BlackBerry faces stiff market competition

BlackBerry is in attack from all the sides.The initial popularity of the Apple iPhone was eventually matched by the Google Android OS, while older platforms such as the Research In Motion BlackBerry maintained a significant, albeit shrinking, market share. Once known for its BlackBerry Messenger now faces stiff competition from free IMs like whatsApp (free subscription for one year), e-buddy and Viber. 

Till 2010 many corporations were giving its employees BB phones for official purposes. Since 2010, the percentage of corporations giving smart phones to its employees has risen from 40.1% to 57%. This is because, numerous apps that can be downloaded on smart phones.

Until BlackBerry 10 arrives sometime in the second half of 2012, RIM is relying on BlackBerry devices loaded with BlackBerry 7 OS to hold the market-share line. Also in conjunction with CES here, RIM debuted BlackBerry 7.1 OS, which includes the ability to share information between two near-field communications (NFC)-enabled BlackBerry devices by touching them together.

It has 5 devices that are running on OS 7 in India; they are available in market starting from Rs 19200 to Rs 32000. 

The browser of BlackberryOS 7 has been made more effective by the introduction of a just in time feature of java scrip compiler and HTML5 video support. This will not only make the browser faster to use but also more reliable and cost effective. Blackberry balance is also one of the contents of the Blackberry OS 7. This feature gives you an opportunity to place some sections in the phone so as to save your personal and career live into different organized folders.

RIM confirmed that there will be no legacy support with Blackberry OS 7; this indicates that there will be a restriction that will not allow the older versions of the phone, even the most recent version from obtaining updates that will upgrade it to the new version, Blackberry OS 7. Initially these devices created some buzz in the market, but slowing their charm is fading away.

BlackBerry has first time organised BBM Apps Hackathon in India, to invite developers to use BlackBerry platform and develop apps and integrate it to their platform. Free OS 7 devices are given to the participants so that, they can use the device and help the company to improvise its products, by developing user friendly apps.