BlackBerry has always been an enterprise phone. BlackBerry 10, while hopefully appealing to more consumers, will still remain an enterprise phone. The hope is that BlackBerry 10 will also become the enterprise phone once again. Early reports out of RIM suggest the company may be on its way to reclaiming some of its former success.
Speaking to Reuters, RIM’s Senior Enterprise Accounts Director, Bryan Lee, said that its enterprise consumers are registering en masse for its BlackBerry 10 Ready Program. More than 1,600 customers in North America have already signed up for the service which will help with the transition to BlackBerry 10 and Enterprise Server 10.
Speaking of Enterprise Server 10, Lee said that more than 130 major government agencies and corporations are now testing the service. Some of these organizations will presumably outfit their thousands of employees with the newest BlackBerry 10 devices. That’s sure to make RIM and its investors happy.
According to Reuters, that’s already happening as RIM’s share price has more than doubled as it approaches the launch of BlackBerry 10 on January 30. The company’s share price now sits at a comfortable $14.64.
The enterprise market will definitely help RIM get back on its feet, but it’s unlikely that the company will enjoy long term success by only serving this one market. It needs to find at least some success in the consumer market as well if it intends to survive. I’m not saying that RIM needs to beat Android or iOS, but only having 7.3 percent of the smartphone market isn’t doing the company any favors.
If this whole BlackBerry 10 thing doesn’t work out for RIM, the company can at least rest easy knowing that its browser is faster than the competition’s.