• With 5G, security concerns are going to be higher as business apps are going to come on to mobile phones.
• BlackBerry’s security software is embedded into 500m endpoints, including 150m cars, and with over 12,000 global customers.
• Apple’s iPhone sales likely to take a hit in the US if BlackBerry picks up steam in the long run.

Dubai: BlackBerry is reentering the smartphone space at the right time as security has moved to the forefront of concerns in both enterprises and governments.

“The security part came to people’s minds only after the US started raising concerns over Huawei devices.  With 5G, the concerns are going to be higher as business apps are going to come on to mobile phones. It is more for 5G that the switch may happen and it is here where BlackBerry can add value,” Shobhit Srivastava, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, told TechChannel News.

There is a buzz around security, he said and added that BlackBerry’s strength lies around security.

OnwardMobility, in partnership with BlackBerry and FIH Mobile, is set to manufacture new phones bearing the BlackBerry brand in the first half of next year.

The phones are likely to be manufactured in India or Vietnam and not in China.

Key components to success

At its peak in 2012, the BlackBerry devices were a status symbol and had more than 80 million active users.

“The encrypted BBM messaging service and its QWERTY keyboard was a key component of BlackBerry’s success and the devices are known for protecting communications, privacy and data,” Srivastava said.

With 5G coming in, he said that Blackberry is aiming at enterprises, regulated industries and governments.

Dr. Ramazan Yavuz, Senior Research Manager at International Data Corp, said that BlackBerry still enjoys a strong brand equity in the mobile phone industry.

“All successors after RIM targeted to monetise this equity and I believe this is still the Holy Grail for OnwardMobility and FIH Mobile,” he said.

The dynamics of smartphone competition will be quite different in 2021, he said and if the differentiation of the product will be only “security and a physical keyboard”, today’s technology audience is far more sophisticated and the technology solutions are far more capable.

“This leaves BB to address niche market segments like certain sectors of finance, legal or government verticals where 5G applications will be rapidly deployed in the near future and will be heavily used,” he said.

Security is part of its DNA

“We are excited that customers will experience the enterprise and government level security and mobile productivity the new BlackBerry 5G smartphone will offer,” John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry, said.

BlackBerry started losing market share after Apple launched iPhones and the Canadian company finally stopped manufacturing its phones after iPhones and other Chinese manufacturers launched devices a bunch of features that appealed to consumers and to app developers to make money.

In 2016, Chinese company TCL acquired the rights to produce BlackBerry-branded phones and that is going to end by the end of this month.

Srivastava said that Blackberry is going to position itself towards enterprise space.

“Blackberry exited the phone manufacturing business as they were losing money and they wanted to position themselves as a security company with their QNX platform. All their concertation was going towards saving the company and focus only on profitable businesses. That is why they did not pay much attention to the mobile phone space with the onslaught of Chinese companies,” he said.

Yeo Swan Chin, Managing Director for BlackBerry South East Asia and South Asia, said the company has transformed itself in the last seven to eight years.

“Many know us as a smartphone manufacturer but we have a long history in connecting and securing endpoint security and that has always been our DNA.  We started by securing PoS terminals and we are the first to come out with a mobile device management system,” he said.

Customer focus not on radar

“Our security software is embedded into 500 million endpoints, including 150 million cars, and with over 12,000 global customers. We developed AI security solutions what work with human instincts and not against them. Endpoint security software is doubling every three years while there is a global shortage of 4 million cybersecurity workers,” he said.

“We at Blackberry, take a different approach. We incorporate machine intelligence to complement human intelligence and redefine how modern endpoints are built. We are the leader in the security AI market,” he said.

In the short term, Srivastava said BlackBerry may not make a big dent in iPhone sales in the US but as it picks up steam, it will be targeted more towards Apple rather than Samsung in the enterprise space.

“BlackBerry is expected to hold talks with enterprises and governments who have switched to iPhones rather than Android devices for security reasons. Many people still prefer BlackBerry keyboard and its encrypted features and many are very likely to switch back to BlackBerry when launched,” he said.

Moreover, he said that BlackBerry will not focus on the consumer side as the competition is very cut-throat in the Android space.

“In the consumer space, they are very unlikely to make a big impact because 5G phones are already available in the market,” he said.

In consumer segment, Yavuz said that Huawei will still command a certain market share by 2021.

Given brands like Xiaomi, TCL and Oppo are pursuing aggressive growth, he said that the absence of Huawei alone is not a full driver of growth for BB.