Chart Of The Week
In this Chart Of The Week we looked at the change in popularity of Microsoft and BlackBerry devices in the UK in 2013 and 2014. For quite some time UK was considered to be BlackBerry's stronghold in Europe but with all the trouble that company has endured over the past few years this situation is bound to change.
Market Share of Microsoft and BlackBerry Devices in UK 2013-2014
The above graph represents market share of BlackBerry, Microsoft and RIM relative to each other. As you can see: over the past year the total share of BlackBerry's devices (RIM + BlackBerry) has decreased by almost a third. If this trend continues Microsoft is very likely to overtake BlackBerry by the end of this year. The Guardian has recently published an article suggesting that user base of Microsoft is expected to exceed the user base of BlackBerry this year.
On the 31st of July BlackBerry has announced that BBM is now available on Windows phones. The news is consistent with BlackBerry's strategy of drifting away from mobile phones market towards the software and services market. This strategy appears to be modestly successful so far as BlackBerry's financial situation shows signs of stabilisation.
Partnership with large mobile manufacturers and brand owners could potentially reverse the situation for BlackBerry. Some mobile device vendors in Asia have adopted a revenue from services approach where fairly good hardware sold cheaply (compared to competitors) but money made from selling services and applications. BlackBerry may also try to get a slice of that pie with the launch of new budget smartphone Z3.