BlackBerry might consider entering the tablet market

Having a market share south of 1% will make you wonder if what you’re doing isn’t enough. Apparently BlackBerry is only just now arriving to this conclusion as CEO John Chen has said that the company might consider possibly thinking about maybe delving into the world of tablets. His hesitation stems from the fact that BlackBerry has few new customers. It’s userbase consists almost entirely of fans and those fans might not even want a BlackBerry tablet. 

BlackBerry may take another run at the tablet market. That’s if CEO John Chen thinks the opportunity is right. “It’s not in the works, but it’s on my mind,” Chen said in an interview at the Mobile World Congress conference here. A BlackBerry tablet could satisfy the needs of a small but fiercely loyal group of productivity-focused customers who have stuck with the struggling smartphone maker and its operating system, potentially giving it a new revenue stream. But there aren’t enough BlackBerry faithful to sustain such a business, especially given the tablet category saw its first year-over-year decline in shipments in the fourth quarter. With its market share at less than 1 percent, BlackBerry seems open to experimentation. Last year brought the unusually wide BlackBerry Passport, with a square screen accompanied by a squatter version of the line’s trademark keyboard. On Tuesday, BlackBerry offered a brief glimpse at a touchscreen smartphone with curved edges on the sides and a slide-out keyboard.