BlackBerry has had more than its share of bad news for the past several years. We all know the story about how the company crumbled in the wake of iOS and Android, but not everyone is bailing. One company just put in a big order with BlackBerry and the reason is a bit surprising.
Europe's second largest car manufacturer, PSA Peugeot Citroen, has ordered 10,000 BlackBerry Z10 devices for its employees in France and Spain, and is upgrading to BES 10. Why would they stick with BlackBerry over iOS? Cost. They already have BlackBerrys and moving away would be costly.
But cost is not the only reason. Apparently, BlackBerry's 18 month roadmap is a key factor.
It's a gamble for any company to place a large order with BlackBerry at this point. BlackBerry's future is so uncertain, it's hard to understand why a company would gamble with BlackBerry at this point. Obviously, that view is not shared by PSA Peugeot Citroen and I hope it works out for them. We need BlackBerry to make a comeback!
Europe's second largest car manufacturer, PSA Peugeot Citroen, has ordered 10,000 BlackBerry Z10 devices for its employees in France and Spain, and is upgrading to BES 10. Why would they stick with BlackBerry over iOS? Cost. They already have BlackBerrys and moving away would be costly.
"We have no diversity, no iOS and no Android, and we do not want to go into this technology because it's costly," said Eric Marchand, head of telecom at PSA Peugeot Citroen told ZDNet.
But cost is not the only reason. Apparently, BlackBerry's 18 month roadmap is a key factor.
"For iOS you have no roadmap. That's not the case with BlackBerry. We have an 18 month perspective with them and they are pretty reliable with their roadmap," he said.
"We have to schedule a two year project and that's not possible with Android or iOS because there's no real roadmap in terms of mobile."
"We have to schedule a two year project and that's not possible with Android or iOS because there's no real roadmap in terms of mobile."
It's a gamble for any company to place a large order with BlackBerry at this point. BlackBerry's future is so uncertain, it's hard to understand why a company would gamble with BlackBerry at this point. Obviously, that view is not shared by PSA Peugeot Citroen and I hope it works out for them. We need BlackBerry to make a comeback!