BlackBerry could be building comeback off iPhone, Android converts

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
The Z10 and its accompanying BlackBerry 10 OS were something of a Hail Mary pass for troubled Canadian manufacturer BlackBerry, but that gambit may be paying off, as a new report says half of BlackBerry Z10 buyers are coming to the device having left Google's Android platform and Apple's iPhone.

Z10
BlackBerry's new Z10 smartphone. Source: New York Magazine


Precise figures on BlackBerry Z10 sales are as unavailable and will likely remain so until until BlackBerry's (n? Research In Motion) next quarterly financial disclosure. Still, a report on Thursday from FierceWireless had one-third of new BlackBerry 10 device sales coming from customers switching over from Android and iOS devices.

"The other thing that kind of surprises us," Rick Costanzo, BlackBerry's executive vice president of global sales told FierceWireless, "is that of the sales we're getting, the percentage that are actually flipping over from other platforms onto BlackBerry 10 is a lot higher than we expected. We're actually getting roughly speaking about a third coming in from outside the BlackBerry community.

Another report from BGR on Friday put that figure at half of Z10 sales for the Canadian market. BGR claimed to have independently confirmed with several high-level BlackBerry executives that half of all Z10 sales in Canada came from platform switchers.

BlackBerry has a sizable core group of devotees, but the prevailing wisdom has it that the company needs to greatly expand beyond that group if it wishes to remain a player in the smartphone segment. Such reasoning likely drove the decision to release the touchscreen-based Z10 ahead of the company's Q10 model, which also runs BlackBerry 10 but features BlackBerry's signature hardware QWERTY keyboard.

Once a major player in the smartphone market, BlackBerry was caught off guard by the emergence and sudden popularity of Apple's touchscreen-based iPhone. Over several years, the company saw its market share plummet along with revenues as consumers and large organizations abandoned its platform for devices running iOS and Android.

It is difficult to translate the news of iOS and Android converts into sales estimations for the Z10. Given that the two platforms account for roughly nine out of ten smartphones sold, the odds are that if someone had owned a smartphone before and bought a Z10, they would be coming from iOS or Android.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 61
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member


    Hmm...call me skeptical.  Isn't this the same blackberry that lied about sales in the UK?

  • Reply 2 of 61
    oflifeoflife Posts: 120member


    They may well be getting converts, but the sales figures must be very small. I am plugged into the wireless device industry and people are still buying iPhones and Androids en mass, very few are going BB, no matter the rubustness of QNX. With devices like the HTC One, Xperia Z and Galaxy 4 available or soon to be, the temptation is too strong. And there are even cooler Androids to follow, believe you me! (Not to mention rumoured 5S/6 from Apple.) The value prop of BB isn't strong enough at this juncture.

  • Reply 3 of 61
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member


    I hope BB is able to maintain a niche for itself, but no, this is not even going to have even a negligible effect on iPhone/Android sales. There's absolutely nothing that most users will see as an advantage, and there's a ton of disadvantages. I've used one, and although not a bad device, it didn't spark an ounce of excitement out of me. I don't see this coming in ahead of even Windows phone, nor do I see how these mythical "converts" might be. What advantages outweigh jumping ship and foregoing Apple or Google's ecosystem?

  • Reply 4 of 61
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post

    Hmm...call me skeptical.  Isn't this the same blackberry that lied about sales in the UK?


     


    Nope, that was RIM. Which means the media will completely ignore it.

  • Reply 5 of 61
    ankleskaterankleskater Posts: 1,287member


    A Blackberry comeback is good for everyone. The desire of so many to write its epitaph is oh so short-sighted.

  • Reply 6 of 61

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ankleskater View Post


    A Blackberry comeback is good for everyone. The desire of so many to write its epitaph is oh so short-sighted.



    I guess, but they committed the cardinal sin in business...complacency! :) They were content to give their customers a sh*t phone.


     


    And then the iPhone came along and showed them how to do it right. They were ripping off their loyal customers by not innovating. I have no sympathy for them. I feel the same way about HP, Dell, MS, Nokia, Sony and Samsung.

  • Reply 7 of 61
    jmgregory1jmgregory1 Posts: 474member


    In Canada, from my own experience with friends and colleagues, the RIM devotee percentage is fairly high, so it wouldn't be surprising if some people who had to switch from an older BB to either iPhone or Android, would switch back.  It will be interesting to see what their return numbers look like.  RIM/BB has made just so many mistakes over the past 3-4 years, that they have a lot of fence mending to do just to get back those that left the fold over the years.  And given people do move on (at least many people do, some don't), they'll need to prove it's worth it to make the switch back.

  • Reply 8 of 61
    alfiejralfiejr Posts: 1,524member


    gee, BB lost about 75% of its customers to Android/iPhone, and now a few are actually trickling back! wow, what news!


     


    "It is difficult to translate the news of iOS and Android converts into sales estimations ..." well, actually, it's impossible. but don't let that stop AI from posting this tripe.


     


    you can do a little more with "...half of Z10 sales for the Canadian market ...". given that the Canadian market is maybe 2% of the global market, why it's bound to be in six figures even!


     


    boy is this ever garbage can web news.

  • Reply 9 of 61
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    ...  of the sales we're getting, the percentage that are actually flipping over from other platforms onto BlackBerry 10 is a lot higher than we expected. We're actually getting roughly speaking about a third coming in from outside the BlackBerry community. ...


     


    This is the essential point of the article but while it sounds like good news it actually isn't.  


     


    A company gets in Blackberry's position not by doing poorly by it's customers, but by not attracting new ones in what is essentially a booming market.  This is the problem that the new phones and the new OS were made to correct.  What this guy is saying however is that in essence, two thirds of their sales are to existing Blackbery owners.  Two thirds of their sales are to people who already love Blackberry so much that they hung in there over all the shit they've been going through these last few years.  This means that they actually *aren't* doing much good at attracting new converts to the new platform.  


     


    It's far too little and far too late.  


     


    People need a good reason to throw off iOS or Android and move to Blackberry.  It has to have some obvious thing that makes it better than iOS or Android.  Android has cheapness, and hackability which are presumably the main reasons for switching.  


     


    What does Blackberry have?  Not much, and more importantly, nothing different from what it always had.  It's (slightly) better received in corporate networks, and it has the BBM service.  Neither was enough to float the original Blackberry boat, and there is no reason to think that either of those two reasons are enough to float the shiny new boat either.  


     


    What we are seeing here is Blackberry die-hards upgrading to what's possibly the last Blackberry device they will own, and a few people buying the "shiny new thing" because it's being pushed like crazy by the dude in the cellphone store and it has a bit of brand recognition.  They won't be singing the same tune in December.  

  • Reply 10 of 61
    richlrichl Posts: 2,213member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Oflife View Post


    I am plugged into the wireless device industry



     


    I think you're doing it wrong.

  • Reply 11 of 61

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by RichL View Post


     


    I think you're doing it wrong.



    Brilliant! Made me laugh! :)

  • Reply 12 of 61
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member


    This is complete rubbish and cheap propaganda.


     


    There is no report. Some website happened to interview Blackberry's executive vice president of global sales, and that Blackberry executive is the one who is making the outlandish claims.  Remember how playtime was over? This is just more of the same BS.


     


    Though he declined to provide exact sales figures, Rick Costanzo, Blackberry's executive vice president of global sales, said early sales of the BlackBerry Z10, the company's first BlackBerry 10 device, are exceeding expectations. 


     


    So if sales are going so great and "exceeding expectations", why don't they provide any figures to back up their claims? What are their expectations, a thousand units shipped? Man up, grow some balls, and do like Apple does, release real figures if you have anything to announce, otherwise don't say anything at all. Don't waste everybody's time with useless garbage, non-information and insane speculation.


     


    And also, this thing hasn't even launched in the US yet. Many of the markets where it has currently launched aren't really that important. Some crackheads (is that what crackberry forum members are called?) were boasting about how it was reportedly sold out in Dubai. Who the hell gives a crap about Dubai? image Watch out! Next, we'll hear that the new Blackberry is outselling the iPhone 5 in Somalia also!image


     


    And you certainly can't trust what many Canadians say about it, because quite a few of them are totally blinded and brainwashed by some sort of pathetic nationalism, and many of them support Blackberry simply because it's Canadian. Don't believe me? Just head on over to a Blackberry forum like Crackberry and see for yourself. Many of those people are totally delusional. It is pathetic to support a company just because of it's nationality. I don't support Apple because it's American. I support Apple because they make the most kick ass products around, and they've been doing so for decades. 

  • Reply 13 of 61
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    Precise figures on BlackBerry Z10 sales are as unavailable and will likely remain so until until BlackBerry's (n? Research In Motion) next quarterly financial disclosure. 


    That tells you all you need to know.


     


    FUD. (In this case, the last two letters in my acronym stand for '...... Useless Data').

  • Reply 14 of 61
    froodfrood Posts: 771member


    Hope RIM can carve a foothold for themselves.  The more people competing the better for everyone regardless of which platform you like.  Should be interesting to see how the Tizen or Ubuntu platforms take off (or sink).

  • Reply 15 of 61
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by christopher126 View Post


    I guess, but they committed the cardinal sin in business...complacency! :) 



    Oh, if it was just complacency, it would be somewhat excusable.


     


    It was the sheer dismissive arrogance on top of that which gives me the schadenfreude.....

  • Reply 16 of 61
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Meaningless. Show me the numbers a year from now.
  • Reply 17 of 61
    timbittimbit Posts: 331member
    Apple ][, Dubai is one of the richest cities in the world. If you can sell out there, it does mean something.
    I hope BB can make a good comeback. Although their devices do not interest me, they have tried really hard to get back in the game and I think that they have a fighting chance against Windows at least (def not Apple or Android).
  • Reply 18 of 61
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Timbit View Post



    Apple ][, Dubai is one of the richest cities in the world. If you can sell out there, it does mean something.


    Dubai was on its death throes a few years ago, and was bailed out of ignominy by the emirate of something-or-the-other (a neighboring country). A lot of the 'wealth' is in the form of empty, absentee-landlord, real estate built by foreign architects and foreign labor. Yes, there are some fancy high-rises such as the Burj Khalifa, but there is no industry, no services (other than tourism and shoppers from Asia) to speak of. 


     


    Blackberrys have always been popular all over the Middle East. The fact that they may do well there (or not) does not mean much at all.

  • Reply 19 of 61
    starbird73starbird73 Posts: 538member
    "Apple wrote:
    [" url="/t/156270/blackberry-could-be-building-comeback-off-iphone-android-converts#post_2287086"]And you certainly can't trust what many Canadians say about it, because quite a few of them are totally blinded and brainwashed by some sort of pathetic nationalism, and many of them support Blackberry simply because it's Canadian. Don't believe me? Just head on over to a Blackberry forum like Crackberry and see for yourself. Many of those people are totally delusional. It is pathetic to support a company just because of it's nationality. I don't support Apple because it's American. I support Apple because they make the most kick ass products around, and they've been doing so for decades. 

    I actually don't see any issue with Canadians supporting Blackberry because it is a Canadian company.
  • Reply 20 of 61

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Oflife View Post


    They may well be getting converts, but the sales figures must be very small. I am plugged into the wireless device industry and people are still buying iPhones and Androids en mass, very few are going BB, no matter the rubustness of QNX. With devices like the HTC One, Xperia Z and Galaxy 4 available or soon to be, the temptation is too strong. And there are even cooler Androids to follow, believe you me! (Not to mention rumoured 5S/6 from Apple.) The value prop of BB isn't strong enough at this juncture.





    Don't make me laugh. I doubt you are plugged in to anything but a personal vibrator. Wireless Wave, a 360 store chain in Canada just announced 2 days ago that BB10 is far outselling iPhones and even the leading S3 in their stores. There is a good reason in my opinion why BB is releasing its phones LAST to Americans and even behind Nigeria. Lets agree that Americans hate everyone that outdoes them no matter what they do. Blackberry has just shown that America is a little rodent beneath the rest of the world. The stupidist investment decision a person can make is not selling APPL and buying Blackberry. Watch and learn

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