BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins seemed rather feisty on the eve of BlackBerry’s launch and stated that Apple’s iPhone had lost its innovative prowess in a fiercely competitive market. Despite taking a jibe at Apple publicly, he was surprisingly straightforward at admitting the second tier status that Blackberry phones enjoy in the market. He stated that the company needed to earn back its laurels and they still had a long way to go.
Heins was happy with the roll out of the Blackberry Z10, claiming that the company had not only created a product but had also built a new platform. In an already overcrowded market, a successful US launch could see Blackberry’s floundering stock see some revival. However, analysts are not so hopeful, stating that the platform just doesn’t have enough developer support to succeed in the long run. BlackBerry 10 has 100,000 apps to its name in comparison to the 700,000 each available on Android and iOS. Even more worrying is the lack of major crowd-pulling applications like Instagram and a few others. However, Blackberry’s share prices have been increasing in recent weeks, with good demand for the Z10 being reported in many countries.
An analyst at Morgan Stanley claimed that the Z10 could emerge as a shrewd mid-range player in the smartphone market. BlackBerry released the Z10 in the US on Friday, 22nd of March. Initial estimates indicate that margins for Blackberry on the Z10 stand at 20%. Gelblum estimates the margins for the Q10 to hit an Apple-like 30%. Heins stressed the importance of several new features which are aimed at wooing the consumer base that BlackBerry once enjoyed. These touted features include intuitive, seamless multitasking and a new predictive keyboard technology which actually chooses words while the user types it out. Heins further went on to discuss the hyper speed innovation cycle present in the market today, stating that BlackBerry learned from iOS’ mistakes and this should work in their favour.
The Z10’s launch is a significant milestone for the Canadian manufacturer, but the timing is questionable. The Galaxy S IV was released just a week ago and the hype surrounding it still hasn’t died down. It’s clear that based on specs alone, the Z10 can’t hold a candle to the S IV. The company would be better off hoping for a sleeper hit in the mid-range segment rather than relying on miracles when competing against the likes of the S IV and the HTC One.
