BlackBerry was once the dominant player in the smartphone world, but they started coming apart at the seams in 2007 when Apple released the iPhone. Since then, every company has been chasing Apple, including BlackBerry. According to CEO John Chen, those days are over.
BlackBerry's fall has been well documented, but new CEO John Chen still believes he can turn things around. To day, he's been doing a pretty fantastic job of cutting costs and focusing the company on software services for enterprise. In a piece at CNBC, John Chen lays out his case about not chasing the iPhone:
We don't expect to sell a handset to everyone and don't expect to take down the consumers who love to play games on their iPhones. But we do want to provide an experience that caters to the mobile professional – anyone who relies on their device to do their jobs. As I like to say, most smartphones are better designed for helping users kill time than making the most of it.
Mr. Chen seems focused on the right things at this point, and he is starting to see traction. In the video above, he says he expects next year to be strong in terms of software and services. Is he right? Focusing in on what the company does best is always a better recipe than trying to duplicate a competitor's ideas.