BlackBerry Hopes to Regain Market Share with Phablets

BlackBerry is trying to recapture the market share it lost to iOS and Android devices during the last couple of years. And it looks like the company has set its sight on a new kind of devices called phablets. BlackBerry CEO didn’t confirm this but he has sort of indicated that he is keen on building a device between a tablet and a phone. And he feels that the phablet might be a big growth driver for BlackBerry.

Chen recently gave an interview to Jakarta Post and in this interview, he announced that BlackBerry plans to sell at least 1 million BlackBerry Z3 units. This is a $200 device that is only available in Indonesia at the moment. BlackBerry recently entered into a 5-year partnership with Taiwanese OEM, Foxconn. The Z3 is the very first device they built with Foxconn. As per the terms of this deal, Foxconn will design, manufacture and stock the devices. BlackBerry will provide the software that powers them.

Chen expressed his hope that the device would perform well in Indonesia although recently there has been an increase in the popularity of iOS and Android devices in this region.Chen isn’t concerned about the growing popularity and Android and other platforms in Indonesia. He said that these new operating systems are heavily focused on the consumers. BlackBerry, on the other hand, focuses heavily on enterprise customers. The company does compete in the consumer segment and the Z3 is a competitive product. BlackBerry devices are quite popular in Indonesia and Chen hopes that the new device will help them increase their market share.

When asked what he thought would be the next growth driver for BlackBerry, Chen said that a phablet could be the answer. He believes that the device has huge potential. He went on to add that if BlackBerry would do another thing, then it would probably be the phablet.

A phablet is a cross between a tablet and a phone. BlackBerry hasn’t had much success in the tablet space. The company did launch a tablet a couple of years ago. Although it had excellent multitasking skills and decent hardware, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet wasn’t hugely popular.

Chen feels that it is already too late for BlackBerry to try and build another tablet. He also feels that the phablet is too early but that doesn’t daunt him. He thinks that being early is actually a good thing because it allows you to bring new technology. BlackBerry was one of the last companies to jump onto the tablet bandwagon. The company certainly doesn’t want the same thing to happen in the phablet space.

Chen’s statement also suggests that BlackBerry is beginning to look at the consumer segment all over again. This, however, does not mean that the company is shifting its focus away from its enterprise users. BlackBerry, in fact, has several things lined up for enterprise customers. The company is planning to launch e-BBM, the enterprise version of its hugely popular BlackBerry Messenger, in June. Chen also stated that his company is keen on developing infrastructure that would connect everything: mobile, IP addresses, everything.