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Blackberry are facing a tough struggle against market leaders Apple and Google. At their recent event in San Jose, California they could barely fill a third of the 1,500 seat venue. A far cry from the pioneering company of yesteryear.
Later today they are due to release financial results which analysts have predicted will be another decline. Almost 90 percent of their stock value is already gone.
At the event however Thorsten Heins, the new CEO showcased the latest products. Developers and journalists were impressed with his presentation and the stock rose by more than 5 percent.
The mobile handset, called Dev Alpha B was produced specifically for software developers so they could test their programs. The plan is that when the new devices launch next year, there will already be a list of applications ready and waiting in the wings.
Heins said “We are convinced this platform will shape the next 10 years as profoundly and as positively as BlackBerry shaped the last decade.”
Sadly, a recent survey by Appcelerator found that in the last 18 months, interest from developers has dropped significantly. Previously 40 percent of developers said they were interested in making apps for Blackberry – that number has now dropped to 9 percent.
The news that the first series of OS 10 devices will not have a physical keyboard are proving unpopular with the business audience. The core BlackBerry audience have a love for the physical keyboard, but it wont be until the second wave of products are released that this will be available.
Kitguru says: Things don't look too good for the company. If OS10 fails to ‘relaunch' the brand is it game over for RIM?
The ‘number of apps’ battle is as misleading and irrelevant as the mega-pixel war in cameras – once you’re over the critical mass, more apps doesn’t equal better phone. How many apps does any one person really use? How many are crap that are discarded almost immediately? If Blackberry just covered the top 10% that would be more than enough. Yet we know from history that sensors from 2004-6 were ditched for megapixel increases with poorer ISO performance in the next three years, simply on the basis of headline numbers. So I doubt it’ll play out well for RIM.