Bollywood film actor and BlackBerry brand ambassador, Ranbir Kapoor poses with the BlackBerry Z10 at the country launch of the BlackBerry Z10 in Mumbai on February 25, 2013. AFP/Getty Images/Indranil Mukherjee
BlackBerry, formerly Research in Motion, has spent the last several weeks renewing its commitment to its dwindling base of loyal customers. (If you count the time spent hyping up the launch of its new mobile platform and its two new smartphones, then it’s been several months.) With the January 30 announcement of its Z10 and Q10 smartphones along with the BlackBerry 10 platform, the company aimed to get back into the mobile game in which it has been consistently losing market share. And with the industry keeping a close eye on BlackBerry’s hits and misses, it pushed updates to its new version of its operating system, emphasizing its promise to gain back prowess it has lost to the likes of Apple and Samsung.
The updates to BB10 that were disseminated on March 1 include features for which BlackBerry users have been pining: better battery life, improved third-party app performance, and updated camera performance in low light, among others. With these improvements issued so quickly after the initial release of the platform, BlackBerry is making obvious its firm intent to reestablish itself as a globally preferred smartphone provider.
Another step in the right direction is BlackBerry’s exploration of emerging markets – a topic of persistent interest as worldwide mobile usage soars. While smartphone companies like Apple and Samsung launch devices in the U.S. primarily, BlackBerry launched its first BB10 device in India before it hits the U.S. market in March. The device is still considered expensive for India’s market (about USD $800), but with it the company is breaching regions that other phone makers have just begun to consider viable, profitable outlets for their products. The next target for BlackBerry could be China – one of the largest markets for mobile use in the world that is slated to keep growing.
Despite these seemingly promising moves, BlackBerry’s outlook is still dismal according to some forecasts. While tech news proliferates and fizzles out in a matter of days, it is important to remember that it will be several months before the industry sees any tangible evidence of whether BlackBerry’s latest devices and operating platform can launch it back into the frontlines of the mobile market.
