BlackBerry, The Company, For Sale

Despite the fact that there are still many that like the BlackBerry keyboard and are loyal to their BlackBerry smartphone, more consumers still prefer Android and iPhone devices.  While they have successfully update their phones, BlackBerry continues to lose market share.  "BlackBerry had 4.4% of the U.S. market in June, down from 10.7% in the same month last year, according to comScore MobiLens data."  And so it seems management is exploring other strategic alternatives, namely selling the company.  A shame for a great company that once owned the business marketplace. 

Is there a company that sees a future for BlackBerry and willing to inject more capital to find new innovation?  Truth is the future of BlackBerry is very much dependent on innovation.  Samsung has successfully gained share through its technological and marketing efforts.  Apple, like BlackBerry, is reeling the heat of competition and the need to refresh and update its phones to remain a preferred choice.  And both Samsung and Apple have the benefit of a broad app library because of Android and iOS respectively.  BlackBerry's library is still catching up.  In fact, my friend did recently get a new BlackBerry only to discover that it did not yet have a Starbucks app.  Frankly, it did not make him happy.  And enough missteps could have him and others switching back to another phone.