January 25, 2022

While iPhones and various Android smartphones dominate the current mobile market, in the early days of these devices no brand was bigger than BlackBerry. This video looks at the history of this once ubiquitous gadget that captured early market share but failed to keep pace with its high tech competitors. 

Questions:

  1. What features made BlackBerry so appealing to businesspeople when it first hit the market?
  2. How did BlackBerry’s resistance to change lead to the downfall of its mobile business?
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February 5, 2016

In Silicon Valley’s immensely competitive entrepreneurial environment, many startups end up failing shortly after they launch. But among these many fallen firms stand a few “unicorns,” or private tech companies with valuations worth more than $1 billion. At these lucky startups, the strategy is to increase the firm’s value as much as possible until it can be sold to the highest bidder. Not only does such a sale grant enormous payouts for founders and investors, it can also enrich regular Continue reading

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January 1, 2014

This video takes a look at how BlackBerry went from the hottest smartphone on the market to a victim of its own success.

 

https://nyti.ms/1kRYQDu

 Questions:

  1. What’s the important lesson to be learned from this video?
  1. What does it mean that Blackberry failure was due to “commitment escalation?”

From The New York Times

 

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