For the past couple of years consumers have been shunning the firm’s handsets in favour of the shiny iPhone and Android competition.
And for far too long Blackberry ignored this trend by churning out a procession of identikit phones which an average Joe would be hard-pressed to spot any difference between.
No matter that folk weren’t buying each new model, another one looking just like it would soon be along to keep it company in the remainders bin of the local Carphone Warehouse.
But finally Blackberry pulled its finger out and earlier this year delivered the new, long-promised Blackberry 10 operating system and some decent new hardware to run it on.
The Blackberry Q10 is a seriously good phone, if I didn’t still have several months left on my Blackberry contract, I’d have bought one ages ago. It’s the perfect refinement of the Blackberry offering and had it come along 2 years ago the firm would be a lot better shape.
So you might understand my puzzlement when Blackberry followed it up today with yet another old-style handset looking exactly like, and running the software from, all those old models consumers already rejected.
Yes, the new ‘social’ 9720 is going to be a darn sight cheaper for Blackberry and its network partners than the Q10, but it already has a relatively low-cost option in the Q5.
It’s this which the firm should be offering to low spenders and newcomers, not yet another handset modelled in the ancient Curve line.
Given how dire its fortunes are and the importance of impressing would-be buyers, it seems insane to lead shoppers towards yesteryear’s technology and away from the very good, new products which have been deservedly earning decent reviews.
In doing so, Blackberry pretty much sums up why it’s in the state it is.
