BlackBerry interim CEO John Chen in an open letter to customers said that the smartphone vendor is returning to its roots, refocusing on delivering devices and services to enterprise users.
Its phones are becoming less attractive to enterprise customers due to wide spread speculation that BlackBerry will be closed down or it would exit from hardware business. This is despite special offers being shared with enterprise customers to boost BlackBerry phone sales.
A couple of facts have created the negative remarks about BlackBerry.
First, BlackBerry disclosed in September that it would book nearly a billion dollars in losses related to unsold smartphones – mainly on the BlackBerry 10 OS.
Second, the Canadian company announced last month it was no longer for sale. Earlier, its main investors thought big tech firms would buy BlackBerry and save from the ongoing erosion in the smartphone market share.
Third, the smartphone vendor lost a significant number of decision makers, who have given up their jobs that would make the John Chen’s revival plan easier.
Fourth, BlackBerry is yet to share its roadmap to recovery. In fact, its BlackBerry Playbook tablets and BlackBerry 10 OS did not work in its favor. The company is missing enterprise orders thanks to Samsung and Apple.
On Monday, BlackBerry’s interim chief executive said reports of the death of the company are greatly exaggerated.
Former Sybase CEO John Chen said that the company is aware that BlackBerry is not for everyone. BlackBerry lost dominance as the leading smartphone maker after the 2007 launch of Apple’s touchscreen iPhone.
Chen notes that competitors are circling but that BlackBerry is very much alive, thank you.
Chen said BlackBerry has substantial cash and said he’ll refocus the company on four areas, including the handset business. Chen put more emphasis on BlackBerry’s mobile device management business, which allows IT departments to manage different devices connected to their corporate networks. He also emphasized BlackBerry’s popular BlackBerry Messenger application. And he mentioned embedded QNX software systems, which are used in-vehicle infotainment systems and industrial machines.
