It is that time of year again. While everyone is out celebrating the holidays, having fun, and giving each other gifts, companies have had to stop and calculate how they are doing. This can be really good news or really bad news since you have either succeeded your company goals or are lagging behind. If you are smart, you’ll wait to look at all the numbers until after the year is over, so you can enjoy the holidays. Unfortunately, BlackBerry still hadn’t announced third quarter numbers and had to make that announcement. And it isn’t just bad news; it is really bad news.

Losses at BlackBerry

Poor BlackBerry had to announce quarterly losses, according to Reuters. Though it also announced positive news to move forward with plans to develop new product with Foxconn Technology Co Ltd, the bad news seemed to overwhelm the good. BlackBerry recognizes that its biggest problem is the lack of smartphone sales, but it hasn’t stopped trying to improve. BlackBerry reported a net loss of $4.4 billion in the third quarter while revenue dropped by $1.54 billion. Wall Street predicted a $1.6 billion loss, so maybe it wasn’t all that bad?

To be expected

How many people have you seen with a BlackBerry in the last couple of weeks? Maybe one or two? Hardly any young people even know what a BlackBerry is. Which is why it comes as no surprise that BlackBerry is showing huge losses and cannot seem to sell enough smartphones. Despite the fact that BlackBerry was the first to bring email to phones and really create a secure and safe smartphone, it has lagged behind. The lesson to be learned is that you can’t stay ahead unless you are constantly innovating and marketing to customers. You have to keep working if you are going to stay at the top, a lesson Apple may have to learn the hard way here soon.

What about Apple?

Though it hasn’t hit too hard yet, Apple has seen more and more customers switching to Android or Windows Phones. After BlackBerry, there was the iPhone. You can only stay on top as long as it takes other companies to copy your technology and offer the exact same thing. Companies that really want to keep the leading position in the smartphone industry need to constantly change and improve to, hopefully, bring about a brand new technology everyone loves. Hopefully, Apple doesn’t fall too hard and can find some new things to introduce to customers soon.

Will BlackBerry ever make it back?

The question now is whether or not BlackBerry is completely out of the game. There are still some large companies that will only use BlackBerry for their secure smartphone network, but there are many companies that have made the switch to iPhone or other secured phones. Maybe BlackBerry can come up with something new and get ahead, but it probably won’t be happening anytime soon. With all smartphone manufacturers at full-speed trying to develop new ideas, it might be hard to catch up and get ahead.

Source: Reuters