Technological Innovation Through Tech Mining For Market Dominance
Every company needs it: the technology that will keep them afloat and bring home market dominance. For Apple, iPhones, and iPads dominate the mobile world. Google, with its seemingly infinite number of popular products including Android, could not be stopped. Even Microsoft, though struggling as of late to stay relevant in an industry they once dominated (see Windows Phone), still finds themselves at the top of cloud computing through their operating system Azure.
Yet despite these success stories there remain those companies who seem unable to find that technology or product that brings them market dominance and keeps them afloat; one such example is BlackBerry Limited. After a meteoric rise during the smartphone wars in 2007 – 2011 where they brought out hit after hit and made huge profits, the company has struggled to stay afloat and relevant as of late. Though they released a new phone through their subsidiary, Secusmart GmbH called the “BlackBerry 10” which was meant to bring them back into relevance in the mobile world, it has not yet proven successful as hoped. It seems as if BlackBerry Limited is looking for that one product or technology that will save them from having to sell out – but what could it be?
One possible solution may come from looking backward rather than forwards: BlackBerry Limited may just need to look into its own past for that product that propelled them forward and kept them afloat during their first years of operation: security and encryption technologies.
The story behind BlackBerry Limited’s rise to success is that of the company’s attempt to stay afloat in a relatively unknown emerging market. As mentioned earlier, Apple and Google were upstarts during this time; though Microsoft was present in the mobile world, they did not have their foothold like they do today with Windows Phone. Blackberry Limited needed an edge – something different than everyone else (at the time) – to carve out their own piece of the pie. So that “something” came in the form of security technologies which allowed them exclusive access into governments’ departments across Canada, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa through their subsidiary Secusmart GmbH while also offering some protection against hackers through encryption technology.
All seemed to be perfect for BlackBerry Limited with the beginning of their rise in 2009 with their “BlackBerry Evolve” boasting encryption technology that would have made any government official excited. And it did, with countries such as Germany buying these devices in bulk. Their success continued through 2010 with various models of smartphones being released with security technologies embedded into each model – with even the Canadian Department of Defense making a commitment to adopt BlackBerry’s encrypted data transmission services in 2012. Yet despite all the success, BlackBerry Limited is struggling today with no sign of turning around, and looks like they may become irrelevant if they cannot find a successful niche for themselves; thus, looking backward could prove beneficial to make market dominance once.
While looking back to their previous products that increased market dominance is a good start, it may not be enough to save the company. BlackBerry Limited needs a new product or technology they can focus on and eventually dominate with which is why my prediction for their next success story involves security and encryption technologies being at the forefront of a shift in our current way of doing things: wait for it – people will turn back towards physical devices as opposed to mobile apps.
It all started with the Apple Watch. In December of 2014, Apple released its first watch-like device that would send notifications from your iPhone to your wrist. The idea behind this was simple: those who had the Apple Watch could now feel as if they no longer needed to pull out their phone every time they received a text, email (and so on) because the watch would alert them.
This idea of “cutting back” on pulling out your phone for every notification you receive was only the beginning – however. It seemed as if this new trend came out of nowhere with its sudden popularity but it didn’t really come from nowhere at all: instead, it had been growing for years thanks to BlackBerry Limited’s success in security and encryption technologies.
With their security and encryption embedded into devices around the world for various governments’ departments, BlackBerry Limited seemed almost destined to have this shift occurring sometime soon – which is why they are still around today while companies like Palm have fallen by the wayside due to lack of interest. Yet people’s desire for a simple yet secure way to stay connected pushed technology companies towards this new trend of wearable devices and the beginning stages of a “market dominance” move.
Apple’s introduction of their smartwatch was simply the next logical step into dominating the market as they already had a successful line of products that were selling well with their iPhone, iPad, and Macintosh computers – while also having some influence over markets through its iPod music players, which are still being sold today despite not being updated in many years. But while Apple dominated during this time by starting this trend with their watches, it won’t be them alone on top for too long if other technology companies don’t follow suit soon enough. And since BlackBerry Limited is currently struggling but sits at an advantageous position due to their previous successes, they are the ones who will make it big from this new trend.
In the past year, Samsung has been following closely behind Apple with its own version of a smartwatch that made use of an Android operating system which meant that users could download apps on their watches and integrate them into their daily lives easier – while also having some influence over markets through its line of Note products, two of which have already been released in 2015 for various reasons. Yet these companies need to realize that there is no real way for them to dominate the market unless they focus on something different than what everyone else is doing right now: security and encryption technologies.
With BlackBerry Limited focusing on developing better security and encryption for wearable devices, it gives them a clear advantage over the rest of the market. This will be their chance to bounce back from their slumps and start dominating markets again – which is all they have been missing since the release of their first “smart” phone in 1999. This last move towards security and encryption technologies in wearable devices may end up being what saves BlackBerry Limited from falling into a black hole where companies go to die.
Of course, this assumes that if others don’t pick up on what BlackBerry Limited has been hinting at with its recent releases of new security and encryption-related technology, then there won’t be anyone else left but Apple and Samsung. But when you add in all of the other smaller companies who are also trying to get a piece of the smartwatch market, it could become a blood bath if BlackBerry Limited doesn’t make strides towards dominating this new market before it’s too late. It would be a good time for them to start taking pre-orders on their new products now while they can still set themselves apart from the crowd and maintain a stranglehold over markets in this new technological frontier.
Every company needs it: the technology that will keep them afloat and bring home market dominance. For Apple, iPhones, and iPads dominate the mobile world. Google, with its seemingly infinite number of popular products including Android, could not be stopped. Even Microsoft, though struggling as of late to stay relevant in an industry they…