Updated:

BlackBerry Z10 Marketing Plan Report

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

Executive Summary

Research in Motion changed its brand name to BlackBerry, early this year. In line with its endeavor to offer solutions to challenges facing global communication industry, the company has come up with BlackBerry Z10, which is a Smartphone that is capable of executing work and personal applications. The product relies on the company’s key competence, which is corporate security.

BlackBerry Z10 guarantees the commercial quarter and professionals of their information security. Besides, it allows users to multi-task. The major economic challenge that affects the company is economic variations across the globe.

Moreover, the increased use of BlackBerry Smartphones by antisocial individuals might affect the sales of BlackBerry Z10. BlackBerry uses promotional and differentiation strategies to increase its sales volume.

Company analysis

Mission and goals

Research in Motion (RIM) was the company that created BlackBerry brand. Early this year, the company changed its name to BlackBerry. BlackBerry’s mission and goal are, “to provide solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market, including the software that allows the BlackBerry Smartphone to provide mobile access to email, applications, media and the internet” (Sampson, 2011, p. 6).

To achieve the mission and goal, the company has continued manufacturing and building on its present products.

Currently, the company has come up with BlackBerry Z10, which is a Smartphone that accommodates both work and personal applications, helping users to switch from “their personal space to work space with a simple flick of the finger” (Sampson, 2011, p. 12). All these are in line with the company’s mission and goal, which is to offer answers to challenges that face global mobile communication market.

Product markets and portfolio

Sampson asserts,Smartphones are still a niche market, though there is huge scope for expansion” (2011, p. 9). BlackBerry is the second biggest company with respect to sales of Smartphone. In 2011, the company had over seventy million customers across the globe. BlackBerry focuses mainly on the Indian market. The company, together with Nokia dominates the market.

Currently, BlackBerry serves 15 percent of the Indian market share. The company concentrates on selling its products to the high-end urban market. Indian society is highly differentiated. Therefore, demand for BlackBerry’s products varies in the market. High demand for BlackBerry Z10 and other products in the commercial sector and colleges makes the company focus on the two market segments.

BlackBerry’s market can be largely split into two segments; the rural and town markets. The two markets vary significantly with respect to demands, requirements, fiscal orientation, and inevitability of the customers. In 2011, the company’s total revenue was $3.4 billion (Sharma et al., 2012).

BlackBerry offers solutions to numerous functionalities, which range from instant messaging, e-mails, intranet applications, voice, to internet browsing. Its portfolio includes, “software development tools, BlackBerry wireless solution, the BlackBerry wireless handheld product line, and other software and hardware” (Sharma et al., 2012, p. 17).

The company’s product line includes Smartphone, business software, BlackBerry®, tablet, PlayBookTM and accessories. Its products and services are in high demand across the globe.

Core competencies

Hoang argues, “BlackBerry’s future does not lie on its capacity to tackle its rivals head-on. Instead, the company needs to focus on its core competences, namely the blackberry backend and corporate security” (2012, para. 1). The manufacture of BlackBerry Z10 affirms the company’s core competence in guaranteeing corporate security.

Through the Smartphone, the company is capable of providing security solutions to institutions that are in dire need of secure business communication. The company has experienced personnel, who are able to develop firewall that guarantees secure transition from work to personal applications when using BlackBerry Z10. This implies that BlackBerry enjoys unparalleled data security capabilities as its core competence (Hoang, 2012).

Strengths and weaknesses

Many users commend BlackBerry Company for its development of BlackBerry Z10. This latest model of Smartphone has numerous strengths compared to its earlier models. One of the strengths of BlackBerry Z10 is its capacity to systematize calendar and message information (Howitt, 2013).

The phone allows users to amalgamate their text messages, e-mails, and social messages under a single folder. Besides, one is capable of accessing all the messages promptly. Indeed, the phone allows users to access crucial and tailored information efficiently.

Another strength of BlackBerry Z10 lies on its touch keyboard. BlackBerry Z10 has a well organized and easy to use keyboard. Besides, the phone has predictive text mode, which enhances typing speed and accuracy. BlackBerry Z10’s hardware is capable of handling the latest operating system. Consequently, one is capable of opening numerous applications without challenges (Howitt, 2013).

Despite the numerous strengths, BlackBerry Z10 has a number of weaknesses. The phone does not have a hard button that helps users to switch from an application to the home screen.

Consequently, it takes long to switch from an application to the home screen as one has to swipe continually. Another weakness of this Smartphone is that it gives users a lot of problems when multitasking. The absence of a hard button makes it hard for users to switch from one application to another (Howitt, 2013).

Marketing environment

PEST environment

Political

BlackBerry enjoys a steady political environment in the United States’ market, which helps it to increase its market share. A recent study by Nielsen revealed that the introduction of BlackBerry Z10 into the American market gave the company a competitive edge (Reed, 2010).

However, BlackBerry encounters challenges in Indian, Chinese, and United Arab Emirates’ markets where consumers doubt security capabilities of the Smartphone.

Economic

Economic features influence the mobile phone industry since consumers purchase phones based on income. The recent economic crisis posed a major threat to the introduction of BlackBerry Z10. Today, consumers have to be sure that the price of a Smartphone equals its capabilities (Reed, 2010).

Besides, variations in exchange rates across the globe are likely to affect the price of BlackBerry Z10, making it either competitive or extremely expensive.

Social

Social aspects like lifestyle, education, and cultural values affect the sales of BlackBerry products. The company makes substantial sales during the holidays. One of the social aspects that are likely to affect the sales of BlackBerry Z10 is the increased use of BlackBerry Smartphones by antisocial individuals. This might affect the company’s sales performance in religiously receptive countries (Reed, 2010).

Technology

Technological changes affect BlackBerry products significantly. However, introduction of BlackBerry Z10 into the market is likely to help the company to increase its sales volume as the technology used to manufacture the Smartphone is environmental conscious (Reed, 2010).

Key competitors

Nokia and Apple companies are the key competitors in the Smartphone market. The two companies focus on urban market where demand for Smartphones is high. Many consumers have confidence and are loyal to Nokia and Apple companies. Hence, the companies are guaranteed of a steady market. Nokia is renowned for excellent customer services, which has made it dominate the market for decades.

The major weakness of the two competitors is that they do not have Smartphones that can handle contemporary business applications (Sharma et al., 2012). Hence, many consumers are turning to BlackBerry Z10, which has numerous functionalities and supports contemporary applications.

Customer environment

Presently, BlackBerry serves a differentiated market that is made up of two segments; urban and rural segment. The urban segment comprises of professionals and businesspersons who make their purchasing decisions depending on the value of the product. Individuals in this market segment purchase a product after they are sure that it will add value to their businesses or careers (Sharma et al., 2012).

On the other hand, BlackBerry serves the rural market segment that comprises of customers, who make decisions based on affordability, battery life, connectivity, and network expansion of the Smartphone. Consequently, BlackBerry has a potential market growth in the urban segment, especially with the introduction of BlackBerry Z10, which meets the majority of their needs.

Product and marketing strategy

One of the marketing strategies that BlackBerry uses to position its BlackBerry Z10 Smartphone is product differentiation. The Smartphone has BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) functionality, which differentiate it from others (Sharma et al., 2012). BlackBerry Messenger is software that allows users to send and receive instantaneous messages.

The company uses this functionality to target the high-end urban market segment, which demands a Smartphone capable of reducing the time they take to communicate with business associates or clients. BlackBerry uses factors like demands, customer needs, and financial orientation to segment its market.

Marketing mix

BlackBerry applies the 4Ps marketing mix to enhance its competitiveness in the global market. The company focuses on product functionalities as one of its brand positioning strategy when developing BlackBerry Z10. The company has also increased the number of applications that the Smartphone supports (Hein, 2009).

Therefore, consumers can now use BlackBerry Z10 to execute numerous applications efficiently. BlackBerry Z10 uses, “Hub and Balance features as its key differentiators from other devices” (Wagner, 2013, para. 6).

BlackBerry uses varied pricing mechanisms to capture different market segments. To cater for all customers, the company has Smartphones, which vary in functionalities and prices. Many customers shy away from purchasing Apple brands due to price.

They prefer BlackBerry because it sets its prices based on the features and value of the product. The main target group for BlackBerry Z10 comprises of professionals and businesspersons who are not price sensitive (Wagner, 2013). Hence, BlackBerry is at liberty to set its price at a level that corresponds to the capabilities of the gadget.

BlackBerry runs numerous advertisement programs to promote its products. Recently, the company launched a “keyboard challenge” advertisement that seeks to portray BlackBerry Z10 as the Smartphone with the best keyboard in the market (Wagner, 2013). Besides, it liaises with its business associates in promoting Smartphones.

For instance, the company, in collaboration with CellOne lowered the price of BlackBerry Z10 from $599 to $399 as one of its promotional strategies. Besides, the company allows its clients to trade their old BlackBerry Smartphones with Z10 at lower charges.

To reach many customers, BlackBerry Company liaises with numerous distributors (Wagner, 2013). For example, the company works with Mainline (a mobile phone distributor firm) to distribute its BlackBerry Z10. Mainline helps the company to get dealers who supply the Smartphone to local outlets, thus helping the company to reach remote customers.

References

Hein, K. (2009). Phones top list of most-trusted brands. Sales & Marketing Management, 161(6), 34-46.

Hoang, A. (2012). Blackberry 10 proves RIMM’s core competence. Web.

Howitt, C. (2013). BlackBerry returns to profitability, plans marketing boost. Web.

Reed, B. (2010). BlackBerry will win. Network World, 27(2), 24-27.

Sampson, N. (2011). . Web.

Sharma, A., Rizvi, H., Girdhar, D. & Rana, D. (2012). Comprehensive research analysis of Research in Motion (RIM). Web.

Wagner, A. (2013). . Web.

More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2019, June 3). BlackBerry Z10 Marketing Plan. https://ivypanda.com/essays/z10-marketing-plan/

Work Cited

"BlackBerry Z10 Marketing Plan." IvyPanda, 3 June 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/z10-marketing-plan/.

References

IvyPanda. (2019) 'BlackBerry Z10 Marketing Plan'. 3 June.

References

IvyPanda. 2019. "BlackBerry Z10 Marketing Plan." June 3, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/z10-marketing-plan/.

1. IvyPanda. "BlackBerry Z10 Marketing Plan." June 3, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/z10-marketing-plan/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "BlackBerry Z10 Marketing Plan." June 3, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/z10-marketing-plan/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
Privacy Settings

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Basic site functions
  • Ensuring secure, safe transactions
  • Secure account login
  • Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
  • Remembering privacy and security settings
  • Analyzing site traffic and usage
  • Personalized search, content, and recommendations
  • Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Required Cookies & Technologies
Always active

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Site Customization

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

  • Remembering general and regional preferences
  • Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy.

Personalized Advertising

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

1 / 1