BlackBerry CEO John Chen, who is happy with the turnaround efforts made so far, is now thinking of other ways to take the company ahead. Chen is hopeful about the company’s future, and in an interview at the Mobile World Congress, said the company might again start producing tablets if he finds the right opportunities. The BlackBerry CEO said, “It’s not in the works, but it’s on my mind.”
Loyal users key for the success
There are many BlackBerry loyalists who have productivity as their focus and therefore have stuck with the brand for a long time. A BlackBerry tablet, if ever released, will be of use to this small group of users who still prefer BlackBerry devices and the BlackBerry operating system, according to a report from CNET. With this, the company will also get a new stream of revenue.
However, a major point of worry is that the company has few loyal customers for its products and OS, which won’t be sufficient for sustaining the business. The problem seems bigger if we consider tablets saw their first decline in shipments in the fourth quarter of last year.
BlackBerry could experiment with tablets
At present, the Canadian firm is open to experimentation, as the market share held by it is less than 1%. Last year, the company experimented with the Passport, which is a square-shaped smartphone with an unusually broad screen. The device comes with a squatter version of BlackBerry’s trademark keyboard. Continuing with the experimentation, on Tuesday, BlackBerry unveiled a touchscreen smartphone having curved edges on the sides and a slide-out keyboard.
BlackBerry made an effort to enter the tablet market once in the past with the Playbook in 2011, but it eventually turned into a failure. For handling work tasks, people prefer using tablets though, and this is a positive for the company. Also products from rivals are doing well in the market, which is again a positive sign for the Canadian firm, if it is looking for one. Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 is a billion dollar business. However, one big factor that goes against it is the first quarterly decline in shipments of tablets in the fourth quarter.
