BlackBerry Ltd Market Share Stayed Near 0.5% Under Chen

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Since Chen took over as the CEO, BlackBerry has almost been able to cling on to its global market share

BlackBerry’s market share was stable through 2014 at around 0.5% as CEO John Chen shifted the focus to business users and brought back keyboard-equipped devices. According to data from IDC on Tuesday, the company shipped 5.8 million handsets in 2014, a drop of 70% from the previous year.

Passport, Classic effect still not visible

Android and iOS are the leaders of the smartphone market, holding a combined 96% of the global market, according to reports from IDC. On the other hand, the market share for BlackBerry has slipped to 0.4% in the fourth quarter from 0.5% in the previous three months and in both the first and second quarter, according to IDC data.

BlackBerry is working in collaboration with Samsung on mobile device management to diversify its revenue stream by selling software to businesses and governments. The company also launched two new phones toward the end of 2014.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company began selling the Passport in late September, and it will take some more time for the two phones (Passport and Classic) to be reflected in the numbers for BlackBerry, according to Ramon Llamas, an IDC analyst. Llamas told Bloomberg, “AT&T here in the US just announced back in January that the Passport’s going to be here,” adding, “Let’s give these devices some time because this is a long race. It’s not a marathon.”

Dropping non-business BlackBerry users in the U.K.

The Canadian smartphone maker could have less than 1 million non-business users in the U.K. by the end of the year, which is a drop from the heights of approximately 8 million in June 2012. As per new research from eMarketer (via The Guardian), the popularity of the company is dwindling, suggesting there could be only around 700,000 non-business users in the U.K. and that by 2017, the figure could drop to 400,000.

Many factors can be responsible for the declining popularity of the Canadian firm in the region. BlackBerry was blamed for the London riots in summer 2011, and the company’s many flops, such as its PlayBook and Z10 touch-screen smartphone, contributed to the decline.

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