Daily Buzz: The End of the BlackBerry Phone
The company that distributes BlackBerry’s smartphones announced it will end the partnership in August. Also: How to remain productive during stressful workdays.
If you’re still a BlackBerry die-hard, we have some bad news.
Electronics maker TCL Communications, the company that distributes BlackBerry’s current smartphones, said it will stop selling them later this year, Business Insider reports.
The future of the phone company—which at one point claimed 20 percent of the global phone market—is uncertain. In a statement, BlackBerry did not say whether it will work with a different partner to produce and sell devices, but it did say the company will continue to provide support for the existing portfolio of devices until February 2022.
“2020 may mark the end of the BlackBerry brand as it relates to mobile phones,” Lisa Eadicicco writes for Business Insider.
The potential demise of the BlackBerry phone is a long time coming. The company reached its peak back in January 2010 when it achieved its highest penetration in the U.S. smartphone market, with a 43 percent share. But by 2014, following poor phone sales and the rise of competing smartphones such as the iPhone, BlackBerry’s U.S. market share had fallen to 3 percent.
In 2016, BlackBerry completely bowed out of the hardware business and stopped making its own phones, citing a shift in focus toward software manufacturing. It was then that the company began working with other companies like TCL for hardware-related products.
“Today, Samsung, Huawei, and Apple largely dominate the global market for mobile devices,” Eadicicco says.
Power Through Work Stress
5 Supercharged Ways to Be Productive in Stressful Times | by @anthony_ejiofor https://t.co/CB4TZwBEcP
— Entrepreneur (@Entrepreneur) February 5, 2020
Feel like you’ll never get everything done at work? There are ways to be productive even during your most time-crunched days, writes Ejiofor Francis in Entrepreneur. For an energy boost, incorporate exercise into your morning routine, he suggests. And for a clearer view of the day ahead, write a to-do-list right before bed.
“Planning is the foundation for being productive,” Francis says. “With a plan, you have something you can immediately follow and execute.”
Other Links of Note
Do we need brand mascots? They continue to be important in marketing, argues Deb Miller on CMSWire.
Digital transformation does not end; it’s always evolving, writes Tom Jelen on the Delcor blog.
A puzzling trend. MIT Technology Review highlights how social media is creating a community of jigsaw puzzle builders.
(BlackBerry Mobile)
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