For years loyal BlackBerry fans have grown used to bad news. Falling stock prices, low shipment scores, poor sales figures, and a struggling management are terms which are all too familiar to a BlackBerry loyalist.
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So recently when news of BlackBerry jumping on the Android bandwagon became official and BlackBerry launched its first ever Android smartphone – BlackBerry Priv – most loyalists probably took it as a sign of defeat rather than as a sign of better things to come. This was because BlackBerry chose a rival operating system, which also happens to be the world’s most dominant mobile OS, over its own famous and revered BlackBerry OS.
BlackBerry Priv is doing better than expected
All that may change now because BlackBerry may be on the verge of making a bit of a comeback through this very device. According to CNN Money the BlackBerry Priv sold out under 24 hours at Walmart and Best Buy due to great demand and a high sales volume. For the world’s former most dominant mobile brand this is a rather unusual situation of late. Let’s face it. No other BlackBerry device has sold out in under 24 hours in recent, or relatively distant, memory.
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As soon as these reports became public BlackBerry stock price (BBRY) soared by 7% on December 10. Though BlackBerry stock fell slightly the very next day, these are still very exciting times for BlackBerry.
The BlackBerry Priv is delivering on its hype and this is not the first time it has sold out. Even during its first week after launch the BlackBerry Priv had sold out in online sales and Amazon was completely out of stock. So how has the switch to Android helped BlackBerry?
What is working for BlackBerry Priv that hasn’t worked for another BlackBerry device?
BlackBerry phones have always been known to be best in class in terms of security, while Android, despite all the recent improvements, still doesn’t get great press for security enhancements. This is not to say that Android phones aren’t secure, but in fact this may be a case of public perception, which is always hard to change.
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Android has always received bad press for security concerns so when BlackBerry switched to Android, consumer perception evolved into believing that BlackBerry, which makes more secure devices, will be able to handle any apparent flaws that Android may have on the security front. This may actually be true and not simply a matter of perception but it does help BlackBerry’s cause a great deal that they now have a beautifully designed phone with great security and the most widely accepted mobile OS to boot.
Why is BlackBerry Priv’s success critical to the survival of BlackBerry?
The reason why this news should be extremely pleasing to BlackBerry fans in general is that if the Priv fails, BlackBerry as a devices maker may no longer exist in the near future. This is not mere speculation but a fact that BlackBerry CEO John Chen acknowledged in October this year.
“Anyone who has been watching closely at what I’ve been trying to do at BlackBerry has surely heard me say that we would not stay in the device business if we were not profitable.”
– John Chen, CEO, BlackBerry.
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That being said, if the current sales performance of the BlackBerry Priv is anything to go by BlackBerry may still survive what seems like an inevitable closure of its devices business in the near future. We will have to wait and see whether the Priv acts as the catalyst BlackBerry needs to rise from, what some analysts believe, are its imminent ashes.
Check out this review of the BlackBerry Priv by Android Central.