Can Blackberry compete with Android and i-Phone?

It is the age of Smart phones, which are gradually eating up market share of ordinary mobile phone companies. Three major platforms are ruling the world of smart phones- Android, i-Phone’s iOS and BlackBerry. Though, BlackBerry ruled in the past decade, particularly among the corporate business community, it failed to retain its position in recent times. BlackBerry with its familiar QWERTY keypad used to be a familiar site among business executives. Research in Motion did a brisk business in the past decade. However with the introduction of Apple’s i-Phone and the Android, BlackBerry fell flat and gradually lost its market share.

Some of the key features of i-Phone and Android mobile operating systems that made BlackBerry to lose out key market share are the formers’ price, its stylish and swanky features, user friendly device applications and the support system. Almost overnight the figures changed and Blackberry incurred a loss of a massive share of the smart phone market.

Over a long time, BlackBerry followed the same design pattern with almost similar features. This made it somewhat stubborn in this fast changing market. Within a matter of three months RIM lost about 4% market share compared to other competitors. Google’s Android has since been rapidly gaining market share over other similar devices. This has been possible, because Google shared its platform with a large number of manufacturers and it led to its exponential growth. Others (namely Apple’s i-Phone) remained confined into their own cocoon. This has made others to take notice of their current market position.

So, what lies ahead of BlackBerry and how will they bring back the lost glory of this once iconic brand?

They need to revisit a number of factors like delivering something unique and exclusive to the device, which both the i-Phone and Android has failed to address yet.  Android and i-Phone has regularly changed and updated features with every launch. RIM’S BlackBerry should follow this policy to stay afloat in the market. BlackBerry has a feature called BBM, which could become a strong selling point. Basic functions can be remodeled along the lines of top features made available by i-Phone and Android. Mint.com, Words with Friends, Net Flix and Juice Defender are some of the key features available in one way or the other in BlackBerry. What they lack is the user friendliness.

One of the principal factors of these applications are they should be made be flexible and should be functional on multiple platforms. However most of the above applications fail to operate without adequate improvement of hardware.

RIM has to change its earlier view in relation to conserving battery life which is a key factor, just as important as a fast and powerful processor, if not more. This is possible with a similar application like Juice Defender. Further, Mobile Gaming is a vast market and it helps to drive sales of mobile devices to a great extent. Introduction of an attractive gaming platform and branding it will increase the chance of BlackBerry coming closer to the consumer.

Finally, though BlackBerry has lost steam for the moment, it is still has enough stake in the market to bring about a modification and attack the market with a vengeance. A large number of companies and government agencies issue Blackberry over i-Phone or others devices. Besides, RIM has announced the launch of its new operating system QNX within a year. This should further aid the ex Smart Phone Giant to compete more successfully with its current competitors.