BlackBerry was once the phone of choice for Wall Street traders, politicians and celebrities, thanks in part to its well-regarded security system. President Obama was spotted with a BlackBerry. So was Kim Kardashian West. But the company was too late to the touchscreen game, and customers left in droves for Apple's(AAPL, Tech30) iPhone, Samsung's (SSNLF) Galaxy and other devices running on Google's(GOOGL, Tech30) Android system. Even Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) has moved ahead of BlackBerry with its Windows Phones.
Read some key facts to decline in Blackberry users :-
1. Blackberry was only a communication system
The popularity of BlackBerry Messenger and its high-tech email system made its phones a smash hit among young users and professionals alike, but Apple's iPhone and Google's Android software, with millions of apps and full touchscreens, rendered them obsolete.
Blackberry saw mobile phones as just communication devices when ios and android turned mobile phones into entertainment hubs. It didn't produce touch screen mobiles until its too late. It has very less number of apps when compared to ios/android. Finally, lack of progressing in software and wrong marketing strategy brought down blackberry's popularity.
The company, which is famed for its "Qwerty" keyboard mobile phones that were the choice handset for professionals, has been struggling to keep up with market leaders Apple and Samsung as the world has moved to touchscreens.
2. Support of popular application was stopped for Blackberry.
BlackBerry suffered the embarrassment of having the world's most popular messaging app – WhatsApp – drop support for its BlackBerry OS earlier this year. Facebook and its Messenger app soon followed suit and stopped working on BlackBerry OS, including the most recent – BB10, by the end of the year.
3. App support was low.
No developer wants to develop for BlackBerry.
It used to be a badge of honor to be able to carry BlackBerrys and now it’s almost a shame,” he
said. “People look at it like it’s a dinosaur, a museum piece.”
4. Some technical issues that distract the users to quit the Blackberry
On social media sites, some BlackBerry users said they were so upset about the outage -- the largest in the company's history -- that they were switching to Apple iOS and Google Android devices. And customer satisfaction with BlackBerry already was low.
This is not to say that Androids and iPhones never experience network outages. But they wouldn't be global. And they would be the responsibility of a particular wireless carrier -- AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile -- or a particular messaging system, like Gmail, Hotmail or iMessage, Apple's new in-house messaging service. Not the maker of the phone.
"All the stuff goes through them for some form or fashion," Nan Palmero, a writer for the site BlackBerryCool.com, said of the way BlackBerry handles messages and e-mail. That makes it possible, he said, for the global BlackBerry network to crash, which wouldn't be the case for iPhones or Androids.
There's no such thing as a good time for RIM to leave half its customers without messaging or internet. But the problem's been getting worse, not better—on the day that Apple makes its strongest case for total dominance.
RIM's biggest advantage was its push email and BlackBerry Messenger service. Now just about every smartphone platform has push email (in some form) and Apple's new iMessage is gunning for BBM. BlackBerry OS 7 is already behind, and it's not even out yet. Just look at the voice control and navigation built into Android.
See also some strories about Blackberry in figures to quit.
As a result, the loss-making business said it is going to focus on creating software for mobile phones, rather than the devices themselves. Instead, it will outsource the brand to other manufacturers.
What Blackberry report says about quitting the smartphone manufacturing.
CEO John Chen announced the new strategy as part of the Canadian company's Fiscal Q2
2017 report. As Chen explained in the report:
"Under this strategy, we are focusing on software development, including security and applications. The company plans to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to partners. This allows us to reduce capital requirements and enhance
return on invested capital."
It has no stated plans for another BB10 phone and is accelerating a pivot to handsets running Google’s Android.
References:-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/09/28/blackberry-to-stop-making-phones/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2016/09/28/blackberry-exits-smartphone-manufacturing/#7aa541c769b7
http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/28/technology/blackberry-outsource-phones/index.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/13/tech/mobile/blackberry-servers-android-iphone/index.html
