John Chen, the CEO of BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) first revealed last June the company’s Passport phone at the annual company meeting. The Passport is officially scheduled for unveiling at a launch event in London sometime in September later this year.
Chen is already optimistic about the product’s performance, and claims that it will regain the original BlackBerry users that switched over to Apple’s iOS system. From here on out, however, the original optimism that Chen expressed may be wishful thinking. The BlackBerry Passport is no huge threat to Apple’s iPhone.
Correlation of Sales Between BlackBerry and Apple
Blackberry’s stock experienced an all time high on June 18th, 2008 when it reached $147.50, which translated into a market capitalization of nearly $85 billion. At this peak, BlackBerry was in control of about half of the smartphone market. By the end of the trading session on August 1st, 2014, the company’s shares had plummeted to $9.30. However, it is important to keep in mind that the $9.30 figure actually shows a sharp recovery from the $5.44 fifty-two week low since December 10th, 2013.
Blackberry’s executive board’s bad decisions destroyed the $80 billion valuation within just five years. The success of the iOS ecosystem also cut into BlackBerry’s bottom line profits. If you look at BlackBerry’s three year stock chart versus that of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL)’s, it is clear that there is a negative correlation between the two tech companies.
In comparison, Apple shares traded at $24.41 on June 18th, 2008. By Augst 1st, 2014, Apple shares clocked in at $96.13 a share, and held a market capitalization of $575.6 billion as well as the title of the largest publicly traded company in the world. The company is now the authority on computing, telecommunications, and entertainment. According to a report from comScore, Apple holds about 41.9% of the smartphone market in the United States.
Blackberry controls only 2.3% of the domestic market.
The Market for Phablets
Many publications identified Samsung (KRX: )’s Galaxy Note 3 as the top phablet available on the market. The Galaxy Note 3 boasts specs such as its 5.7 inch screen, compared to the 4 inch screen on Apple’s iPhone 5 and the 7.9 inch display on the iPad mini.
In a report, a representative from Apple identified Samsung and the trend of consumer preference for phablets as a threat to the company’s iPad.
Year over year, iPad sales declined by 9%, from the 14.6 million units in the third quarter of 2013 to 13.3 million units in the third quarter of 2014.
Apple plans to launch the iPhone 6 just in time of the holiday season of 2014. The iPhone 6 will be launch in two different wings – a 4.7 inch model and a 5.5 inch one. Multiple publications on the net have speculated about he sapphire crystal display instead of the traditional glass screens. Addtionally, graphics will be displayed in 1704 x 960 pixel resolution. The phone will also use a A8 chip that can reach speeds of 2.0 GHz.
In addition to these technical features, Apple also has its staggering brand power to successfully launch the iPhone 6.
Larry Dignan from ZD Net has already dismissed BlackBerry’s Passport as “an odd creature”. Chen’s past showcases of the Passport show a box-like device rather than the typical vertical design. The Passport phablet also contains a QWERTY keyboard that is independent from the device, which is, to some extent, a trademark of the BlackBerry brand. Dignan stated that the Passport may appeal to loyal Blackberry users and customers in enterprises that require a device to help them analyze spreadsheet reports and writing emails.
The Passport is most likely to fail in the development of a specific niche market.
Conclusion
For its first quarter in 2014, BlackBerry reported a revenue of $966 million and profits of $23 million. This is a significant increase from the fourth quarter of 2013, when the company netted a $$23 million loss after pulling in $976 million in total sales.
The impending release of the Passport is expected to add an additional $500 million in sales, administrative costs, and marketing over the next year. However, the release of the device will probably not change the total net sales much. For 2015, BlackBerry is estimated to sell 1 million units at an average price point of $750, pulling in, at best, $750 million in marginal revenue. Thus, the impact of the Passport phone is nearly nonexistent, and cannot compete effectively against the Apple iPhone.
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