Blackberry to launch Phablet with Blackberry 10.3 by Fourth Quarter 2014 - Profitability in the Far East as Phablets, BBM 2.0 and Wearables are Trending in 2016

“Also, when you fire up the 10.3 beta simulator, you'll notice another square screen. This is for a new device with a 1440x1440 resolution and pixel density of 453 [dots per inch]”

Director of Application Platform & Tools Product Management at BlackBerry Tim Neil in a Blackberry blog post commenting on their intended launch of a Phablet

Blackberry is back, it seems!

This as they’ve now finally announced that they’re launching a Phablet as mentioned on their Blackberry Developer Blog on Wednesday May 14^th 2014 as stated in the article “Blackberry teases new high-res, square screen device”, published May 14, 2014 9:30 AM PDT by Don Reisinger, CNET News.

This based on the comments as written above for their new OS Blackberry OS 10.3, which they hope to debut on a Phablet or Tablet shaped device. The specs have my heart racing, as aside from a Phablet being in the works, it suggests that they are looking to the Far East to rejuvenate their sagging financial bottom-line with Foxxconn as their Blacksmith to forge better and cheaper devices. 

This Phablet running Blackberry OS 10.3 may be a third device to be introduced later in the Third or Fourth Quarter of 2014 along with the rebranded Blackberry Z3, slated for Indonesia and the Blackberry Q20, the successor to the kid friendly Blackberry Z10 as described in “BlackBerry CEO confirms Foxconn-made Q20 and Z3 phones”, published February 24, 2014 11:32 PM PST by Roger Cheng, CNET News.

At those dimensions, that’s either a Phablet or a Tablet as I’d predicted would be in the woodwork for Blackberry as prophesied in my blog article entitled “RIM rebrands as Blackberry and Launches Blackberry Z10 and Q10 - Alicia Keys' Global Creative Director is a Girl on Fire for these Tallawah yet Beautiful Creatures”.

Blackberry on the Rocks – Far East Loves the Phablet Trend with Wearable Computing at the Door

Good to note here that Blackberry’s Board had taken my advice as noted in my blog article entitled “Blackberry being rescued by former co-CEO Mike Lazaridis - Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited is Fire and Blood as BBM goes free”. Instead of allowing the emotionally-involved former co-CEO Mike Lazaridis buy back his company from Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, the board had decided to have a new CEO, the very outspoken software businessman John Chen.

Outspoken he is indeed and very business-like as well!

After BlackBerry CEO John Chen declaring temporarily on Wednesday April 9^th 2014 that they’d stop making smartphones if they failed to turn a profit, he had to “wheel and com’ again” with an explanation for his utterances on Thursday April 9^th 2014 as stated in “Blackberry CEO 'clarifies' comments, says not selling devices biz”, published April 10, 2014 6:04 AM PDT by Roger Cheng, CNET News. 

The offending statement was uttered on Wednesday April 9^th 2014 during an interview with Reuters as stated in “BlackBerry CEO may be contemplating sale of handset unit”, published  April 9, 2014 4:33 PM PDT by Dara Kerr, CNET News  in which he said, quote: “If I cannot make money on handsets, I will not be in the handset business”.

He says he was taken out of context and as such, has a vested interest in seeing the company succeed, just not at the expense of its more profitable parts, to quote BlackBerry CEO John Chen: “I want to assure you that I have no intention of selling off or abandoning this business any time soon, I know you still love your BlackBerry devices.”

He is right to say this and be frank, as the financial numbers in the Fiscal Fourth Quarter of 2013 don’t lie:

1.      US$423 million loss or 80 cents a share when compared with US$98 million profit or 19 cents a share in the Fiscal Fourth Quarter of 2012

2.      Revenue fell 64 percent to $976 million

The sales figures are even more troubling:

1.      3.4 million BlackBerry smartphones sold

2.      1.1 million running on BlackBerry 10 operating system.

3.      1.3 million Revenue from Hardware sales for BlackBerry phones, down from 1.9 million from the Fiscal Third Quarter of 2013

BlackBerry 7 is hard to beat and holds steady among the 80 million faithful living in the Developing World that still support Blackberry, despite these people temporarily turning their backs for the shiny new cheaper sub US$200 smartphone toys from competitors.

This is in much the same way Microsoft Windows XP users are stubbornly continuing to hold on to their older Operating System and refusing to upgrade to Windows 7 of 8.1 as stated in my blog article entitled “NetMarketShare Second Quarter Stats show Windows XP Growing Strong while Google Chrome in No. 2 Spot - Windows 7 Upgrade Windfall for Computer Repair Technicians”.

At least BBM (Blackberry Messenger) is doing well, being the most downloaded Mobile Social Messenger Platform at one point as stated in my blog article entitled “Blackberry Messenger is Most Downloaded in November 2013 and is poised to beat WhatsApp - BBM is now on the Rising Tide of the Mobile Social Messaging Network Summer of Love”.

The latest version, BBM 2.0, is gearing up for a fight against WhatsApp even before they’d announced the plans to go VoIP Calling later this Second Quarter of 2014 as reported in my blog article entitled “BBM 2.0 now with Voice and Dropbox Integration – WhatsApp beaten for sure as Free File Sharing and Voice Calling result in BBM Transcendence on Android and iOS”.

Profitability for BBM 2.0 may only require selling kawaii Japanese Anime Stickers and Professional Accounts with Premium VoIP Services for Businesses users in a move similar to Japanese Line strategy to gear up for WhatsApp as noted in my blog article entitled “Japanese Line introduces Line Call for Landline and Mobile - US$0.02 per Call and Kawaii Stickers a plus as WhatsApp and Skype get company in making International Calling and Roaming Extinct”.

Blackberry profitability in the Far East – Phablets, BBM 2.0 and Wearables to make Profit by 2016

So will this new, unknown and untried Blackberry OS 10.3 and their upcoming Phablet or Tablet make a turnaround for the company that they so surely desire?

Phablets are all the rage now, something that has surprised even skeptics such as myself, despite my predictions of an early death as stated in my blog article entitled “Samsung Galaxy Note III is an excellent alternative to the Apple iPhone - Phablet competition from the HTC One Max and the Sony Xperia Z Ultra signals long lasting trend”.

Even Chinese smartphone makers are riding the Phablet craze, with smartphone maker Xiaomi launching the US$130 Xiaomi Redmi Note Phablet launched to enthusiastic buyers in march for an amazingly low price as reported in my blog article entitled “US$130 5.5” Xiaomi Redmi Note Phablet goes on sale in China on Tuesday March 26th 2014 - Low-cost Unlocked Phablets the next Tablet in China's Year of the Horse”.

A return to profitability for Blackberry doesn’t lie with making more secure smartphones for  US Corporate and Enterprise customers who already have in-house encryption Services and are still starry-eyed over the Apple iPhone and the other knock-offs. It instead lies on conquering new markers in Asia and the Far East and bending the product to tease these new consumer markets where these services are already popular.

While they’re at it, Blackberry needs to cast a wistful eye at Wearable Computing, as with the coming of Google Glass to the masses as prophesied in blog article entitled “Google Glass launched early as a Product - Google pre-empting Samsung Galaxy Glass and Facebook's Oculus Rift replacing the smartphone in 2015 the Year of the Sheep”, they may have to include Wearables in their Strategy for 2014!

Phablets, BBM 2.0 and Wearable Computing Devices running Blackberry 10.3 to make revenue in East Asia and the Far East is the way to go!