Editing BlackBerry (section)

== Competition and financial results ==
The BlackBerry grew swiftly in popularity during the early 2000s, and by 2005 had become highly popular and influential in North America.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CNN.com - How BlackBerry conquered the world - Mar 23, 2005 |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/03/23/blackberry.rim/ |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=CNN}}</ref> It then gained the nickname "Crackberry" due to its seemingly addictive nature.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gosyne |first=Kavita |date=2007-07-31 |title=It is called a 'Crackberry' for good reason – Metro US |url=https://www.metro.us/it-is-called-a-crackberry-for-good-reason/ |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=www.metro.us |language=en-US}}</ref>

As of 2006, some of the BlackBerry's main competitors included offerings from [[Motorola]] (namely [[Motorola Q]]), [[Palm, Inc.]], the [[iPAQ]] and other [[Pocket PC]]s, and [[Nokia]] (namely [[Nokia E61]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=BlackBerry rivals see their chance {{!}} The Spokesman-Review |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2006/jan/16/blackberry-rivals-see-their-chance/ |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=www.spokesman.com}}</ref>

As of 2009, RIM held 56 percent of the American smartphone market. While the [[iPhone]] from [[Apple Inc.]] quickly became popular after its launch, RIM remained market leaders and was growing too, with sales tripling between 2007 and 2009. In [[Fortune (magazine)|''Fortune'']]'s list of the Fastest Growing Companies of 2009, RIM ranked first, while the [[BlackBerry Curve]] became the best-selling smartphone in the U.S. in 2009.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Research in Motion battles BlackBerry's competitors - Aug. 17, 2009 |url=https://money.cnn.com/2009/08/12/technology/blackberry_research_in_motion.fortune/index.htm |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=money.cnn.com}}</ref>

Despite market share loss, on a global basis, the number of active BlackBerry subscribers increased substantially through the years. For example, for the fiscal period during which the Apple iPhone was first released, RIM reported that they had a subscriber base of 10.5 million BlackBerry subscribers.<ref>{{cite web |date=October 4, 2007 |title=Research in Motion Reports Second quarter Results |url=http://www.rim.com/investors/documents/pdf/financial/2008/Q2_financial_information.pdf}}{{dead link|date=July 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> At the end of 2008, when Android first hit the market, RIM reported that the number of BlackBerry subscribers had increased to 21 million. After the release of the Apple iPhone 5 in September 2012, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins announced that the current global subscribers was up to 80 million, which sparked a 7% jump in shares price.<ref>{{cite news |date=September 25, 2012 |title=RIM shares rise on new phone hopes |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Canada |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/rim-subscriber-base-grows-to-80-million/article4567392/ |url-status=dead |access-date=August 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915200135/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/rim-subscriber-base-grows-to-80-million/article4567392/ |archive-date=September 15, 2018}}</ref>

In the year 2010, RIM and Apple continued to dominate the U.S. smartphone market, although the BlackBerry Curve had lost its spot as the single highest selling product to the [[iPhone 3GS]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-12-24 |title=Top 10 Mobile phones in the US in 2010 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/top-10-mobile-phones-in-the-us-in-2010-2168707.html |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>

In the early 2010s, BlackBerry struggled to compete against both the iPhone and the [[Android (operating system)|Android]] platform - after device sales peaking in 2011, its share plunged in the years after, leading to speculation that it would be unable to survive as an independent [[going concern]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/blackberry/8985101/BlackBerry-market-share-slides-again-amid-takeover-talk.html |title=BlackBerry market share slides again amid takeover talk |date=January 30, 2012 |access-date=February 9, 2012 |work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref> However, it managed to maintain significant positions in some markets.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/article/1120466 |date=January 24, 2012 |title=Why the Canadian love affair with BlackBerry isn't over yet |access-date=February 9, 2012 |work=Toronto Star |archive-date=January 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127085628/http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1120466 |url-status=dead }}</ref> BlackBerry's global user base (meaning active accounts) declined dramatically since its peak of 80 million in June 2012, dropping to 46 million users in September 2014.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Arthur |first1=Charles |date=29 September 2014 |title=Ten things to know about BlackBerry - and how much trouble it is (or isn't) in |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/29/ten-things-to-know-blackberry-john-chen |work=The Guardian |access-date=February 15, 2015}}</ref> Its market share globally had also declined to less than 1 percent.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gruman |first1=Galen |title=The dangerous delusions of the BlackBerry fan |url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/2881562/blackberry/the-dangerous-delusions-of-the-blackberry-fan.html |website=[[InfoWorld]] |date=February 13, 2015 |publisher=IDG |access-date=February 15, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Android and iOS Squeeze the Competition, Swelling to 96.3% of the Smartphone Operating System Market for Both 4Q14 and CY14, According to IDC |url=http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS25450615 |website=IDC |access-date=September 3, 2015 |date=February 24, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225074430/http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS25450615 |archive-date=February 25, 2015}}</ref>

During the report of its third quarter 2015 results on December 18, 2015, the company said that approximately 700,000 handsets had been sold, down from 1.9 million in the same quarter in 2014, and down from 800,000 in Q2 of 2015. The average sale price per unit was up from $240 to $315, however. This should continue to increase with sales of the new Android Priv device which was selling at a premium price ($800 in Canada, for example). In Q3 of 2015, BlackBerry had a net loss of $89 million U.S. or 17 cents per share, but only a $15 million net loss, or three cents per share, when excluding restructuring charges and other one-time items.<ref name="Dingman">{{cite news |last=Dingman |first=Shane |date=December 18, 2015 |title=BlackBerry's focus on software starting to pay off: CEO |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/blackberry-earnings-beat-estimates-on-software-revenue/article27837728/ |newspaper=Globe and Mail |location=Toronto, Ontario, Canada |access-date=December 19, 2015}}</ref>

Revenue was up slightly from a year earlier, at $557 million U.S. vs. $548 million, primarily because of software sales. Chief executive officer John Chen said that he expects the company's software business to grow at (14 percent) or above the market.<ref name="Dingman"/> At the time, the company was not ready to provide sales figures for the Android-based Priv handset which had been released only weeks earlier, and in only four countries at that time, but Chen offered this comment to analysts: "Depending on how Priv does&nbsp;... there is a chance we could achieve or get closer to break-even operating profitability for our overall device business in the (fourth) quarter".<ref name="Friend"/>

Due to a continuous reduction in BlackBerry users, in February 2016 the BlackBerry headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, slashed 35 percent of its workforce.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2016/02/08/310743120/Blackberry-Cuts-35-Percent-of-Its-Workforce |title=Blackberry Cuts 35 Percent of Its Workforce |first=Maya |last=Nawangwulan |date=February 8, 2016 |magazine=[[Tempo (Indonesian magazine)|Tempo]]}}</ref> By early 2016, BlackBerry market share dropped to 0.2%.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.technobuffalo.com/2016/02/18/mobile-os-market-share-gartner/ |title=Windows Phone and BlackBerry OS are fading into nothingness |work=Techno Buffalo |access-date=June 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160608084022/http://www.technobuffalo.com/2016/02/18/mobile-os-market-share-gartner/ |archive-date=June 8, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In Q4 2016, reports indicate BlackBerry sold only 207,900 units—equivalent to a 0.0% market share.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/16/14634656/android-ios-market-share-blackberry-2016 |title=99.6 percent of new smartphones run Android or iOS |last=Vincent |first=James |date=2017-02-16 |website=The Verge |access-date=2017-02-17}}</ref>

=== Indonesian market ===
In 2011, BlackBerry shipped 43% of all smartphones to [[Indonesia]]. By April 2014 this had fallen to 3%. The decline in the Indonesian market share mirrors a global trend for the company (0.6% of North America).<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Marlow |first=Iain |date=November 3, 2014 |title=Lack of global knowledge cost BlackBerry Indonesia |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/lack-of-global-knowledge-has-cost-blackberry-indonesia/article21432165/}}</ref> The retail price of 2,199,000 Indonesian Rupiah ($189) failed to give BlackBerry the boost it needed in Indonesia. The company launched the device with a discounted offer to the first 1000 purchasers, which resulted in a stampede in the capital in which several people were injured.<ref name=":0" /> BlackBerry lost market share in Indonesia despite the launch of the [[BlackBerry Z3|Z3]] on May 13, 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Purnell |first=Newley |date=May 13, 2014 |title=BlackBerry Turns to Indonesia to Make Turnaround Push |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303851804579559711902688366?mg=reno64-wsj&mod=e2tw |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315145610/http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303851804579559711902688366?mg=reno64-wsj&mod=e2tw |archive-date=March 15, 2016}}</ref> The new device was given a worldwide launch in the city of Jakarta and came on the back of the news that Research in Motion (RIM) was to cut hardware production costs by outsourcing this to Taiwan-based Foxconn Group.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Hugo |date=December 21, 2013 |title=BlackBerry's Foxconn Deal Spurs Evolution Into Services Company |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-21/blackberry-s-foxconn-deal-spurs-evolution-into-services-company.html |website=Bloomberg}}</ref>

===Worldwide user base numbers===
The number of active BlackBerry users since 2000 globally:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! BlackBerry users globally: !! As of:
|-
|25,000
|2000<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |date=2014-01-22 |title=BlackBerry – Intelligent Security. Everywhere. |url=https://us.blackberry.com/content/dam/bbCompany/Desktop/Global/PDF/Investors/Documents/2003/2003rim_ar.pdf |access-date=2023-01-04 |archive-date=January 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122124522/https://us.blackberry.com/content/dam/bbCompany/Desktop/Global/PDF/Investors/Documents/2003/2003rim_ar.pdf |url-status=deviated }}</ref>
|-
|165,000
|2001<ref name=":7" />
|-
|321,000
|2002<ref name=":7" />
|-
| 534,000 || March 1, 2003<ref name=":7" />
|-
| 1,069,000 || February 28, 2004
|-
| 2,510,000 || February 26, 2005
|-
| 4,900,000 || March 4, 2006
|-
| 8,000,000 || March 3, 2007
|-
| 14,000,000 || March 1, 2008
|-
| 25,000,000 || February 28, 2009
|-
| 41,000,000 || February 27, 2010
|-
| 70,000,000 || August 27, 2011
|-
| 77,000,000 || March 3, 2012
|-
| 80,000,000 || December 1, 2012
|-
| 76,000,000 || March 2, 2013<ref>{{cite web |url=http://press.blackberry.com/content/dam/rim/press/PDF/Financial/FY2013/Q4_FY2013_Press_Release.pdf |date=September 16, 2013 |title=Q4 Fiscal 2013 Results Announcement |work=BlackBerry}}</ref>
|-
| 72,000,000 || June 1, 2013<ref>{{cite web |url=http://us.blackberry.com/content/dam/bbCompany/Desktop/Global/PDF/Investors/Documents/2013/Q1_FY2014_Press_Release.pdf |date=September 16, 2013 |title=Q1 Fiscal 2014 Results Announcement |work=BlackBerry}}</ref>
|-
| 79,000,000 || September 2013
|-
| 76,000,000 || November 2013
|-
| 71,000,000 || March 2014
|-
| 69,000,000 || May 2014
|-
| 60,000,000 || September 2014
|-
| 56,000,000 || November 2014
|-
| 37,000,000 || February 2015<ref>{{cite web |url=http://uk.blackberry.com/content/dam/bbCompany/Desktop/Global/PDF/Investors/Documents/2015/Q4_Fiscal_2015/Q4%20FY15%20filing.pdf |date=February 18, 2015 |title=Q4 Fiscal 2015 Results Announcement |work=BlackBerry}}</ref>
|-
| 33,000,000 || June 2015<ref>{{cite web |url=http://uk.blackberry.com/content/dam/bbCompany/Desktop/Global/PDF/Investors/Documents/2016/Q1_Fiscal_2016_Financial_Information.pdf |date=June 24, 2015 |title=Q1 Fiscal 2016 Results Announcement |work=BlackBerry}}</ref>
|-
| 30,000,000 || September 2015<ref>{{cite web |url=http://uk.blackberry.com/content/dam/bbCompany/Desktop/Global/PDF/Investors/Documents/2016/Q2_Fiscal_2016_Financial_Information.pdf |date=September 25, 2015 |title=Q2 Fiscal 2016 Results Announcement |work=BlackBerry}}</ref>
|-
| 25,000,000 || December 2015<ref>{{cite web |url=http://us.blackberry.com/content/dam/bbCompany/Desktop/Global/PDF/Investors/Documents/2016/Q3%20Fiscal%202016%20Financial%20Information.pdf |date=December 18, 2015 |title=Q3 Fiscal 2016 Results Announcement |work=BlackBerry}}</ref>
|-
| 23,000,000 || March 2016<ref>{{cite web |url=http://us.blackberry.com/content/dam/bbCompany/Desktop/Global/PDF/Investors/Documents/2016/Q416_Financial_Statements.pdf |date=April 1, 2016 |title=Q4 Fiscal 2016 Results Announcement |work=BlackBerry |access-date=April 18, 2016}}</ref>{{verify source |date=September 2019|reason=Did not find info in 82 occurrences of "23"}}
|-
|20,000,000
|June 2016<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://us.blackberry.com/content/dam/bbCompany/Desktop/Global/PDF/Investors/Documents/2017/Q1FY2017_Financial_Information.pdf |title=Q1 Fiscal 2017 Results Announcement |date=June 23, 2016 |work=BlackBerry}}</ref>{{verify source |date=September 2019}}
|-
|18,000,000
|September 2016<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.blackberry.com/content/dam/blackberry-com/Documents/pdf/financial-reports/2017/q2fy2017/Q2FY17_Financial_Information.pdf |title=Q2 Fiscal 2017 Results Announcement |date=September 28, 2016 |work=BlackBerry}}</ref>{{verify source |date=September 2019|reason=URL did not match title.}}
|-
|16,000,000
|December 2016<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://us.blackberry.com/content/dam/bbCompany/Desktop/Global/PDF/Investors/Documents/2017/q3fy2017/Q3-FY17-Financial-Information.pdf |title=Q3 Fiscal 2017 Results Announcement |date=December 20, 2016 |work=BlackBerry}}</ref>{{verify source |date=September 2019|reason=URL did not match title.}}
|-
|14,000,000
|March 2017
|-
|11,000,000
|May 2017
|}