Things just don’t look good for Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB). Analyst after analyst has downgraded the company’s stock after its sad earnings report last week, and now the latest data from Kantar shows just how quickly the company’s market share is deteriorating. Data from other sources also indicates that enterprise and developer interest in the BlackBerry platform are fading as well.
The information from Kantar shows that Windows Phone has overtaken Blackberry, particularly in Europe. BlackBerry’s market share dropped to 2.5 percent from 7 percent at the same time one year ago. Windows Phone, on the other hand, rose from 4.3 percent last year to 6.8 percent of the European market this year.
BlackBerry is also fighting a losing battle in Mexico, where Android market share leaped from 27.1 percent last year to 60.3 percent this year. BlackBerry’s market share dropped from 32.3 percent last year to 11.3 percent this year.
In terms of global market share, data from IDC shows that Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s share fell to 2.9 percent this year from 6.4 percent this year. Windows Phone replaced BlackBerry in third place for global market share.
BBRY Loses Enterprise Customers
There are also other signs that Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s struggle is just getting worse. Bloomberg’s Peter Burrows and Madeline McMahon highlighted other areas in which the BlackBerry maker’s chances to become a third option to Android and iOS are fading.
One of the biggest problems for Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is the fact that large corporations appear to be shutting down BlackBerry Enterprise Server, the software which provides a secure backbone for corporate users, rather than migrating to BB10. This saves expenses and lowers companies’ IT costs. However, BlackBerry devices don’t have most of the security features they have when used with BES, so they lose their attractiveness without BES.
The company’s Secure Work Space, which was announced in June and is designed to allow companies to manage other devices in addition to BlackBerry devices, is also not grabbing hold in the enterprise sector. Maribel Lopez of Lopez Research told Bloomberg that companies are still using independent platforms like AirWatch and MobileIron rather than BlackBerry’s Secure Work Space.
BBRY: More Interest In Windows Phone
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) offers Intune, a similar mobile management system, although it offers software tools so that independent platforms can still be used. Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) won’t share these tools, so its Secure Work Space offers fewer options than Intune. Experts say companies generally want to be on one console, but to do that, they have to shut down BlackBerry support.
Also Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has the attention of developers, who are already familiar with its operating system. Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s new BlackBerry 10 operating system is less familiar, and researchers say there’s little indication that developers are interested in learning how to work with it. Also Microsoft offers money to developers who write for its platform, while BlackBerry does not.
