BlackBerry’s Final Gambit Is Priv
Over the past 2 years, under the leadership of CEO John Chen and his carefully chosen executive team, BlackBerry has been actively and aggressively reinventing itself. They still make smartphones, but they are so much more than a “smartphone maker” as many tech journals and blogs still insist on calling them. They are the premiere provider of end-to-end security and privacy mobile computing software and services. They have been making key acquisitions of other companies to solidify their presence in this area, most recently with the purchase of Good Technology.
Chen has clearly demonstrated he is not willing to let BlackBerry handsets die without a fight. They are an essential, iconic piece of BlackBerry’s mission. Each carefully designed BlackBerry device contains a piece of the company’s soul – it is the embodiment of their ethos.
In its heyday, the most avid BlackBerry user referred to his or her phone as their “CrackBerry”. This term aptly described the addictive nature of BlackBerry devices and became so ubiquitous that it spurred the creation of the largest and most popular BlackBerry fan site and community on the web.
BlackBerry put powerful communication, productivity, and security features in the palm of your hand long before smartphones or even basic cell phones went mainstream.
Though the masses have latched onto other brands and platforms to get their fix, those like me who keep coming back to BlackBerry time and time again can appreciate what they bring to the table.
BlackBerry’s final gambit is a bold one and, all things considered, probably the only sensible move he could have made to try to save BlackBerry’s phone business. With the upcoming release of the PRIV – their first Android-based smartphone – BlackBerry has set out to prove to the world that what it has to offer transcends any single operating system.
We’ve already seen moves in this direction with their cross-platform software strategy. BES12 can securely manage iPhones, Androids, and Windows phones in addition to BlackBerry devices. BBM is also available on those 4 platforms and has been making steady progress in the IM market, recently achieving an important milestone of serving 1 billion daily ad requests. And acquisitions like SecuSmart, Movirtu, Watchdox, and the aforementioned Good make it very clear that BlackBerry is ready and able to offer security, privacy, and productivity solutions for ANY platform.
Securing and enhancing Android – the most popular mobile OS in the world – is certainly a tall order. But if any company can do it, BlackBerry can. And if they do it well, they have a far better chance of staying in the smartphone business than they would with BB10.
Many former CrackBerry addicts – whether they want to admit it or not – still look back with fondness on their old workhorse phones with the clicky keyboards. Many still have them and even occasionally pull them out and boot them up for a healthy dose of nostalgia.
Some have even gone as far as to try to recreate the experience on their current platforms. Remember the Typo keyboard case for iPhone? Even Samsung released a (hideous) keyboard case for its latest flagship Galaxy devices.
BlackBerry’s appeal has always been universal in scope. The company’s recent struggles have been with implementation and execution, but they are back on track and focused once again on their original mission.
BlackBerry’s original success was born out of their commitment to that vision. Their popularity came about, not because they actively marketed to or targeted everyone, but because their devices were so good at what they did for enterprise and business customers that non-business users took notice and wanted a piece of that brilliance for themselves.
The PRIV has more potential to be such a device than any BB10 device ever has.
Many BlackBerry fans are upset with this new direction. But I would argue that this new direction is not new at all. BlackBerry’s handset business has always been about delivering security and productivity in a well-designed, solidly-built device – and profiting from it.
An OS is software. Lots of lines of code that make your phone work.
Does it really matter who wrote those lines of code? Let’s not forget that QNX was someone else’s creation that BlackBerry adapted and used to create BB10.
If BlackBerry can successfully achieve its aims by using the most popular mobile OS in the world, securing it, and running their own software on it, then they will have done what they originally set out to do in those early days of RIM.
BlackBerry invented the smartphone. They have nothing else to prove, there. But they sat by while other companies reinvented it and they lost their focus. Now they have a chance, a real chance to revolutionize it. They have a chance to prove that what they bring to the table is important – that it transcends any single platform.
Securing Android is only the next of many steps towards BlackBerry’s grander vision of providing the secure, dynamic platform and mobile communications architecture for the blossoming Internet of Things.
BlackBerry doesn’t need it’s “own” OS to provide end-to-end security anymore. It can secure them all.
That’s what Priv by BlackBerry really stands for.
BlackBerry’s Final Gambit Is Priv via BerryFlow.com.
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