Here’s a cautionary tale that should remind us that “nothing is forever”. Everyone knows that one of the original smartphone pioneers was Blackberry. In fact, for some time, it was the dominant smartphone. Back in 2011, Blackberry’s handset sales peaked at over 52 million units. But as iPhone and Android sales gained ground, Blackberry’s share of the market slid precipitously. The reasons are myriad, but in short Blackberry devices were surpassed by the hardware and most importantly the apps and software available for the Apple iPhone and Google Android devices. Despite numerous attempts featuring new hardware and software, Blackberry has never been able to regain even a shadow of its former glory. In the final quarter of last year, Blackberry hit a terrible milestone by recording a 0.0% (rounded) market share of the smartphone market, according to research firm Gartner. The chart below, from Gartner and tech research firm Recode, illustrates the steep decline to effectively zero.
Blackberry sales
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March 06, 2017