What is going on at BlackBerry?
BlackBerry has sidestepped questions on whether it will discontinue the manufacture and shipment of its Playbook tablet amid a poor uptake.
However, the group has recently taken a decision not to move BlackBerry 10 software to the Playbook device.
On Tuesday (9 July) the Canadian based firm hinted at a licensing deal, or even an outright sale of the company, following disappointing results and a worrying outlook for its new range of smartphones.
It was reported that the group shipped only just 2.7 million new BlackBerry 10 devices in its fiscal first quarter, ending at the beginning June, and making up only 40% of it’s smartphone shipments in the period
Reuters noted that company’s stock had dropped more than 30% after it posted disappointing second-quarter results in late June and forecast an operating loss in the current quarter.
By close of play on Nasdaq on Wednesday (10 July, 16h00 Eastern Time) BlackBerry’s shares were trading off 3.72% to US$9.28. This is almost half (49.3%) the value of the company’s 52 week high of US$18.32 it hit on 24 January 2013.
When BusinessTech queried BlackBerry about whether it would or has stopped shipping its tablet to countries like South Africa, the group responded accordingly:
“We made the decision not to move BlackBerry 10 software to the PlayBook device. Our teams have spent a great deal of time and energy to implement solutions that could move the BlackBerry 10 experience to PlayBook.
“Unfortunately we are not satisfied with the level of performance and user experience achieved, and as a result, we made the difficult decision to stop these efforts and focus on our core hardware portfolio. However, we will continue to support PlayBook on the existing software platforms and configurations.”
BlackBerry Playbook
BlackBerry 10
In May, BlackBerry told BusinessTech that the Z10 was one of the top five selling smartphones in South Africa.
“We have seen strong initial demand and interest from South African consumers in the BlackBerry Z10,” it said.
The group said it had 50 enterprise customers fully up and running with BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 in South Africa.
“And based on current proof of concepts (POC’s) and trials in process we will have more than 150 customers on BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 by mid-year,” BlackBerry said.
These include Alexander Forbes, Bowman Gilfillan, Dimension Data, Edcon, Netcare, Tiger Brands, First National Bank, Investec, Absa, Bowman Gilfillan, AEL, PWC, Aveng Grinaker, Edcon, Omnia.
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