The Canadian smartphone company, BlackBerry has declared its plans to stop all the internal hardware developments. However, the company will outsource the development of BlackBerry-branded devices from its partners. The company has mentioned just one such partner- Indonesia-based BB Merah Putih as of now. Having said this, the company will concentrate on growing its software business.
BlackBerry failed to look forward to the rise of Apple iPhones and other Android phones, which has affected the business of BlackBerry for years. The BlackBerry mobiles were most admired for a nearly as decade: users were so addicted to them leading to the term ‘CrackBerry’.
Everything was going well for BlackBerry until the arrival of iPhone. When Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, the company showed how a phone can offer more than just email and phone calls. And as a result of which, the BlackBerry failed to compete even with its overhauling operating system.
BlackBerry mobiles hold a small portion of the US smartphone market at present. BlackBerry has sold about 400,000 smartphone units in the second quarter that ended on August 31, said John Chen who is the Chairman and CEO at BlackBerry. On contrary, the Apple Inc. has sold about 40 million iPhones in the same quarter.
BlackBerry has plans to shift the hardware developments of its own branded upcoming mobiles to partners by February 28, 2017. The company will generate revenue based on the royalties that will receive from the licensing agreements.
BlackBerry’s move on shifting the hardware development will reduce the company expenses as the inventory, staff, and equipment requirement will be closed with it.
BlackBerry mobile has already in agreement with a telecom joint venture in Indonesia. The BB Merah Putih will produce, share out and promote the BlackBerry smartphones running on the company’s own operating system based on Android software for the Indonesian market. While so, BlackBerry still has the chance to distribute these BlackBerry-branded devices outside of Indonesia, but the company seems to appoint more partners to do so.