Behind the acquisition rumors: BlackBerry is still valuable

Recently, there were rumors that Samsung wanted to acquire mobile phone manufacturer BlackBerry for $7.5 billion, but both BlackBerry and Samsung denied the matter, and BlackBerry's stock price experienced a dramatic rise and fall. In fact, there have been constant rumors about BlackBerry's sale before, so why do rumors of BlackBerry's acquisition appear every once in a while? In addition to the so-called industry speculation that BlackBerry is using this to increase its stock price, from the perspective of commercial competition and value, BlackBerry may not be worthless as most people in the industry say.

In addition to the well-known BlackBerry's powerful patent portfolio, from the current competitive landscape of the smartphone industry, Apple and Google firmly occupy the absolute advantage of the smartphone ecosystem. Among them, Google Android occupies about 80% of the market share, that is, except for Apple, almost all mobile phone manufacturers are using the Android system. It is precisely based on this that it is difficult to achieve differentiation in competition between manufacturers, and the final competition is still price. This is why there are few manufacturers in the Android camp that are profitable, and most manufacturers survive with small profits or losses. For example, last year, the overall profit of Android camp mobile phones was nearly 50% lower than expected. The rapid fall of Samsung, the only profitable company in the Android camp, also indirectly confirms that it is quite difficult to gain a long-term foothold and profit in the Android camp (because it is difficult to differentiate). As the only remaining manufacturer with an independent and complete ecosystem, BlackBerry is undoubtedly an option for mobile phone manufacturers who hope to adopt Android while gaining more competitive advantages that are differentiated from their opponents.

Speaking of the remaining smartphone ecosystem, Microsoft Windows Phone claims to be the third largest ecosystem in the smartphone industry, but judging from its market share of about 3%, there is actually no substantial gap between it and the BlackBerry ecosystem (BlackBerry's market share is said to be around 1%), which means that if BlackBerry focuses on market promotion and marketing, it is possible to return to the third largest ecosystem in the smartphone industry. It should be noted that the latest statistics show that Microsoft Windows Phone declined in most markets such as the United States and Europe last quarter, which seems to indirectly indicate BlackBerry's potential opportunities in the future. That is, if the mobile phone manufacturers that acquire BlackBerry operate properly, there is a chance to turn things around. Of course, the turnaround we are referring to here does not mean that BlackBerry will return to its former glory and market performance, but that it will exist as a profitable niche market.

In addition to forming a differentiated competitive advantage in the homogenized smartphone ecosystem, BlackBerry has spent about 10 years to build and establish its advantage in mobile phone security, which has not been shaken so far. For example, not long ago, Sony Pictures, which produced the film "The Interview", was attacked by hackers, causing a large-scale serious paralysis of its own network. Although more than 3/4 of its own servers were down, a large number of old BlackBerry phones were still able to maintain normal email communications within the company after switching to BlackBerry's external servers. This incident is undoubtedly the best proof of BlackBerry's security. With the popularization of smartphones and the continuous expansion of their applications in the enterprise market in the future, mobile phone security will be a problem that the market and users, especially enterprise market users, have to face. Not only Samsung, but any powerful mobile phone manufacturer will invisibly enhance the competitiveness of the acquired company in the smartphone market after acquiring BlackBerry due to the difference in security. It is just a matter of how much competitiveness will be enhanced.

Finally, another value of BlackBerry that cannot be ignored is that in the future, the Internet of Vehicles (Internet cars) will be a new industry growth point after the smartphone industry. This is also the main reason why Apple and Google have successively released Carplay and Android Auto platforms. In this market, BlackBerry's QNX has taken the lead and occupied nearly 50% of the market share, with 50 partners including Acura, Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Mercedes, Land Rover, Porsche, Toyota and Volkswagen. There are even previous analyses that Apple's CarPlay in-car entertainment system must rely on BlackBerry's QNX platform to run well. We don't know if this analysis is exaggerated, but at least it shows the status and technical foundation of BlackBerry's QNX in the automotive platform. Therefore, for mobile phones or related manufacturers based on the next industry opportunity in the future, BlackBerry's commercial value in the Internet of Vehicles cannot be ignored.

In fact, BlackBerry’s current situation is not only due to its failure to adapt to the general trend and lack of innovation, as is often said in the industry, but also due to its own poor operations, especially its marketing.

For example, the recent exposure of BlackBerry's tweets encouraging users to interact with BlackBerry through Twitter actually came from an iPhone, and in 2013 BlackBerry's creative director, the famous singer Alicia Keys, used an iPhone to post on Twitter, and other series of blunders. Another is that it uses Amazon's Android application compatibility in its own ecosystem, which not only sacrifices the security of its own system and applications, but also fails to provide users with a true Android application experience. This practice of stealing chickens and losing rice has weakened BlackBerry's value, competitiveness and reputation to some extent. If it were another manufacturer, the above things would probably not happen.

To sum up, we believe that the reason why the rumors about BlackBerry's sale continue is undoubtedly because BlackBerry still has certain value in the industry. To fully tap and extend this value, the key still lies in how the acquirer operates, especially avoiding the low-level mistakes made by BlackBerry itself in its operations. BlackBerry can still find its own space for survival and development in the niche market.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.