BlackBerry Attempts A Comeback With 5G

BlackBerry, the phone that got thumbs flying with the release of the 957 smartphone in 2000, has certainly faded from view, but it hasn’t disappeared altogether. Since last year, we’ve been teased with rumors of a new device bearing the BlackBerry name that would be 5G-compatible and would be equipped with an uber-impressive camera.

That phone is set to be made by a Texas-based company called OnwardMobility, which announced its agreement to take over manufacturing the device in August of last year. That same announcement said the phone was slated to drop in the first half of 2021, although OnwardMobility CEO and Founder Peter Franklin said in an interview with Nikkei Asia in February that more details about the phone would be forthcoming in the next few months — which could point to a slightly longer release date.

The new incarnation of the BlackBerry seems pitched at business users, much like the original devices, and is hanging its hat on beefed up security, especially in the 5G space.

“Companies are rapidly investing in transformative technologies to improve productivity, but often don’t place enough emphasis on security, particularly in their use of mobile devices,” said Jack Gold, president and principal analyst of J. Gold Associates, LLC. “With 5G quickly coming to market, and the acceleration it will cause in upgrading mobile devices and deploying productivity enhancing apps, deploying proven and highly secure products like the BlackBerry 5G devices in enterprises, government, and regulated industries like finance or legal, are mission critical.”

It would certainly seem that OnwardMobility needs to do something to distinguish the new phone in the increasingly crowded smartphone market that’s starting to squeeze out even major brands.

LG just announced that it will be dropping out of the mobile phone game altogether to focus on “growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices, smart homes, robotics, artificial intelligence and business-to-business solutions, as well as platforms and services.” LG was once in third place in terms of global mobile phone shipments, coming in behind Apple and Samsung. Over the years that market share declined as the top two grabbed more and more of the pie and Chinese companies like Huawei expanded. Now, Neil Shah, a partner and vice president of research at Counterpoint Research, told CNN that LG’s exit from the mobile phone scene will only leave less than a  2 percent gap in the market.

Pivoting

Just like LG, BlackBerry is a story in just how fast a mobile phone provider can fall. In 2008, the company’s stock hit a high of $146 as it became a force in providing a unique mobile phone that helped executives be more productive. By 2010 it reportedly had the largest market share of any mobile phone provider in the U.S. smartphone market at 37.3 percent. Yet by the end of 2012, that market share had dropped to just 7.3 percent as Google and Apple continued to gobble up more market share. The release of the BlackBerry 10 in 2011 failed to boost the device’s standing in the market and in 2016, the company sold most of the rights to manufacture its phones to China-based TCL Communications. TCL subsequently announced that it would stop selling BlackBerries last year.

So that means OnwardMobility will likely have a steep climb ahead if it’s to do what TCL and BlackBerry itself couldn’t accomplish. Perhaps its focus on security will be the ticket, as could an improved hardware experience that could be brought about through OnwardMobility’s partnership with major electronics producer, Foxconn.

BlackBerry Today

And what of the company that first gave the world a place to press their thumbs? Like LG, BlackBerry is leaving the mobile phone world behind to focus on tech to power other market segments, particularly autonomous vehicles.

In its fourth-quarter results statement, the company reported non-GAAP earnings of $215 million, driven in part  by success with its QNX technology, which is a real-time operating system found in train controllers, medical robots, ventilators and smart cars, among other places. BlackBerry said that QNX is now being used by 23 of the world’s top 25 Electric Vehicle OEMs, who own 68 percent of the EV market. The company also announced that Sony’s Vision-S system will be using the tech, and that heavy-goods manufacturer Scania would also be bringing the OS on board.

So while BlackBerry might be down (its stock is around the $9 mark these days), it certainly still isn’t out.

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