BlackBerry fights to reclaim space

There's good news and bad news on the Canadian manufacturer of BlackBerry smartphones. The company, which until the beginning of the year called Research In Motion (RIM), begins to sell abroad, in the next few days, its newest handset, the Z30, with which it hopes to recover the lost luster in your central market, more expensive products, geared primarily to corporate use. The company is also extending the users of phones with Android and iOS systems-rivals Google and Apple-its prestigious and so far exclusive BBM communication system, a change seen internally as a proof of the company's strength in its new phase.
The news, however, have been eclipsed by news about the company's performance and market fears about its future. Earlier in the week, "The Wall Street Journal published the BlackBerry prepares to cut 40 percent of its total work force by the end of the year. In March, the latest data available, the company had 12.7 thousand employees.
Yesterday, international investors were surprised by another news that stocks of unsold appliances of the BlackBerry would be close to $ 1 billion, increasing the chance that the company make a writedown-the fourth in two years-to disclose their financial results next week.
The reaction of the BlackBerry in the Smartphone market began in 2010, with the purchase of Canadian QNX, owner of an operating system of the same name, commonly used in embedded technologies. "About 60% of circulating cars today use the QNX", said John Stricker, Director-General of the BlackBerry in Brazil, in an interview to the value.
It was based on the QNX the company remodeled the basic software to their phones and BlackBerry system released 10, the engine behind the company's latest releases.
The BlackBerry also reconsidered important aspects in the design of its equipment. In 2007, when Apple released the original iPhone, which proposed a new appearance to smartphones-large touch screens and a digital keyboard in place of the physical-many people scoffed. The initial assessment of consumers was that the iPhone for fun. Who really wanted to get the stop, should stick with the BlackBerry.
With this realization, the BlackBerry it took to launch products with digital keypads, when all competitors had already embarked on the wave. Now, the company tries to catch up. Two models-the Q10 and the Q5-keep the physical keyboard to satisfy purists. The Z10, which landed in Brazil in the middle of last semester, have virtual keyboard, in the same way as the Z30, that will be sold primarily in the United Kingdom and the Middle East, and does not yet have data to get to Brazil. "We are dealing with issues such as approval, certification and fitness to the Portuguese," said Stricker. "The process is well advanced and it is expected that the device will be available in the country in the coming months." The price is still being negotiated with the carriers.
The BlackBerry has a long way to go. The company that came to hold half of the Smartphone market in North America today accounts for a slice of 3.4%, according to research firm Gartner. In Brazil, there is no public numbers of consulting about the company's participation.
The renewal of the basic software, made with the launch of the BlackBerry system 10, is an essential part of the job. The worldwide market divided into three main systems: in addition to the iOS, Apple's exclusive; and Android, used by most other manufacturers, with emphasis on the Samsung, it's in the game Windows Phone, Microsoft, the u.s. software giant that recently bought the Finnish Nokia devices operation. The task of the BlackBerry is to position itself in this extremely competitive scenario.
Applications-the small programs for specific purposes used in cell phones and tablets-are another part of the mission. And the decision to make BBM compatible with rival systems seems to integrate this vision. BBM allows you to exchange messages and files, such as photos and short videos with other users, under a system safer than the generally available, a legacy of the central focus of the BlackBerry, to serve the corporate market.
BBM is very popular. According to BlackBerry, 60 million users of program trading more than 10 billion messages per day. the average time is also high: about 90 minutes a day.
The movement does not, at least at first, a source of additional revenue for the BlackBerry. BBM is available free of charge to customers of the company and will also be offered without cost in the virtual stores of Android, which arrives Saturday, and Apple, starting Sunday. But the software's advanced features can help to capture the attention of who is user of other manufacturers, approaching the mark of an audience that otherwise would remain estranged from the BlackBerry.
The company also has been struggling to embrace popular applications that were already available in other systems, Skype, Twitter, Foursquare and Dropbox. "About two-thirds of Android applications can be migrated by developers for BlackBerry in a few minutes," said Stricker.
As for the news of the layoffs, the Executive said that the BlackBerry does not comment on speculation. "What is official, and for a long time, is that the company goes through a revision to suit market, with the right people in the right place," he said.