Looking ahead into the new calendar year we know BlackBerry is operating under a new Chief Executive Officer in John Chen who has been vocal about the positive turnaround he intends to take BlackBerry. How this is done is going to be through change. A change in management and a change of future structure is needed so the company can not only become profitable again but survive.
We’re already seeing top down change in management as many have left and others are being welcomed. As cash gets tighter its important financials are well balanced. BlackBerry 10 is a great platform which isn’t well marketed. This needs to change. The software and services department is about to catch itself rather busy than usual so hopefully Mr. Chen and Co. find the right pieces to solve this puzzle.
In terms of what users are accustom to, end users are going to have to be patient as BlackBerry shrinks its hardware department. Who knows if we will see another flagship device in North America (I’m hoping we do, at least in 2015) but with the help of Foxconn we can count on at least one low tier device to be manufactured and marketed to emerging markets, mainly across Asia. We can expect in the states however, an increase in BlackBerry services and software with BlackBerry leading the pack in secure enterprise mobile device management. As acceptance and clearance passes with the platform we should begin to see a lot more BES 10 server subscriptions up from its current 30,000+.
BBM cross platform launched in 2013 so look for BBM to make headlines in 2014 with iOS and Android set to receive video chat, screen share and channels via application update. BBM will soon be monetized adding another cash flow source and the already 100 million users will grow as dozens of Android devices have plans to pre-load BBM into their devices.
With plenty of work ahead it all boils down to execution. Can the company break away from it’s old ways and focus on delivery? They’ve got a a new year to do so and we’re all looking forward to it. Good-bye 2013, hello 2014.