/
Navigation
Chronicles
Browse all articles
Explore
Semantic exploration
Research
Entity momentum
Nexus
Correlations & relationships
Story Arc
Topic evolution
Drift Map
Semantic trajectory animation
Posts
Analysis & commentary
Pulse API
Tech news intelligence API
Browse
Entities
Companies, people, products, technologies
Domains
Browse by publication source
Handles
Browse by social media handle
Detection
Concept Search
Semantic similarity search
High Impact Stories
Top coverage by position
Sentiment Analysis
Positive/negative coverage
Anomaly Detection
Unusual coverage patterns
Analysis
Rivalry Report
Compare two entities head-to-head
Semantic Pivots
Narrative discontinuities
Crisis Response
Event recovery patterns
Connected
Search: /
Command: ⌘K
Embeddings: large
TEXXR ▲
TEXXR

Chronicles

The story behind the story

← → days · ↑ ↓ browse · Enter similar · o open

BlackBerry chief lays out survival plan and says iPhone is old news

BlackBerry chief exectutive officer Thorsten Heins has said the rapidly advancing global smartphone market has left Apple's iPhone in its wake, and predicted his company would have 100,000 native apps available …

Financial Review Paul Smith

Context & Ripple Effects

BlackBerry’s app-targeted survival plan follows an earlier PlayBook-era effort to compete with Apple and the company’s reported consideration of a switch to Android. Heins is making native-app availability the measurable case for staying with BlackBerry’s own smartphone platform, even as comScore data in the corpus places Apple atop U.S. smartphone OEMs entering 2013.

The claim that the iPhone is “old news” is primarily a positioning move: it joins a wider contest over smartphone narrative, where analysts had said Apple’s restrained marketing left room for rivals to shape the conversation.

First-order effects

  • BlackBerry’s stated 100,000-app target puts developers and native software availability at the center of its handset recovery pitch to buyers and partners.
  • Apple faces a public challenge from BlackBerry’s chief, though the supplied U.S. market data still identifies Apple as the leading smartphone OEM.

Second-order effects

  • BlackBerry, Apple and other handset makers are pushed to compete not only on devices but on the breadth of software their platforms can attract.
  • Developers gain greater leverage in BlackBerry’s recovery effort because the company has made the size of its native catalog a visible test of platform viability.

Third-order effects

  • If native-app catalog size becomes the decisive benchmark, smartphone competition shifts further toward complement ecosystems, making standalone device positioning harder to sustain.
  • The episode points to a market in which platform owners must pair hardware launches with credible developer incentives and a clear public narrative.

The trend: Smartphone makers are increasingly treating developer ecosystems and app availability as core competitive assets alongside handset design and marketing.

Related: Open-weight complement economy · BlackBerry · Apple · Special report: A PlayBook for fighting Apple

Related Coverage