Number of Blackberry smartphones sold in worldwide down 62% YOY

jabbamk1jabbamk1 Posts: 8,942
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In the past 12 months Blackberry have sold in a total of 7 million units into the sales channel, this is down from 18.4m units during the same period last year and is a 62% decrease YOY. Revenue has also decreased over the same period from $8,515m to $3,651. This is a 57% decrease YOY. The decrease in units sold in can be attributed to the rise of Android and Apple and lack of interest in Blackberry hardware and OS. Blackberry once had a 51% share in the worldwide PDA market back in 2004 but a decade later it barely scratches 0.5% of the smartphone market.

The number of Blackberry devices sold through to end customers has also decreased by 55% this year with only 10.3m units being sold through to end consumers worldwide. Sell through of Blackberry devices has been poor this year and even the UK market has seen a huge decrease in the number of Blackberry devices sold to end users. The UK market in 2014 only accounts for 10% of Blackberrys total worldwide sales to end users. For the first time I am able to reveal Blackberry sell through figures for the UK over the past 5 years:
Number of Blackberry devices sold through to end users in the UK. (2014 is estimated)

2009 : 968k
2010 : 2018k
2011 : 3367k
2012 : 2395k
2013 : 1580k
2014E: ~1035k

The smartphone and general mobile phone market boomed in 2010 and 2011, hence the increased sales. However whilst the mobile phone market continued to grow in 2012, 13 and 14, Blackberry sales did not.

To sum up, no one wants to buy a Blackberry. Sales will continue to fall over the next year as channel inventory sells through and demand for new stock weakens.

sold in = sold to retail
sold through = sold to end consumer

Comments

  • Everything GoesEverything Goes Posts: 12,972
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    I was going to create a thread on this but my pervious posts on Blackberry were much like Blackberry...no one showed any interest in them.

    Blackberry hope to go back to making profits in 2016.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/19/blackberry_q3_2015_earnings/

    Plus they launched the Classic with QWERTY keyboard for traditionalists.

    http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/17/7407753/blackberry-classic-smartphone-launch-announcement-price-availability
  • Aye UpAye Up Posts: 7,053
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    I am a bit romantic about blackberry, its sad that they haven't transitioned that well. There were amongst the leaders for battery life and security. Maybe they will have a small resurgence, however I feel their delays to BB10 and some stupid handsets have really knackered them up for good.
  • jabbamk1jabbamk1 Posts: 8,942
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    I was going to create a thread on this but my pervious posts on Blackberry were much like Blackberry...no one showed any interest in them.

    Hence why I kept this thread very short.

    Sure I could have speculated on the effect that the classic and passport will have on Q4 sales but it's clear that no matter the effect, Blackberry will fall short of their 10 million per year goal by some way.

    In the past 9 months we've seen 5.7m units sold in which means Blackberry will need to ship more than 4.3m units in these next 3 months to reach their sales target. Sales for the past 12 months are at 7 million which will give some indication of sales for the next quarter.

    The Passport and Classic should have cumulative shipments of over 1 million units this quarter. That I can say with some confidence.
  • Everything GoesEverything Goes Posts: 12,972
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    jabbamk1 wrote: »
    Hence why I kept this thread very short.

    Sure I could have speculated on the effect that the classic and passport will have on Q4 sales but it's clear that no matter the effect, Blackberry will fall short of their 10 million per year goal by some way.

    In the past 9 months we've seen 5.7m units sold in which means Blackberry will need to ship more than 4.3m units in these next 3 months to reach their sales target. Sales for the past 12 months are at 7 million which will give some indication of sales for the next quarter.

    The Passport and Classic should have cumulative shipments of over 1 million units this quarter. That I can say with some confidence.

    While ive never owned a Blackberry they were a very important manufacturer at one time. Loads of people had them now you see the occasional old Blackberry that someone is clinging on to from some reason.

    Yes their golden days are over. If you make an Apple thread you would have loads of reply's mostly from trolls >:(
  • jabbamk1jabbamk1 Posts: 8,942
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    Blackberrys are the most recycled phone for 2012 and so the install base has decreased massively from the peak of 9m users.
  • jonmorrisjonmorris Posts: 21,680
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    They're toast.

    I am sorry, but they can't save themselves.

    Businesses are seeking to move elsewhere, and I doubt those that are hanging on are going to see the point in buying the Classic if their current models work fine (you could just buy a new battery to keep them going, and I'm sure it's not expensive to repair any that are damaged).

    The Classic won't get people to go 'They're back' besides the fanboys. I was once a fanboy after reviewing my first BlackBerry some 11 years ago or maybe even longer. I then had a BlackBerry of one type or another until a couple of years back. Always, from day one, as a secondary device - but nobody, not even me, want to carry a secondary device these days.

    And what of the keyboard? Well, I'm now a total convert to on-screen keyboards, and with a large display (4.5 inch to 5.5 inch) it's easy to type these days without making any more mistakes than with a small QWERTY keyboard.. so that's not even sufficient, especially if you have to make do with a 720x720 pixel display that isn't really good for anything. Watching movies, looking at photos with borders? Apps not designed to work?

    And that's the final issue. Apps. There aren't any, and side loading Android apps isn't the 'killer app' as they need to be updated as regularly as on the Play store.

    So it really is game over next year, I am quite positive. If they hang on any longer, it must be purely because there are still some major corporations giving the company money - but we'll never see BB become anything big again.

    The only thing I could imagine that could perhaps save the day is if BB just decided to adopt Android and all the Google apps, and then added things like BBM and its Hub as a customised version of Android, but finally means you can run ALL apps without any hassle.
  • swordmanswordman Posts: 6,679
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    Simply a matter of time, nothing can change that now.
  • jabbamk1jabbamk1 Posts: 8,942
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    Here are Blackberrys smartphone shipments for the last 4 years (16 quarters) along with total hardware revenue.

    sep - nov 2014 - 2.0m
    jun - Aug 2014 - 2.1m
    mar - may 2014 - 1.6m
    Dec - feb 2014 - 1.3m

    Total: 7.0m (-62% YOY) $1,524m Hardware revenue (-70% YOY)

    sep - nov 2013 - 1.9m
    jun - Aug 2013 - 3.7m
    mar - may 2013 - 6.8m
    Dec - feb 2013 - 6.0m

    Total: 18.4m (-45% YOY) $5,112m Hardware revenue (-35% YOY)

    sep - nov 2012 - 6.9m
    jun - Aug 2012 - 7.4m
    mar - may 2012 - 7.8m
    Dec - feb 2012 - 11.1m

    Total: 33.2m (-37% YOY) $7,868m Hardware revenue (-49% YOY)

    sep - nov 2011 - 14.1m
    jun - Aug 2011 - 10.6m
    mar - may 2011 - 13.2m
    Dec - feb 2011 - 14.9m

    Total: 52.8m ($15,532m Hardware revenue)
  • nafanny29nafanny29 Posts: 1,322
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    My missus has a work blackberry bold. What a total piece of shyte lol
  • old bill2old bill2 Posts: 689
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    Iam currently using a BlackBerry Passport. It's a very good handset. Nice and solid with good battery life. Can get most apps I need. The sound from the speakers is very good and signal reception is fantastic.
  • mikesuffsmikesuffs Posts: 201
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    I simply can't type on glass, so have no choice but to go down the Blackberry route as there is not one single Android/Windows/OS phone with a physical keyboard.

    Having said that, the Passport is being adored by it's users and certainly looks an intriguing, if niche, product!
  • jonmorrisjonmorris Posts: 21,680
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    There were many keyboard equipped Android phones (and some WP 7 devices) but they didn't sell. Droid/Milestone excepted perhaps.

    I do think there could have been a market if they weren't usually very low spec, but it could also be that most people have just accepted on screen keyboards.
  • jabbamk1jabbamk1 Posts: 8,942
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    I've been able to get access to a number of UK sell through figures on my end which can be seen in the OP. I've just gone through the quarterly reports and thought I'd post this.

    The number of Blackberry devices sold through to end users in the UK totalled 268,275 units in Q3 CY2014. The total amount sold through to end customers in the first 3 quarters of CY2014 (Jan 1st 2014 - Sep 30th 2014) is approximately 740,205 units.

    The number of Windows Phone devices sold through to end customers in the first 3 quarters of CY2014 (Jan 1st 2014 - Sep 30th 2014) is approximately 1,638,400 units.
  • jonmorrisjonmorris Posts: 21,680
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    Definitely a case of, if you think Windows Phone is doing badly - just look at BlackBerry!

    Even though some people love the Passport, and some people are extremely defensive when hearing any criticism of it - I just can't believe the sales of this model have been anything significant, and if everyone who loves it gets one now, sales will no doubt fall off a cliff after that.

    The other problem is that for such a long time, RIM wasn't just reliant on its business users but all those teenagers who could text and IM for just £4/5 a month. For a good few years, anyone under the age of 18 would have had a (most likely 2G only) Curve model or similar, and been using it religiously for chatting to mates (very unlikely using other apps or playing games).

    When they all decided to jump ship, that must have left an almighty great hole to fill. And now you just pay for mobile data like any other device, the same people couldn't even use BB OS 10 and carry on getting everything they did for just a few quid a month, they'd likely need to go on a much more expensive tariff. And if you're going to do that, then you might as well get a better phone.

    Once again - BB is toast.
  • psionicpsionic Posts: 20,188
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    I think Blackberry could still be okay for niche markets but they'll never return to the mass appeal they once had.

    A self-destructing phone anyone? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-19/blackberry-joining-boeing-to-offer-self-destructing-spy-phone.html
  • jonmorrisjonmorris Posts: 21,680
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    Well they have said no more hardware releases for a while, so perhaps they can tick over for a bit longer (as they have done thus far) but for all intents and purposes they'll still be dead as a company.
  • old bill2old bill2 Posts: 689
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    jonmorris wrote: »
    Well they have said no more hardware releases for a while, so perhaps they can tick over for a bit longer (as they have done thus far) but for all intents and purposes they'll still be dead as a company.

    Whilst you might be proved right. Arrivals like this can surely only help.

    http://www.zdnet.com/article/best-10-smartphones-at-the-close-of-2014/
  • jonmorrisjonmorris Posts: 21,680
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    The Passport got good write ups before release then mostly poor reviews, but I am not sure it matters. Plenty of Lumia phones get great reviews but still don't sell.

    I think part of this is that people are as much choosing an OS as they are a device.
  • jabbamk1jabbamk1 Posts: 8,942
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    One of the big issues that Blackberry have faced both this year and last year is over shipping.

    There are way too many devices in the channel that are yet to be sold through to end users. This is why shipments have dropped off a cliff this year compared to last year. There just isn't the demand for new devices and so this is why I full expect next quarters shipment numbers to be lower than 2 million.
  • jabbamk1jabbamk1 Posts: 8,942
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    old bill2 wrote: »

    No mainstream appeal though.

    When you hold 0.5% of the market you can only go up. In Blackberry's case they're decreasing and decreasing.

    Blackberry have only sold in 3.8m BB10 Devices to channel in the past 9 months.

    Just to give some perspective, Apple sold 10m iPhone 6's & 6+'s in 3 days,
    Asus sold that many devices in just the last 3 months alone.
  • jonmorrisjonmorris Posts: 21,680
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    old bill2 wrote: »

    Yeah, Richard has always liked BlackBerry. Just as I once did, before I accepted the inevitable.

    Rather like giving up using my Amiga, Series 1 TiVo and Symbian. At some point it was just time to move on.
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