BlackBerry, the company that was once a Canadian giant in the world of mobile telephony, today is just a company that sees the light closer and closer ... that of the end of the tunnel. Although many may regret the disappearance of this company, Samsung and Apple would be the two great beneficiaries of this closure.
BlackBerry, the manufacturing of mobiles is over
And it's not that BlackBerry is going to disappear completely. What does seem is that its smartphone manufacturing division is going to disappear, as well as the operating system development division. The latest movements of the company could try to keep alive the division that is dedicated to some services such as BlackBerry Messenger, although it would not be unusual to see how they are also dedicated to other mobile services oriented to the professional world. Where they already have very little to do in the world of smartphone manufacturing and operating system development. In July 2012, some important countries in the smartphone market, such as the United States, Spain, France, and Great Britain, had a share of mobile operating systems sold in the last three months divided between Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Phone. The operating system of the Canadian company had between 6% and 11% in these countries. However, a year later, the best figures are at 4%, and in some countries it is not even 1%. We are not talking about smartphones that are active, but about smartphones sold in three months until July of the corresponding year. Still, it looks like the Canadian company has fallen into misery.
Samsung and Apple, the big winners
But there would not only be negative news regarding the closure of BlackBerry's smartphone division. Samsung and Apple would be the great beneficiaries of this closure. On the one hand, we find that one of the most powerful rivals they had has disappeared. Maybe they weren't that big in sales, and they were already in the doldrums, but they still had a name that might be able to stand up to that of the South Korean and American giants. Now, that brand has disappeared, and the loyal buyers they had will no longer be able to buy even the worst of the smartphones they launch.
In fact, it has been Ben Reitzes himself, an analyst at Barclays, who has issued a note to investors about the smartphone market in the United States. In this, he stated that Samsung and Apple were interested in the disappearance of BlackBerry, and even in the sale of Nokia, as this could make a large number of users now opt for their smartphones instead of Finns or Canadians. According to his calculations, Samsung and Apple could gain between five and ten points in the market share of smartphones.
These data must be qualified. Whereas before we talked about sales data in the last three months, now we talk about shares of active smartphones at this time. Sales in the last three months could be very negative for BlackBerry, but that is not a reference of the active smartphones that are at this time, there are many BlackBerry still in operation. However, in just a few years the share of BlackBerry would undoubtedly go to zero. And the only question that would remain is which companies would get the market share released by Canadians. Obviously, Samsung and Apple, the two giants in the market, are prime candidates. Currently, they are the only companies that are in a position to offer high-level smartphones to the professional market. And Samsung is the one that takes over a large part of the market for cheap smartphones, which will affect all those who bought a BlackBerry for its lower price.
In any case, we will still have to wait a bit. It seems that the sale of BlackBerry to another company is not yet closed, and that the process could be lengthened, remaining to determine which divisions it would sell, and what would continue to be what we know as BlackBerry.