Blackberry gets smart! Moves from smartphone to software

Blackberry is probably the only brand that been massively loved and overtly hated by the world. But the Blackberry Boys are making a comeback.

But if you think it’s the smartphone we are talking about then you have got it wrong! One of the first smartphone makers in the world, the company has now graduated to selling software in the race for the survival of the fittest.

“So, while there has been a lot of competition and price erosion in the market, we have been focusing on mid to high end segments of smartphones and catering to our core consumer base – the corporate. Our core strength has always been security. In the last 18 months, we doled out software which works across iOs, Android, Windows and Blackberry,” Sunil Lalvani, managing director of Blackberry India told BI India.

He added the company realized that for the primary concern for the corporate sector is security of the data, which was very low as employees used different smartphones- ranging from high end to low end models. “Android is all pervasive. So, what the company has rolled out is a software called BES 12- Blackberry Enterprise Server 12, which provides secures the data that is being exchanged on the devices used by the employees irrespective of whether it is smartphone or a tablet,” noted Lalvani.

He claimed that the company’s software revenue have gone up and in the last one year, revenues from the software division have gone up to $68 billion in the last quarter ending February 2015. The year-on-year growth for the company’s software business has been 20%.

The smartphone manufacturer has also been focusing on services such as BBM Meetings, which is a cross platform, multiparty video and voice chat. The second one in the same category is Movirtu, which provides a technology that allows virtual sims on one single physical sim. “Today, in India, a lot of people prefer dual sim devices as they want separate numbers for their office and personal use. What Movirtu does is that it virtualizes your primary Sim into different numbers. So, while you have one physical sim- Movirtu will actually give you nine different virtual numbers at your perusal,” he said.

According to Lalvani, Movirtu is a great cost-cutting measure as it will help the companies to understand the quantum of official calls made by an employee which will help them reimburse accordingly. ““We are selling through the operators and we will get the revenue out of that. Our own clout services are also another revenue generating stream for us. So a consumer can buy any device from the retail market and can subscribe to our clout services, which provides security to the sensitive information that the phone holds. So it is a security service that we offer through the carriers and it is a revenue sharing model,” added Lalvani.

Globally, the software business contributes over 50% of the business while the remaining comes from its services and smartphones categories. Lalvani stated that the same ratio was also applicable for the Indian business, which is among the top ten markets for the brand.

Image credit: Indiatimes.com