Six years ago, Blackberry’s stocks were around $236 a share. As of today, August 13, 2013, those stocks are around $11 a share. Now, it’s committee is talking of either selling the company or merging with another business and/or venture capitalists.
How did it get this way? When Blackberry started in the mid 1980s, it had high expectations. In the 20 plus years that followed, it lead the way in beepers, two way pagers and email devices. But after 2007, it all went down hill. That year, the iPhone was released, and Blackberry couldn’t compete. Then came competitors in Asia, with their low cost and exceptional service. There was the Blackberry Storm fiasco, and fiascos following that. They were either too bulky, the hardware or software didn’t work right, and, well, whatever could go wrong did go wrong. By the end of 2009, Blackberry’s stocks were under $50 a pop, a 78% decrease in two years.
So basically, when Apple released the iPhone in ’07, Blackberry was doomed. But what if this revolutionary company is bought out? What would they get? At best, it would probably get some patents, security technology, and nostalgia. So this wouldn’t even be attractive to many companies or venture capitalists, unless it can use what little they have to really turn things around. And hail maries have been thrown like that before in the technological world. Or Blackberry could throw one last 4th quarter hail mary on their own. What should the once high and mighty Blackberry’s fate be?