Home Technology Blackberry’s smartphone market share is virtually at 0%

Blackberry’s smartphone market share is virtually at 0%

1 min read
16

bberry

It wasn’t really that long ago that Blackberry had a firm grasp on the phone market. Their ground-breaking always-on internet and Blackberry messenger ensured that Blackberry devices weren’t just great enterprise and business tools – but the hottest social devices too.

When the market changed, by moving towards app-capable smartphones, Blackberry (and former market rival Nokia) were caught unawares. Both were left playing catch up, much to their detriment. While Nokia’s on the path to becoming relevant again (while also making a big play for nostalgia), Blackberry seems to be on the brink of death.

According to a report by the research firm Gartner, Blackberry’s market share now stands at a whopping 0.0%. Of the 432 million smartphones sold in the fourth quarter of last year, only 207,900 of them were Blackberry devices running Blackberry’s operating system. That puts their share of the market for that quarter at 0.0481%. Yes, less than a single percent.

Of course, much of that can be attributed to the fact that Blackberry didn’t release any phones sporting its BB10 operating system in 2016. In the previous year’s comparative quarter, Blackberry sold 906, 900 devices. A little more respectable, but still only 0.2% of the market.

By contrast, 352.7 million smartphones running Google’s Android operating system made their way in to consumers’ hands in the last quarter of 2016, taking up 81.7% of the market. Apple has much of the rest of the market sewn up, with 17.9%, or 77 million units sold.

Last year, Blackberry stopped making its own phones, putting manufacturing in the hands of third parties.

“We have decided to discontinue all the handset hardware development, only hardware,” BlackBerry chairman and CEO John Chen in a conference call with analysts in September last year. “We believe that this is the best way to drive profitability in the device business,” he said.

That last ditch effort doesn’t seem to have worked – and it could soon be the end of Blackberry.

Last Updated: February 16, 2017

16 Comments

  1. Ottokie

    February 16, 2017 at 12:36

    And this company was the biggest thing since sliced bread in 2011 O.o

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      February 16, 2017 at 12:42

      Adapt, or die

      Reply

    • PurplePariah

      February 16, 2017 at 12:42

      Locally, yes. It was always bigger here than in the US.

      Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      February 16, 2017 at 12:43

      Now the trick question…..did you have one?

      Me? Not even once. Had enough shit with them here at the office to last me a lifetime

      Reply

      • Ottokie

        February 16, 2017 at 12:43

        I had 3 of them.

        Reply

      • PurplePariah

        February 16, 2017 at 12:44

        Look at Mr. Fancy Pants over here.

        Reply

        • Original Heretic

          February 16, 2017 at 13:01

          These age old insults always fascinate me. I always wonder,” Where did that shit come from?” I mean, calling someone “Mr Fancy Pants”? That goes way back.
          Personally, I can’t think of a single time that I’ve actually owned a single pair of “fancy pants”. Unless you count my Superman suit when I was 5.

          Reply

          • PurplePariah

            February 16, 2017 at 13:04

            It’s a term for “oh you’re wealthier than me, your pants are neat and new, mine are ragged and old, and you’re holding that status above me like you’re better because of it”.

            It’s just easier to say Mr Fancy Pants.

          • Original Heretic

            February 16, 2017 at 13:08

            I know what it means, but I still wonder where it came from in the first place. Like, who was the FIRST guy to call some rich oke “Mr Fancy Pants”. Apparently he was so clever that all the other poor okes out there decided “This thing that Bob (I’m guessing his name was Bob) said, that’s the shit! We should all say that, call all them rich bastards ‘Mr Fancy Pants’! Yeah, that”s teach ;em to go around, wearing those fancy pants everywhere, with their zips and their clasps.”

            Oh god, I’m doing it again, getting all stupid with something way simple.

          • PurplePariah

            February 16, 2017 at 13:12

            XD

            I tried to cater for a scenario in like the 11th century where serfs and lords were worlds apart, and although that was ancient times, the trend holds true today. The rich lord their wealth over the poor as if it defines how great they are.

          • Original Heretic

            February 16, 2017 at 13:16

            Shit, aint THAT the truth. Look no further than the POTUS.

            Such an unfortunate acronym. Ripe for the rip-off, I say!

        • Admiral Chief

          February 16, 2017 at 14:04

          They just never interested me, I made the jump to Android with my S1, was very happy.

          ALL the marketing/sales reps had them here, I don’t follow the masses. And when they broke / had issues, guess who they ran to…

          Reply

      • Ottokie

        February 16, 2017 at 12:45

        I actually enjoyed typing on an actual qwerty mobile keyboard than on a touch screen

        Reply

  2. Admiral Chief

    February 16, 2017 at 12:43

    PoS phones, but amazing security. Nice features at the time, but they should have kept with the times

    Reply

  3. Cat

    February 16, 2017 at 14:55

    Never owned a blackberry, it was between my upgrade cycles when it was popular & i never ended up getting one. I usually upgrade every 3-4 years depending on what is needed. Not much changes even though the specs get better, when was the last great change prior to the first iPhone/full touch screen we use now?

    Reply

  4. HvR

    February 16, 2017 at 16:00

    Shame spare a thought for the 207 900 sitting for hours starring at screen with no friends on BBM and then running around aimlessly with a dead phone because nobody has a Blackberry charger

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

LG says it might exit the smartphone market

LG is contemplating stepping out of the smartphone market, which has become far too compet…