BlackBerry had, under the leadership of former CEO Thorsten Heins, had tried to recapture the consumer market with the higher-end Z10 and Q10 last year, but had unfortunately fallen flat with both devices. But the company, with John Chen as new Chief Executive, is seemingly shifting its focus to the enterprise market, and its new BlackBerry Passport, according to Wall Street’s number crunchers, will be made with that market in mind.
In a recent research note, Citigroup analyst Ehud Gelblum said that BlackBerry is aiming at the business market due to the increased prevalence of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) initiatives at workplaces. “We therefore believe the success of the device business is once again in the hands of BlackBerry’s consumer fans, counter to CEO Chen’s enterprise first strategy,” said Gelblum. He believes the number of phones provided by employers has gone down from 3 million per quarter four years ago to about 1 to 1.5 million as of the present.
“BlackBerry’s CEO’s attempts to convince enterprise CEOs and CIOs to give BlackBerry a second chance is bearing some positive results,” read a separate analyst note from RBC Capital Markets’ Mark Sue, as he reaffirmed his confidence in Chen’s leadership as BlackBerry CEO. “The improvements in the balance sheet and restructuring in the business is providing the challenged company much needed time to turn things around.”
The BlackBerry Passport, which is set to launch globally tomorrow and get released in select markets within the month, comes with a 4.5-inch square display and a redesigned keyboard that is ostensibly a classic QWERTY keyboard, but with a few twists. Such a display is believed to be more conducive to professional users, as it allows for a better view of spreadsheets, while software features like BlackBerry Assistant are said to allow users to attend to work matters while on the go.