For many American’s, BlackBerry is
only thought of being a one-time smartphone pioneer that was quickly replaced
by Apple’s iPhone in the early to mid 2000’s. Since the craze to own a BlackBerry
is but an ancient memory, BlackBerry has not been considered a strong competitor
in the smartphone market for almost a decade. But, that may be about to change
because on Friday, BlackBerry announced plans to buy rival Good Technology for
$425 million. With news of the acquisition becoming public, BlackBerry has also
stated that within the next two years, a new, BlackBerry-Good Technology
unified product would be released in hopes of boosting their ability to manage “internet
things”. By doing this, Blackberry hopes to win new customers by shifting their
priority focus to device management software for enterprise customers and
taking ahold of the smartphone market once again.
In short, after the acquisition is
complete, BlackBerry is expected to earn around $160 million in revenue by late
November for this year alone. But, with this new acquisition, will BlackBerry
become a strong competitor in the smartphone market, or will they become obsolete
while Apple and Android thrive?
Link: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackberry-acquire-good-technology-425-121303077.html
Link: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackberry-acquire-good-technology-425-121303077.html
6 comments:
This reminded me of the Nokia-Microsoft, Motorola-Google cases. I feel this acquisition will surely help Blackberry get some presence back in the market. Going Android is a great move I believe, just how Motorola came back strongly with Google's signature operating system. However, I do feel that Blackberry needs to come up with something sensational to pull the customers their way, perhaps provide unique services to strengthen their 'secure communications' feature. Otherwise, this will just be another Nokia-Microsoft fail case. I wish them all the luck!
Could it be possible that BlackBerry develops software for pre-existing smartphones instead of redeveloping their own? I know BBM (BlackBerry's instant chat service) was extremely popular, and many people who now have iPhones and Androids miss it. If BlackBerry develops a compatible service, many smartphone users would use that service.
Also, isn't software more profitable for a company like BlackBerry, who lost a large share of the mobile market? I'm not sure BlackBerry could ever gain a strong enough foothold like they once had, but they could still be profitable.
Although I would usually be opposed to a past loser company trying to make a comeback, I believe that the acquisition of Good Technology by Blackberry may actually be beneficial in the long run. Everyone is concerned about security these days, and even with the newer technology of iPhones and Androids, security is still a touchy subject. Good Technology had expertise in the field of security and could bring that to the partnership when producing with Blackberry. Also, as of recently Good has been struggling with laying off workers, so the acquisition may be coming at a good time. Although Blackberry lost its way a while back, they still have cash to use. Thus, this new acquisition will be mutually beneficial, and may potentially be a serious competitor for other phone technologies in the market.
It is very interesting that Blackberry would buy another smartphone company to try and once again become a leader in the industry. However, I think with the past decline of the Blackberry smartphone when android and apple began to emerge into the market it will be nearly impossible for Blackberry to position themselves again as a smartphone competitor. Personally, when I think of Blackberry I think of it as a failed business. However, the younger generation who have grown up with apple and android as dominant leaders do not know of the failure of Blackberry to continue to edge out its own niche in the market and these individuals could potentially be future customers for Blackberry. On the other hand, I think that for generations like ours and older generations Blackberry should try to target a different part of the technology industry instead of targeting the smartphone market again.
I don't know how popular the Good Technology Corps will go over. It all depends on the consumer and how much they want the product, so if their product doesn't become popular they won't be acquiring enough capital to keep the company afloat. will the revenue from acquisitions even be enough? Plus the continual desire for iphones hasn't waned and it's larger than ever.
It will be very difficult for BlackBerry to overcome the creative destruction that it has endured because of the overwhelming and continuous success that the iPhone has produced, especially in the last 5 years. The acquisition of Good Technology may help BlackBerry with revenue in the short-term, but is likely not to last in the long-term. Not only is there immense competition from Apple, but also Microsoft. It will be a long haul for them to once again to become a top competitor in the smartphone market worldwide.
Post a Comment