BlackBerry’s Q4 Results – What’s Ahead?

By: Zain Nabi  |   March 27th, 2013   |   Business, O Canada, Smartphones

We have reached a point where we will finally be able to judge BlackBerry’s performance based on some stats. The Canadian company is reportedly going to announce results of its Q4 of the fiscal year 2013 tomorrow, much to the excitement of analysts all over the world. The company, however, will not include the U.S. sales figures in the result as its new Z10 device has just been released in the country.

 

A look back

 

We will take a glimpse at what challenges BlackBerry faced when the new device was launched earlier this year. BlackBerry had been marking its entry in the market after a long time – a duration during which the company witnessed management shuffles and gave more than one date for the launch of the new device. BlackBerry’s prime aim was to increase market penetration and serve the existing customers to keep the user base intact. It could not think of completely dominating the market as Apple and Samsung had gone quite ahead in the race.

 

The response

 

BlackBerry did receive good initial response from some markets and some of the strategies the company adopted, including changing its name to BlackBerry from Research in Motion, seemingly paid off. The new device performed well in the European and Canadian markets and went on to register strong shows in other countries as well. However, it was never able to get a totally overwhelming response from any market. Moreover, its release in the U.S. market recently did not go as per expectations as the new smartphone received a lukewarm response.

 

Challenges

 

BlackBerry still faces a number of challenges as it confidently prepares to release the results for the quarter. Initially it was assumed that BlackBerry would be ranked after Samsung and Apple, but it has received tough competition from other smartphone makers including Nokia. The unexpected arrival of more competitors and some moves from the industry giants in order to cater large markets have give BlackBerry tough time. Even Apple is now reportedly going to launch a cheaper version of iPhone so as to reach out to a broader audience. In such a case BlackBerry faces a challenge to maintain its existing customer base, let alone attract new users.

 

Conclusion

 

We do not expect BlackBerry coming out with mind-boggling figures in the results, but the results would not be devastating either. It will be something that will attempt to keep the investors motivated, and if BlackBerry is able to give a convincing answer to how it is going to face the challenges discussed above, it will be a job well done.