Report on BlackBerry Q10- Marketing Problem and Problems Pertaining to Consumer Behavior.

Submitted By

Prabhat Kumar

Roll No-03

PGDM-Executive

BlackBerry Q10 Failed as Mobile Company's Savior:

Black Berry Q10 that failed to pick up in the Indian market/Globally and has not received consumers’ attention.

About The Company:

The BlackBerry is a line of wireless handheld devices and services designed and marketed by BlackBerry Limited, formerly known as Research in Motion Limited (RIM). The first BlackBerry device, an email pager, was released in 1999. The most recent BlackBerry devices are the Z30, Z10, Q10 and Q5. The Z10 and Q10 were announced on January 30, 2013, and the Q5 was announced on May 14, 2013. The user interface varies by model; most had featured a physical QWERTY keyboard, while newer generations have relied on a multi-touch screen and virtual keyboard.

BlackBerry devices can shoot video, take photos and play music; these devices also provide essentials such as web-browsing, email messaging, instant messaging, and the proprietary BlackBerry Messenger.

BlackBerry accounts for 3% of mobile device sales worldwide in 2011, making its manufacturer the sixth most popular device maker (25% of mobile device sales are smartphones). The consumer BlackBerry Internet Service is available in 91 countries worldwide on over 500 mobile service operators using various mobile technologies. As of September 2012, there were eighty million subscribers worldwide to BlackBerry.

Blackberry launched it new model Blackberry Q10 which price is almost 45 thousands in India. It is the the latest mobile of Blackberry with many new features. Blackberry Q10 have physical QWERTY keyboard which make it easy for typing. Blackberry Q10 is a dual core1.5GHz Cortex-A9 processor phone.

Blackberry Q10 Features:

Q10 have a operating system of Blackberry 10 OS It is powered with PowerVR SGX544 Blackberry Q10 has strong sensors like Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass BB Q10 have 3.1 inch LED touch screen

Blackberry Q10 Full Specification:

Networks – 2G/3G/4G Resolution - 3264 x 2448 pixels Keyboard – Qwerty Multitouch – Yes Internet Memory – 16 GB and 2GB GPRS – Yes 3.5 jack – Yes Camera – Rear Camera of 8 MP and Front Camera of @ 2 MP. Chipset - TI OMAP 4470 Browser – HTML5 Messaging - SMS, MMS, Email, Push Email, IM, BBM 6 CDMA – No GSM – Yes Type - AMOLED touch screen(with Qwerty Keypad) WLAN - Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual band, Wi-Fi hotspot External Memory – No Support Radio – No

Market Segment for Blackberry Q10:

Male/Female in the Age bracket of: 22 – 55

High end consumer- income more than 35000 per month.

Working professional

An early adopter, technology astute/savvy

Moderate to heavy volume of business email.

Use phone for internet surfing.

Marketing Problems:

It hasn’t been the panacea that was believed to be. Blackberry Q10 was not enough to bring back the former Blackberry users nor was it able to attract new customer. It’s paramount to have a strong marketing that appeals to build a strong brand but Blackberry Q10 failed to do that. The key marketing problems are:

1. Product

There was no product differentiation which was created. Blackberry is known for innovation but Q10 was just like and other phone. In fact it was copying competition. That was a bad thing.

There was not enough a high quality application i.e. lacks quality third party application.

The phone was working on B10 OS. It didn’t have quality applications. In current situation phones with Android OS and Apple OS is a hit. They have best of the high

quality applications. So Q10 was no way comparable to those applications provided by the competition.

Q10 was supposed to show that company has changed and yet company offered a device with a physical keyboard.

In the age of Touch phone and other companied offering touch applications, it was mistake by the company offering keyboard technology. Consumers are now used to touch applications or aspire for a smart phone with touch applications. Touch screen application has become a trend.

Nothing really felt exciting or fresh. Company had a lot of expectations was from this launch. It was supposed to revive company’s fortune and bring back BlackBerry back on its track. But company hardly did anything special for its consumers to really consider it as an option.

No dual sum cards.

No F.M radio.

2. Price

The price at which it was launched again creates a question mark. It wasn’t priced competitively. There were much better phones available at a much lower price.

Then again there was drastic reduction in the price.

Early buyers also felt suckered because of that. They felt cheated.

Pros:

1. Excellent Design.

2. Excellent Display Quality.

3. Descent Camera performance.

4. BB10 is huge improvement over predecessor.

Cons:

1. Absurdly Expensive.

2. App catalog not as good as competition.

3. Poor Battery life.

4. OS not efficient.

Problems Pertaining to Consumer Behavior

Who is a consumer?

A Consumer is a person or group of people that are the final users of products and or services generated within a social system. A consumer may be a person or group, such as a household. The concept of a consumer may vary significantly by context.

What is a consumer behavior?

Consumer Behavior is a branch which deals with the various stages a consumer goes through before purchasing products or services for his end use.

Why do you think an individual buys a product?

Why do you think an individual does not buy a product?

When do you think consumers purchase products?

The concept of “buying behavior” is of prime importance in marketing and has evolved over the years. It is important to understand consumer buying behavior.It plays a vital role in creating an impact on purchase of products.The human wants are unlimited and always expect more and more. Mobile handsets are no exception to this behavior. This lead to constant modifications of mobile handsets and today we see a new model coming into the market practically every month.

Mobile Handset:

High Involvement Product:

Mobile handset falls in the category of high involvement product. They are those kinds of products that we take long time, money and effort in decision making about buying them or not. Wrong decision making may harm financial as well as social status and ego. In high involvement aloes there are two kinds of involvement:

High involvement rational: Such as technological devices, real estate’s etc. benefits of the product plays a paramount role.

High Involvement Emotional: Such as jewellery, restaurants etc. Creating and emotional chord with the product is paramount.

Stages of the Consumer Buying Process

Five Stages to the Consumer Buying Decision Process (For complex decisions). Actual purchasing is only one stage of the process. Not all decision processes lead to a purchase.

The 5 stages are:

1. Problem Recognition(awareness of need)--difference between the desired state and the actual condition. Can be stimulated by the marketer through product information.

Blackberry Q10 was not able to create that need with its product. The product was not offering any innovation or was being differentiated from its competitors. It neither created a primary or hedonic need for the consumer.

Though consumers aspire for Smart phones but that need is not being stimulated by Blackberry.

2. Information search--o Internal search, memory.o External search if you need more information. Friends and relatives (word

of mouth). Marketer dominated sources; comparison shopping; public sources etc.

In spite of consumers desires for smart phone they have ignored Blackberry as an option. Because of company’s late reaction towards Touch technology and dual sim card options.

3. Evaluation of Alternatives--need to establish criteria for evaluation, features the buyer wants or does not want. Rank/weight alternatives or resume search.

Blackberry has lost relevant in this stage. The technology offered is old, the OS in not very lucrative and Wts App has become a good alternative to BBM Services.

4. Purchase--May differ from decision, time lapse between 4 & 5, product availability.

5. Post-Purchase Evaluation--outcome: Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction. Cognitive Dissonance, have you made the right decision.

So we see that consumer decision making process is 6 stage process which is influenced by internal and external influences.

Internal influences:

Motivation: It is the driving force within individuals that impels them to action. This driving force is produced by state of tension, which exists as the result of an unfulfilled need. Individuals strive both consciously and unconsciously to reduce this tension through selecting goals and subsequent behavior that they anticipate will fulfill their needs and thus relieve tem from that tension.

Blackberry Q10 was not able to create enough tension in the mind of consumer of not having that product. So individuals were not motivated to buy the product as it was not a solution to their tension, so it was not able to create that innate need or hedonic need.

Motivation Conflict:

1. Approach-Approach2. Approach-Avoidance3. Avoidance-Avoidance

BlackBerry Q10 is the victim of Approach-Avoidance conflict.

Consumer does aspire for smart phone to satisfy their innate or hedonic needs. But they avoided Blackberry Q10. It was not matching to the trend i.e. touch phones. Also it was based on BB10 OS and the current trend is of Android So-so though consumers went for smart phone but they avoided anything which is not touch based or Android OS platform. Android OS and Apple OS currently provided best of the high end applications. So consumers were not at all motivated for anything else.

Perception:

Defined as a process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world.Just as individuals have perceived images of themselves they also have perceived images of products and brands. The perceived image of a product or service (how it is positioned) is more important to its ultimate success than are its actual physical characteristics.Prodcts and services that are perceived distinctly and favorably have a much better chance of being purchased than product or services with unclear or unfavorable images.

Consumers often judge the quality of product or service on the basis of on the basis of informational cues: some are intrinsic to the product while others are extrinsic.

Price is also an imperative indicator. How an individual perceive price – as high, low or fair- has a strong influence on purchase intentions and satisfaction.Here in the case of Blackberry Q 10, the price at which it was offered was perceived as high. Compared to products available in the market by competitors it was was not creating that appeal in the mind of consumer.

Attitude:Defined as enduring organization of motivational, emotional, perceptual and cognitive process (learning). Attitude is what makes people buy what they want. Tricomponent attitude model:

1. The cognitive component: this consists of person’s cognitions, i.e. the knowledge and perceptions that are acquired by a combination of direct experience with attitude object and related information from various sources.Sources can be:A. By personal experience.B.By indirect experience.C,By Mass mediaD.Influence of family and friends.

In this case of Blackberry Q10 the attitude developed by a consumer was not favorable for the company. With the information available about the product and thru influence of family and friends and the reference group the attitude was negative for the product.The price at which it was being offered.The OS it was providing .Not matching with the reference group. Today trend is of touch phones and BB Q10 was a device with a physical keyboard.The company is known for innovation and Blackberry Q10 was supposed to show that company has changed, but the fact was something different. There was nothing special done for the consumer .

External influences:

The family, friends, neighbors, reference group, colleague is paramount in consumers decion making process.. Their influence gain is imperative and cant be ignored byt the marketer.

Today most of the individuals are hooked on touch based smart phones. So that also has a strong influence. Going for a QWERTY based physical key board, may make on feel outdated or not in sink with latest technology.Every consumer wants to feel good and using latest thing available in the market rather than going in for something old or outdated how good it may be.

. Solution to above stated problem pertaining to Black berry Q10:

Product:

The product offered by Blackberry should have been in sink to the market trend. Today its become like trend to have touch based phones and Dual sim as additional option.

Blackberry should focus on touch tehnology and should make product in sink with that. Black berry has been know for innovation and high quality.It will be easier for them to make a come back if they focus on touch technology.

High end third party applications:Should tie up with third party for new and quality applications as an add one to their consumer. There is a gap here and blackberry should try to fill that gap which is leading the consumer not come back to Blackberry.

Operating System:Today majority of the mobile handset sold is based on Android Application. Blackberry should realize that they cant do/develop everything on their own. BB10 Os is not comparable to Android. So shift to android based.

Price:Be competitive in the market. Consumer will pay as per the perceived value they are getting or see in the product. Already people have lost faith in Blackberry, so pricing becomes paramount.Try to create value and get the consumer back.

Blackberry Should take Cognitive route to form an attitude.Should upgrade the product and take abouts it features and benefits.

The effect on the Consumer Behaviour:

Although consumers have shifted to Samsung,Micromax or any other player in the market, but they are not fully satisfied with the offering. There is problem pertaining to Aftyer sales Serivice and product quality.So there is gap in the market and this is like good opprtuinity for Blackberry to hit hard and come back.The only catch here is providing right kind of product in sink to the current trend which motivates a consumer and he perceives good about Q10 and develops a positive attitude towards the product which should result in product purchase behavior.Consumers feel positive about the Brand, blackberry know for their innovation and high quality.Who can forget their success in Indian market.

Final Recommendations for Q10:

1.Touch Based : From QWERTY it should shift to touch based technology. This will motivate the consumer, they will not feel themselves using outdated technology i. e QWERTY system and will be as par to their reference groups, family, friend and colleagues.

2. Android OS: Will bring in all the high end third party applications.Will help in tackling approach-Avoidance motivational conflict. Consumers will start thing Q10 also as an alternative.Will motivate consumer and will perceive good and positive about the product.Will help in forming positive attitude about the product.

3.Price: Should be competitive.Blackberry should try to minismise their cost and lauch it in the range 15000-20000.

Conclusion:

Blackberry was once the market leader in India, was be really successful with its series of Blackberry smartphone.The company was at its peak but the hard reality is that it is now extremely stepping down. So it paramount that never underestimate our competiton and study the trend. Be relevant to consumers and provide them value. Consumers need to perceive good about your product and develop positive attitude which in turn will lead to purchase behavior.To beat the stiff competition one has to constantly keep innovating, provide value and understand latest consumer taste and preferences.

References:1.Wikipedia2.Blackberry.com3.ndtv.gadgets.com4.economictimes.com5.giz.bot.com6.cnbc.com7.Consumer Behaviour by Schiffman & Kanuk