What Happened to Blackberry
Why Technology Turnaround Strategists Rewatch This 14-Minute BlackBerry Pivot Case Study BlackBerry captured 43% US smartphone market share at peak, stock hit $150 in 2008, fiscal 2011 revenue reached $20B with "over 80% from hardware." By 2013 stock fell to $5, device sales plummeted from 50M phones (2011) to under 30M after Z10 touchscreen launch—"moment had come and gone." CEO John Chen: "When I came in, losing market share, writing off lot of stuff, losing money like crazy, billions of dollars every quarter." The automotive IoT salvation at 09:04 reveals pivot success: QNX operating system acquired 2010 became "de facto standard in automotive," now powering 215M cars including "Ford Sync infotainment, securing connected and driver assist features." Works with "all major automotive OEMs—Audi, BMW, Ford, GM, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo." Industry opportunity "expectation auto software industry roughly triple in size from 2020 through 2030." The Storm disaster at 05:07 exposes failed iPhone response: "first fully touchscreen phone was Storm which had major hardware issues, quickly returned to former button filled glory before trying touchscreen device called Z10 in 2013." In timeframe Apple released 4 iPhones, "BlackBerry released over 30 unique devices"—flooding market didn't work. The $1.825B acquisition strategy at 07:48 enabled transformation: purchased QNX ($2010), Cylance antivirus ($1.4B), Good Technology device management ($425M)—"moves helped BlackBerry more swiftly alter focus from hardware to software." Strategic lesson: brand reputation assets (security/reliability) transferable across industries when core hardware business collapses—pivot requires accepting peak revenue won't return but sustainable profitability possible through adjacent markets. 5 Key Timestamps: [00:32] The Peak Dominance Metrics – "Mid to late 2000s Research in Motion's BlackBerry was most popular smartphone brand in US, wasn't close, making up about 43% of smartphone users at its peak." Company stock "peaked at nearly $150 in 2008, now sitting pretty at around five bucks." Fiscal peak 2011: "did nearly $20 billion in revenue with over 80% from hardware"—President Obama "adamant about keeping his BlackBerry while in office, they're going to pry it out of my hands" [05:07] The iPhone Disruption Response Failures – "2007 everything changed—Apple going to reinvent phone." BlackBerry's response: "first fully touchscreen phone was Storm which had major hardware issues, quickly returned to former button filled glory before again trying touchscreen device called Z10 in 2013." Desperation visible: "in same time period it took Apple to release four iPhones, BlackBerry released over 30 unique devices"—flooding market with products didn't stop decline [05:38] The Hardware Death Spiral Metrics – Device sales collapse: "2011 sold 50 million phones, just two years later after release of Z10 number plunged to fewer than 30 million phones, in years following sales continued to fall rapidly and stock had meteoric descent." By 2013 "4,500 jobs were cut" and John Chen took over CEO: "when I came in losing market share, writing off lot of stuff, losing money like crazy, billions of dollars every quarter, had to put stop to that, really more survival stay" [07:48] The Strategic Pivot Acquisition Foundation – Chen initially "hoped to keep iconic phones turning them into stable source of revenue but after few years realized we would never get volume up, moment had come and gone, made pivotal trip to software only company focus on security and cyber." Key acquisitions enabled transition: QNX operating system 2010, "$1.4 billion acquisition of Cylance antivirus software firm, $425 million acquisition of Good Technology device management software company—moves helped more swiftly alter focus from hardware to software" [09:04] The Automotive IoT Market Leadership Success – QNX "now the de facto standard in automotive, BlackBerry software in 215 million cars, could be powering your car's infotainment system or securing its connected and driver assist features." Works with "all major automotive OEMs—Audi, BMW, Ford, GM, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo, just name few." Market opportunity: "expectation auto software industry roughly triple in size from 2020 through 2030"—cybersecurity unit "securing back end of mobile banking apps and patient portals" though competitive against Microsoft, Snowflake, CrowdStrike
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