Innovation and Technology: Apple's Success, BlackBerry's Failure
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This report provides a comparative analysis of Apple Inc. and BlackBerry Limited, focusing on their innovation, technology adoption, and business strategies within the smartphone market. The report examines the factors contributing to Apple's success, such as its shift from iPods to mobile phones, focus on user-friendly design, the introduction of the App Store, and its ability to adapt to changing consumer preferences. In contrast, it explores the reasons behind BlackBerry's decline, including its failure to adapt to touch screen technology, slow response to market changes, and reluctance to embrace new operating systems and designs. The report highlights key aspects such as the impact of the iPhone, BlackBerry's shortcomings in features and operating systems, and its inability to leverage its BBM messaging platform. The analysis draws upon various journal articles to support its claims and concludes with a discussion on the importance of adaptability in the technology sector and the lessons learned from BlackBerry's failure as a case study in the risks associated with technology and innovation.
Running head: Innovation and New Technology
Innovation And New Technology
Innovation And New Technology
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Innovation and New Technology 1
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company which designs and sells consumer
electronics, computer software and online services. It is headquartered in Cupertino, California.
The hardware products manufactured by the company include iPhone smartphones, iPad tablet
computers etc. It is the world’s largest information technology company and was founded by
Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in April, 1976 (Rawlinson, 2017).
Black Berry Limited is a Canadian company which designs and markets smartphones tablets and
services. Founded in 1984, it was considered as one of the most dominant smart phone suppliers
in the world till it lost its dominant position due to its success of Android and iOS systems
(Blackberry , 2017).
In this literature search, opinions stated in various journal articles regarding the reasons why
incumbents i.e. Blackberry are beaten by the challengers i.e. Apple Inc. in the business would
be stated.
According to Nish and Silcoff (2015) in 2007, Apple Inc. transformed the competition landscape
by creating a transition in the scenario of smartphones from something which was functional to a
product which was beautiful. More than 1 million iPhones were sold in the first three months in
the summer of 2007.
When the first iPhone was released, Black Berry decided to beat the competition by
manufacturing a touchscreen “iPhone killer”, which turned to be a complete flop. Blackberry
was great in creating phones and dominated the market before Apple Inc launched its first
iPhone. It was successful in creating a permanent shift of the customers who used other phones
towards it.
BlackBerry dominated the market by creating devices for e-mails and phone calls but with the
launching of App store by Apple Inc., it changed the definition of smartphone entirely. It is the
top leader with the market share of 45 % while Black Berry has now fallen to 32 % of the
market.
With the introduction of iPhone, Black Berry has lost its charm in the cell phone market. To
make it worst, its management has been in denial ever since. It’s shrinking sales, lowered brand
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company which designs and sells consumer
electronics, computer software and online services. It is headquartered in Cupertino, California.
The hardware products manufactured by the company include iPhone smartphones, iPad tablet
computers etc. It is the world’s largest information technology company and was founded by
Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in April, 1976 (Rawlinson, 2017).
Black Berry Limited is a Canadian company which designs and markets smartphones tablets and
services. Founded in 1984, it was considered as one of the most dominant smart phone suppliers
in the world till it lost its dominant position due to its success of Android and iOS systems
(Blackberry , 2017).
In this literature search, opinions stated in various journal articles regarding the reasons why
incumbents i.e. Blackberry are beaten by the challengers i.e. Apple Inc. in the business would
be stated.
According to Nish and Silcoff (2015) in 2007, Apple Inc. transformed the competition landscape
by creating a transition in the scenario of smartphones from something which was functional to a
product which was beautiful. More than 1 million iPhones were sold in the first three months in
the summer of 2007.
When the first iPhone was released, Black Berry decided to beat the competition by
manufacturing a touchscreen “iPhone killer”, which turned to be a complete flop. Blackberry
was great in creating phones and dominated the market before Apple Inc launched its first
iPhone. It was successful in creating a permanent shift of the customers who used other phones
towards it.
BlackBerry dominated the market by creating devices for e-mails and phone calls but with the
launching of App store by Apple Inc., it changed the definition of smartphone entirely. It is the
top leader with the market share of 45 % while Black Berry has now fallen to 32 % of the
market.
With the introduction of iPhone, Black Berry has lost its charm in the cell phone market. To
make it worst, its management has been in denial ever since. It’s shrinking sales, lowered brand
Innovation and New Technology 2
power and incompetency has sent it downward with the expulsion of co- CEOs Mike Lazaridis
and Jim Basille.
According to the opinion of Arthur (2013) Black Berry had the chances to survive and grow but
it took the wrong direction. It did not adapt itself to the changing demands of the customers.
Apple’s strategy was to shift its business focus from just designing iPods to mobile phones to
store music, surf the net and make calls too. As for the case of Black Berry, the problem was not
that it had lack of ideas, rather it made the wrong choices and failed to adapt itself with the
changing market conditions.
As per the opinion of Winter (2014) when Steve Jobs introduced iPhone in 2007, it was a small
and pocket able computer of its time. It was not only for calculating and processing data like a
business phone but also had the features of running apps along with making calls and playing
music. Apple Inc’s strategy was to outperform by creating “desktop –class architecture” in its
phones.
Black Berry was not able to cope up with the competition since it only excelled at making
phones having the features of making phone calls and processing data. iPhones not only allowed
the users to make calls but also allowed them to play games, videos and handle those tasks which
required a laptop earlier.
Black Berry failed to grasp this and continued to manufacture the same phones which it was
manufacturing earlier. Black Berry lacked in its features and it was slow in updating its
Operating System. Unless Black Berry overhauled its phones, it did not find any decent buyers in
the market. The reason behind its failure was to comprehend the true nature of the device called
smart phones (Sag and Waller, 2015).
According to Divya and Kumar (2016) Black Berry was slow in reacting to market changes.
Earlier, people were comfortable using Qwerty keyboards which were easier to handle e-mails
and instant messages. Eventually, with the emergence of Apple iPhone, they became comfortable
with touch screen devices and their large screens which helped them to surf the net and the apps
in a better way.
power and incompetency has sent it downward with the expulsion of co- CEOs Mike Lazaridis
and Jim Basille.
According to the opinion of Arthur (2013) Black Berry had the chances to survive and grow but
it took the wrong direction. It did not adapt itself to the changing demands of the customers.
Apple’s strategy was to shift its business focus from just designing iPods to mobile phones to
store music, surf the net and make calls too. As for the case of Black Berry, the problem was not
that it had lack of ideas, rather it made the wrong choices and failed to adapt itself with the
changing market conditions.
As per the opinion of Winter (2014) when Steve Jobs introduced iPhone in 2007, it was a small
and pocket able computer of its time. It was not only for calculating and processing data like a
business phone but also had the features of running apps along with making calls and playing
music. Apple Inc’s strategy was to outperform by creating “desktop –class architecture” in its
phones.
Black Berry was not able to cope up with the competition since it only excelled at making
phones having the features of making phone calls and processing data. iPhones not only allowed
the users to make calls but also allowed them to play games, videos and handle those tasks which
required a laptop earlier.
Black Berry failed to grasp this and continued to manufacture the same phones which it was
manufacturing earlier. Black Berry lacked in its features and it was slow in updating its
Operating System. Unless Black Berry overhauled its phones, it did not find any decent buyers in
the market. The reason behind its failure was to comprehend the true nature of the device called
smart phones (Sag and Waller, 2015).
According to Divya and Kumar (2016) Black Berry was slow in reacting to market changes.
Earlier, people were comfortable using Qwerty keyboards which were easier to handle e-mails
and instant messages. Eventually, with the emergence of Apple iPhone, they became comfortable
with touch screen devices and their large screens which helped them to surf the net and the apps
in a better way.
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Innovation and New Technology 3
Black Berry failed to notice this transition .The company was stuck to the idea of manufacturing
phones with plastic keys with little scroll balls. They failed to notice that their phones with
plastic keys were no longer desirable among the users. They now preferred sleek elegant devices
with touch screens.
However, the company tried to manufacture Black Berry 10 which was a touch screen device
with a modern look and feel, but it was too late. Moreover, Apple had come up with iOS at that
time and it grabbed the market in such a way that those users who even wanted to use Black
Berry were left without the core services they needed.
If BlackBerry would have designed beautiful and elegant devices at the right time, it would have
regrown back, but unfortunately it did not. Furthermore, it also depicted disturbing regularities in
its gadgets. For example, it launched its playbook tablet without an email client on board. It was
the major reason behind shifting its market to Apple iPhones. It believed that its users would
wait for its superior product or tolerate its limitations because of its brand value , but they did
not. Apple’s approach towards its manufacturing and marketing strategies made it more popular
amongst the users and they shifted from Black Berry phones to iPhones.
Thus, Black Berry which was known for its assets and advantages , portrayed its reluctance to
accept the changes and therefore failed to capture the market. Another mistake which Black
Berry committed was it kept BBM locked to its own hardware.
Also, Black Berry manufactured phones which had bad designs with strange names which
affected its popularity amongst its users. Apple recognized the need to design sleek and elegant
devices with their easy to hold rectangular shapes, but Black Berry refused to follow the trend.
Black Berry manufactured devices which were square in shape with plastic keys and scroll balls.
These devices looked absurd and did not even fit into the pockets of the users. Then why would
they buy these phones? Afterwards, when the company designed the right model they called it
Priv which sounded absurd , hence it did not appeal to the users in the market.
Another reason for Black Berry’s failure was that its devices were never fashionable and trendy
enough to catch the attention of the targeted users specially the young section of the society
while Apple was successful in catching their attention and grabbing the market.
Black Berry failed to notice this transition .The company was stuck to the idea of manufacturing
phones with plastic keys with little scroll balls. They failed to notice that their phones with
plastic keys were no longer desirable among the users. They now preferred sleek elegant devices
with touch screens.
However, the company tried to manufacture Black Berry 10 which was a touch screen device
with a modern look and feel, but it was too late. Moreover, Apple had come up with iOS at that
time and it grabbed the market in such a way that those users who even wanted to use Black
Berry were left without the core services they needed.
If BlackBerry would have designed beautiful and elegant devices at the right time, it would have
regrown back, but unfortunately it did not. Furthermore, it also depicted disturbing regularities in
its gadgets. For example, it launched its playbook tablet without an email client on board. It was
the major reason behind shifting its market to Apple iPhones. It believed that its users would
wait for its superior product or tolerate its limitations because of its brand value , but they did
not. Apple’s approach towards its manufacturing and marketing strategies made it more popular
amongst the users and they shifted from Black Berry phones to iPhones.
Thus, Black Berry which was known for its assets and advantages , portrayed its reluctance to
accept the changes and therefore failed to capture the market. Another mistake which Black
Berry committed was it kept BBM locked to its own hardware.
Also, Black Berry manufactured phones which had bad designs with strange names which
affected its popularity amongst its users. Apple recognized the need to design sleek and elegant
devices with their easy to hold rectangular shapes, but Black Berry refused to follow the trend.
Black Berry manufactured devices which were square in shape with plastic keys and scroll balls.
These devices looked absurd and did not even fit into the pockets of the users. Then why would
they buy these phones? Afterwards, when the company designed the right model they called it
Priv which sounded absurd , hence it did not appeal to the users in the market.
Another reason for Black Berry’s failure was that its devices were never fashionable and trendy
enough to catch the attention of the targeted users specially the young section of the society
while Apple was successful in catching their attention and grabbing the market.
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Innovation and New Technology 4
Black Berry boasted of its highly secured Black Berry Enterprise Server Platform which
guaranteed that the content was secured and cannot be decoded or hacked. But with time the
governments started demanding access in nations such as India and Pakistan . Also, several
network problems were the cause of losing faith in the Black Berry devices (Sircar, 2017).
Also, the evolving of the corporate culture which encouraged its employees to bring their
personal phones was the reason behind the decline in the sale of devices meant for sole corporate
purpose such as Black Berry.
According to Go¨tz, Stieger and Reips (2017) Apple devices provided a complete package of
tools ranging from games to productivity tools. Additionally, they were good looking and had an
ease of use. On the other hand, Black Berry failed to introduce new operating system to match
the new offerings from its competitor Apple.
Black Berry’s focus was on enterprises and not on its consumers. It found success through
selling to IT departments of large corporations which gradually fainted with time. In the present
scenario, the companies are too reluctant to use Black Berry devices because of their outdated
operating systems and restricted service offerings.
Although the success of Black Berry came from sale of its devices from huge corporations, they
secured some place amongst the consumers. But they failed to develop it because of their devices
looked ugly as compared to iPhones. It was seen as a professional device for accessing e-mails;
hence it did not capture the attention of the youth and failed to survive.
The features of the smart phones launched by Apple ranged from games to productivity tools and
the users were able to transform their phones instantly (Johnson et al., 2012). On the other hand,
the users failed to do this with the help of Black Berry OS because of its limited availability of
apps.
Even after Black Berry launched its first smart phone 6 years later than the first iPhone, the
problem was that the QNX based Black Berry OS was not easy to use. It had the gesture based
operating system which was not user friendly and thus did not catch the attention of the target
users (Budd et al., 2015).
Black Berry boasted of its highly secured Black Berry Enterprise Server Platform which
guaranteed that the content was secured and cannot be decoded or hacked. But with time the
governments started demanding access in nations such as India and Pakistan . Also, several
network problems were the cause of losing faith in the Black Berry devices (Sircar, 2017).
Also, the evolving of the corporate culture which encouraged its employees to bring their
personal phones was the reason behind the decline in the sale of devices meant for sole corporate
purpose such as Black Berry.
According to Go¨tz, Stieger and Reips (2017) Apple devices provided a complete package of
tools ranging from games to productivity tools. Additionally, they were good looking and had an
ease of use. On the other hand, Black Berry failed to introduce new operating system to match
the new offerings from its competitor Apple.
Black Berry’s focus was on enterprises and not on its consumers. It found success through
selling to IT departments of large corporations which gradually fainted with time. In the present
scenario, the companies are too reluctant to use Black Berry devices because of their outdated
operating systems and restricted service offerings.
Although the success of Black Berry came from sale of its devices from huge corporations, they
secured some place amongst the consumers. But they failed to develop it because of their devices
looked ugly as compared to iPhones. It was seen as a professional device for accessing e-mails;
hence it did not capture the attention of the youth and failed to survive.
The features of the smart phones launched by Apple ranged from games to productivity tools and
the users were able to transform their phones instantly (Johnson et al., 2012). On the other hand,
the users failed to do this with the help of Black Berry OS because of its limited availability of
apps.
Even after Black Berry launched its first smart phone 6 years later than the first iPhone, the
problem was that the QNX based Black Berry OS was not easy to use. It had the gesture based
operating system which was not user friendly and thus did not catch the attention of the target
users (Budd et al., 2015).
Innovation and New Technology 5
Likewise, the BBOS 10 were inferior versions of Apple iOS which resulted in an incomplete app
which was substandard as compared to its counterpart Apple. Also, its features were not as
impressive as Apple. For example, the quality of the camera was not as good as that of iPhone.
Thus Black Berry lacked innovation which was needed to break the market of iPhones (Bala,
Sharma and Kaur, 2015).
Black Berry was an expensive and overpriced device as compared to Apple. It catered to a
particular set of users i.e. corporations while Apple catered to all types of users including
corporations. So, its cost proved to be much more than it’s utility. SO, it couldn’t compete with
its counterpart in this context (Căpătînă and Drăghescu, 2015).
Another reason of the failure of Black Berry was that it failed to leverage the fame of BBM.
With the emergence of WhatsApp which became a prime messaging platform for mobile users, it
lost its popularity (Youssef, 2013).
Thus, to conclude, Black Berry departed from the cell phone market due to its unwillingness to
adapt itself to the changing market conditions, Adapt or die is the lesson which the companies
must follow in the current scenario. Black Berry is an example of risk associated with technology
sector.
With the launch of Apple iPhones, the stock prices of Black Berry declined. However, it made
attempts to come back but it was too late to capture the market. Therefore, the failure of Black
Berry has become a case study about what happens when a tech giant fails to adapt itself to
changing needs of the technology market.
Likewise, the BBOS 10 were inferior versions of Apple iOS which resulted in an incomplete app
which was substandard as compared to its counterpart Apple. Also, its features were not as
impressive as Apple. For example, the quality of the camera was not as good as that of iPhone.
Thus Black Berry lacked innovation which was needed to break the market of iPhones (Bala,
Sharma and Kaur, 2015).
Black Berry was an expensive and overpriced device as compared to Apple. It catered to a
particular set of users i.e. corporations while Apple catered to all types of users including
corporations. So, its cost proved to be much more than it’s utility. SO, it couldn’t compete with
its counterpart in this context (Căpătînă and Drăghescu, 2015).
Another reason of the failure of Black Berry was that it failed to leverage the fame of BBM.
With the emergence of WhatsApp which became a prime messaging platform for mobile users, it
lost its popularity (Youssef, 2013).
Thus, to conclude, Black Berry departed from the cell phone market due to its unwillingness to
adapt itself to the changing market conditions, Adapt or die is the lesson which the companies
must follow in the current scenario. Black Berry is an example of risk associated with technology
sector.
With the launch of Apple iPhones, the stock prices of Black Berry declined. However, it made
attempts to come back but it was too late to capture the market. Therefore, the failure of Black
Berry has become a case study about what happens when a tech giant fails to adapt itself to
changing needs of the technology market.
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Innovation and New Technology 6
References
Arthur, C. (2013) Why BlackBerry failed . The Guardian [online]. Available from:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/05/why-blackberry-failed [Accessed 15th
March, 2018].
Bala, K., Sharma, S. and Kaur, G. (2015) A Study on Smartphone based Operating System.
International Journal of Computer Applications. 121(1), pp. 17-22.
Blackberry (2017) About BlackBerry [online]. Available from:
https://us.blackberry.com/company [Accessed 14th March, 2018].
Budd, N., Matulich, E., Breakwel, A., Liu , M.X., Schleper, C. and Murrian, R.M.(2015) The
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook Disaster: B2B or B2C? Journal of Business Cases and Applications.
13(2015), pp. 1-11.
Căpătînă, G. and Drăghescu, F. (2015) Success Factors of New Product Launch: The Case of
iPhone Launch. International Journal of Economics and Finance. 7(5), pp. 61-70.
Divya , K. and Kumar, S.V.K. (2016) Comparative Analysis of Smart Phone Operating Systems
Android, Apple IOS and Windows. International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Applied
Science. 2(2),pp. 432-438.
Go¨tz, F.M., Stieger, S. and Reips, U.D.(2017) Users of the main smartphone operating systems
(iOS, Android) differ only little in personality. PLOS One . 12(5), pp. 1-18.
Johnson, K., Li, Y., Phan, H., Singer, J. and Trinh, H.(2012)The Innovative Success that is
Apple, Inc. Theses, Dissertations and Capstones. [online] Available from:
http://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1420&context=etd [Accessed 15th March,
2018].
Nish, J.M. and Silcoff, S. (2015) The Inside Story of how the iPhone crippled BlackBerry. The
Wall Street Journal [online]. Available from: https://www.wsj.com/articles/behind-the-rise-and-
fall-of-blackberry-1432311912 [Accessed 14th March, 2018].
References
Arthur, C. (2013) Why BlackBerry failed . The Guardian [online]. Available from:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/05/why-blackberry-failed [Accessed 15th
March, 2018].
Bala, K., Sharma, S. and Kaur, G. (2015) A Study on Smartphone based Operating System.
International Journal of Computer Applications. 121(1), pp. 17-22.
Blackberry (2017) About BlackBerry [online]. Available from:
https://us.blackberry.com/company [Accessed 14th March, 2018].
Budd, N., Matulich, E., Breakwel, A., Liu , M.X., Schleper, C. and Murrian, R.M.(2015) The
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook Disaster: B2B or B2C? Journal of Business Cases and Applications.
13(2015), pp. 1-11.
Căpătînă, G. and Drăghescu, F. (2015) Success Factors of New Product Launch: The Case of
iPhone Launch. International Journal of Economics and Finance. 7(5), pp. 61-70.
Divya , K. and Kumar, S.V.K. (2016) Comparative Analysis of Smart Phone Operating Systems
Android, Apple IOS and Windows. International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Applied
Science. 2(2),pp. 432-438.
Go¨tz, F.M., Stieger, S. and Reips, U.D.(2017) Users of the main smartphone operating systems
(iOS, Android) differ only little in personality. PLOS One . 12(5), pp. 1-18.
Johnson, K., Li, Y., Phan, H., Singer, J. and Trinh, H.(2012)The Innovative Success that is
Apple, Inc. Theses, Dissertations and Capstones. [online] Available from:
http://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1420&context=etd [Accessed 15th March,
2018].
Nish, J.M. and Silcoff, S. (2015) The Inside Story of how the iPhone crippled BlackBerry. The
Wall Street Journal [online]. Available from: https://www.wsj.com/articles/behind-the-rise-and-
fall-of-blackberry-1432311912 [Accessed 14th March, 2018].
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Innovation and New Technology 7
Rawlinson, N. (2017) History of Apple: The story of Steve Jobs and the company he founded.
Macworld [online]. Available from: https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/apple/history-of-
apple-steve-jobs-mac-3606104/ [Accessed 14th March, 2018].
Sag, M. and Waller, S.W. (2015) Promoting Innovation. IOWA Law Review. 100(2015), pp.
2223-2246.
Sircar, S. (2017) The Crypto Wars: Interpreting The Privacy Versus National Security Debate
From A Standards Perspective [online] Available from:
https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/1043831/
Sircar_georgetown_0076M_13737.pdf?sequence=1 [Accessed 15th March, 2018].
Winter, J.M. (2014) Success Factors of Mobile Business Ecosystems From Hardware-Centric to
Content and Advertising Based Business Models[online] Available from:
https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/bitstream/handle/123456789/14467/lic_winter_juha_2014.pdf [Accessed
15th March, 2018].
Youssef, M.H.(2013) Strategic tensions within the smartphones industry: the case of BlackBerry.
Education, Economy and Community. 2013(3),pp. 125-141.
Rawlinson, N. (2017) History of Apple: The story of Steve Jobs and the company he founded.
Macworld [online]. Available from: https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/apple/history-of-
apple-steve-jobs-mac-3606104/ [Accessed 14th March, 2018].
Sag, M. and Waller, S.W. (2015) Promoting Innovation. IOWA Law Review. 100(2015), pp.
2223-2246.
Sircar, S. (2017) The Crypto Wars: Interpreting The Privacy Versus National Security Debate
From A Standards Perspective [online] Available from:
https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/1043831/
Sircar_georgetown_0076M_13737.pdf?sequence=1 [Accessed 15th March, 2018].
Winter, J.M. (2014) Success Factors of Mobile Business Ecosystems From Hardware-Centric to
Content and Advertising Based Business Models[online] Available from:
https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/bitstream/handle/123456789/14467/lic_winter_juha_2014.pdf [Accessed
15th March, 2018].
Youssef, M.H.(2013) Strategic tensions within the smartphones industry: the case of BlackBerry.
Education, Economy and Community. 2013(3),pp. 125-141.
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