to for
BlackBerry to show those customers
why they stuck around.
The company needs to make it
extremely easy -- and affordable -- to
switch. There are BlackBerry users
that are out there that love their
keyboard and service, and BlackBerry
needs to find them and keep them in
the fold.
BlackBerry may be making a mistake
pushing the Z10 touchscreen device
out ahead of the more traditional
X10, which is likely what the
BlackBerry faithful will want to go
with.
But whether its incentives or
discounts, BlackBerry has to be
aggressive in keeping current
BlackBerry users happy.
Widen the market
For BlackBerry, it's time to go big
when addressing the potential
customer base. A Super Bowl
commercial is a nice start, but it'll
have to work harder to attract more
than just the power user or corporate
executive. Beyond these two
BlackBerrys, BlackBerry will need to
have mid-tier devices that are more
affordable. That means accelerating
their product rollout to be more
inclusive, according to Gartner analyst
Carolina Milanesi.
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