A bold analyst points out that BlackBerry would be better off abandoning its own BlackBerry 10 (BB10) operating system and completely adopt Android instead.
BlackBerry was one at the top of the food chain and its smartphones seemed reserved for the elite, but the company has been struggling in recent years to stay relevant against increasing competition from Android and iOS.
The ailing Canadian smartphone maker has made various efforts to keep its head above water and seems poised to keep fighting, but it may need a different strategy to succeed.
BlackBerry is expected to unveil a new QWERTY slider soon, dubbed Venice but reportedly launching as the BlackBerry Priv. This handset will purportedly run Android instead of BB10.
If such rumors turn out to be accurate, the BlackBerry Priv, or Venice, would be the company's very first smartphone to run Google's popular operating system. Analyst Daniel Chan from Scotia Capital, however, believes BlackBerry shouldn't stop there. As Bloomberg reports, Chan believes that BlackBerry should ditch BB10 altogether and shift to Android for good, adopting Google's mobile OS for all of its future smartphones.
Chan further highlights that BlackBerry could save around $266 million per year if it makes the switch from its BlackBerry OS to Android. According to the analyst, roughly two-thirds of BlackBerry's research and development costs go into its device business, and the company could achieve those yearly savings by laying off 1,400 employees currently working in R & D. Moreover, Chan says that BlackBerry would manage to sell 10 million devices per year if it makes the move to Android.
"While BB10, in our opinion, is technologically superior to many mobile platforms, it has failed to generate the recovery BlackBerry had hoped for and continues to be the primary source of losses for the company," notes the analyst, as cited by Bloomberg.
While there are plenty of device makers that offer Android smartphones, Chan believes that BlackBerry could set itself apart from the crowd by focusing on the enterprise market.
Various corporations and governments continue to rely on BlackBerry devices primarily due to the security features BlackBerry 10 OS has to offer, but Chan believes that BlackBerry could move to Android without compromising its commitment to offer advanced security. BlackBerry could deepen its ties with Samsung KNOX, for instance, which could help ease such concerns.
Lastly, moving to Android altogether would allow new BlackBerry handsets to access the vast trove of Android apps, eliminating the issue that drove many former BlackBerry users to Google's platform.
