Ouch! While we all know that BlackBerry is in the doldrums, going to show just how far the mighty has fallen, here is another nail in the proverbial coffin – it seems that BlackBerry’s co-founder Balsillie did mention that the BlackBerry Storm “boasted” of a 100% return rate. That is definitely not something that shareholders of the company would like to hear.
The BlackBerry Storm proved to be the manufacturer’s first attempt at a full touchscreen handset, and the reason it was developed was because Verizon saw how the iPhone from Apple was the bee’s knees after turning it down, and sought BlackBerry to come up with a quick fix – which failed miserably, as history can attest.
With a SurePress clickable screen, the BlackBerry Storm was revealed on November 21, 2008, and set sales records at Verizon, and also had the ignominy of being the buggiest smartphone ever launched at Verizon. Jim Balsillie mentioned that just about every BlackBerry Storm had to be returned and replaced, and he did not mince his words with the damning verdict of it having a “100 percent return rate.”
Not the most flattering of news, but it just goes to show how fickle the industry is, with BlackBerry once being valued at a whopping $83 billion in 2008 with 50% of the smartphone market, whittled down to $4.95 billion today with a tiny fraction of the smartphone market.
Filed in . Read more about BlackBerry. Source: bidnessetc