BYOD has to be on BlackBerry’s side for it to succeed

ABI Research of Oyster Bay, N.Y., has a new study out that says BlackBerry can regain its top spot in the market if it can succeed with the Bring Your Own Device trend.

According to ABI Research, BlackBerry (formerly Research in Motion) provided a solid showing of its new BlackBerry 10 smartphones at the New York City event. New features include new gesture-based OS navigation controls, multi-app operation, multi-language support, and the next generation virtual keyboard – along with previously announced enterprise-centric features of BlackBerry Balance (work/personal profiles); BlackBerry World for Work (enterprise app store) and BlackBerry Hub (unified inbox and contacts). But RIM’s future will require winning favour with both consumers and enterprise decision makers.

Related stories: BlackBerry 10 is here. What does it mean for the channel?

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Dan Shey, the enterprise practice director for ABI Research, said BlackBerry needs strong backing from IT administrators, but it also needs enough consumers and more specifically, employees to choose BB10 over Android, Apple, and Windows smartphones. The BYOD trend is having a big influence on enterprise mobilization strategies.

BYOD has to be on BlackBerry s side for it to su...

The research firm made this conclusion: BlackBerry is in a good position with enterprise but it is unknown if the multi-device support in the recently released BES10 can rival those of other MDM platforms.

Consumer adoption is less predictable as it’s highly dependent on positive perception toward BB10’s usability, device performance, and application availability. Pricing and promotion will play a big role as well with consumers – again areas BlackBerry has less control of.

ABI added that in the near term, BlackBerry will rely on an enterprise smartphone market that is still growing even in developed markets such as North America and Western Europe. Worldwide smartphone penetration at EOY 2012 among mobile business customers representing corporate liable and prosumer markets stands at 52 per cent; among all employees it stands at 29 per cnet. BlackBerry smartphones currently hold a number three position in the enterprise market behind Android and Apple at No. 1 and No. 2 respectively.

ABI Research said that BlackBerry’s long-term strategy was revealed early in the event by CEO Thorsten Heins in his comment that BlackBerry will enable the Internet of Things (IoT).

Shey adds, “M2M or the Internet of Things is the next frontier for mobile and wireless computing. BlackBerry’s QNX platform is a fantastic starting point for a stake in this market, but BlackBerry can’t fall behind in IoT as it did with touchscreen smartphones if it hopes to become a mobile computing platform company.”

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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Paolo Del Nibletto
Paolo Del Nibletto
Former editor of Computer Dealer News, covering Canada's IT channel community.

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