It seems that the recently appointed CEO of BlackBerry, John Chen, does not want to waste any time and has already spoken regarding his plans of reorganizing the company.
The Canadian smartphone maker has lost a major chunk of its handset business to rivals like Apple, Samsung, Nokia, HTC and more, over the years. BlackBerry has been trying hard to get back on track and also launched new all-touch smartphones such as the BlackBerry Z10, as well as the QWERTY-style BlackBerry Q10 in 2013, to lure customers. Unfortunately, all its efforts went in vain as the new handsets failed to attract smartphone enthusiasts.
It was long-rumored that BlackBerry will sell its smartphone business; however, the Canadian smartphone maker has now announced that it is not up for sale anymore as it has acquired $1 billion in funding from various investors, led by Fairfax Financial Holdings, and the funds will be used to make organizational changes.
It's just been over a week since Chen has been named executive chairman and interim CEO of the company. Chen's plans are very similar to that of previous BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins, who stepped down after trying to revive the company for about two years.
"We are committed to reclaiming our success" Chen said in an open letter. "We have begun moving the company to embrace a multi-platform, BYOD world by adopting a new mobility management platform and a new device strategy. We are also leveraging our tremendous assets, including BBM, our network and QNX. While we are proud of these accomplishments, we know there is more work to be done."
"I know there has been a lot said about BlackBerry, but let me remind you that at BlackBerry, we are not dwelling on the past. We are looking towards the future," Chen said.
"I know that it's going to take time, discipline and tough decisions to reclaim BlackBerry's success and we are ready for that challenge.
"We remain committed to delivering high quality products and services to the millions of people who rely on us globally. We also want our customers to know that BlackBerry has significant financial strength for the long-haul.
"I believe in the value of this brand. With the right team and right strategy in place, I am confident that we will rebuild BlackBerry for the benefit of all of our constituencies," Chen said.
The company's messaging service BlackBerry Messenger, commonly known as BBM, has already gone cross-platform and many old BlackBerry users will be happy to use the service on their iOS and Android devices.
The smartphone market has become extremely competitive in the last decade and BlackBerry still faces high competition from its rivals. It will be interesting to see what organizational changes Chen implements to bring the company on track again and win back its market share from competitors.
