Apple v/s BlackBerry - The Colossal War

by - Abhishek Rao

A

long time ago, people considered purchasing cell phones with the main objective of communication. The concept of buying a phone for its features was deemed absurd then. What followed was the era of multimedia phones and a whole new dimension of mobile communication was created. Motorola, which had dominated the mobile market, was slowly losing its grip with new competitors like Nokia and Ericsson entering the market.

Apple, which was then was known strictly for its operating systems and the revolutionary iPod, made their first entry in the mobile market with the i-mate. The phone saw a mediocre success as it was perceived as a pure business phone. At this point, BlackBerry launched its first mobile device- BlackBerry 850, whose sales were at par with the i-mate.

The Turning Point:

In the year 2007, Apple launched the iPhone; its most successful endeavor in mobility till date. Initially, because of its high cost and complicated software, experts predicted that the iPhone would prove to be a failure. However, contradictory to this, its sales rapidly picked up and it went on to be the most popular mobile device in its time.

For approximately two years, the iPhone dominated the market in the category of high-end multimedia phones. Then came the BlackBerry Curve. Because of its economic pricing and features like the Push Email and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), the phone became a rave and the brand became an market leader within a short span.

What's the hype about?

Currently, the mobile device market is growing at an alarming rate with new brands popping up from every nook and corner. There are over 150 mobile brands available in the worldwide market and an estimated 5.3 million mobile subscribers worldwide. Why then are these two brands able to dominate such a massive market? We ponder on some of the reasons...

Apps:
Apart from the business factor, the ability to experiment with various applications has become the major reason to buy a smartphone. Undoubtedly, this trend was created by the iPhone, but gradually BlackBerry caught up in the race to produce applications for its smartphones. There are over 100,000 apps available for the iPhone in the App Store. Many of these apps are available free of cost and even the apps with a price tag are not that expensive. In its latest marketing strategy 'If you don't have an iPhone..', Apple has used applications as its USP over other features.

Due to their creative design, users can finds apps that are both fun as well as useful. People do not mind spending on an application as long as they feel it is worth it. To push it forward, a demo version of certain apps are given out. Ranging from sports to business, apps cover everything that one requires to either kill time or enhance their work. The iPhone is chosen over BlackBerry majorly for the amount of applications that the former brand has to offer.

The Look and Feel:

Durability is an important factor for any phone and when the iPhone released, people were skeptical about using it because they considered that rough handling is not something that the iPhone is made for. This led to the opening of a brand new sub-market for the iPhone with protection covers and pouches selling like hot cakes. In order to cash in on this market, brands like Ferrari and CK launched official covers for the iPhone. Conversely, BlackBerry phones are known for their bulky and tough appearance. For users who are constantly on the move, BlackBerry becomes the obvious choice. The iPhone is known for its smooth touchscreen while BlackBerry began the trend of qwerty keypads. BlackBerry models like BlackBerry Bold do not have a smooth touchscreen interface like the iPhone which also becomes a major factor while choosing between the brands.

Application at work:

The major reason for people to buy smartphones is their use for official work. Currently, BlackBerry is the phone of choice in this matter. Both the phones have a decent push e-mail facility amongst other business features. Applications for managing stock portfolios are better on the iPhone. With the current perception of the iPhone as a expensive toy, BlackBerry's viability as a good business phone has shot up.

To sum this up, we can say that if the iPhone has a horde of apps, BlackBerry has BBM. Due to these reasons, the two phones are currently ruling the market. Slowly, other brands are introducing features that enhances their phones and this has just intensified the war between Apple and BlackBerry.

Sales Figures:

For the last 2 years, BlackBerry has superseded than Apple, but in future, it has to be seen as to who would be the global leader in the smartphone category. The estimated mobile sales figures for the year 2010 courtesy Strategy Analytics paints a clear picture:

As it is clearly seen, Research in Motion (RIM), the producers of BlackBerry, and Apple are in tight competition with each others and the growth of both these brands as compared to other players is strong since the rest are well-established in the market for decades. This upward shifting trend for BlackBerry and Apple is a clear indicator of their future growth.

When we penetrate into the market even further and concentrate only on the smartphone market, we can see that Apple and BlackBerry have got a lion's share in the market. Take a look at the top five smartphone manufactures of 2010 (Courtesy: IDC)

In the year 2011, experts say that both, BlackBerry as well as Apple, shall have to face tough competition from Android-based phones which are shooting up in the market.

In a nutshell, we cannot deem who is the better one amongst the two (yet). With the passage of time, this war to steal the no.1 spot wil only get bigger. The major benefactor of this battle will be the consumer who can expect nothing less than the best from both these giant brands.