????黑莓（BlackBerry）或許已經(jīng)到了搖搖欲墜的地步，但還沒有喪失斗志。

????下個(gè)月，黑莓公司將推出一款叫做Passport的新機(jī)型，它依然搭載了黑莓標(biāo)志性的QWERTY全鍵盤，但是鍵盤只有三排按鍵，也就是只有字母部分。另外它還搭載了一塊罕見的4.5英寸正方型顯示屏。有人也把Passport稱作一款“平板手機(jī)”——盡管它的體型相比之下更像個(gè)“矮胖子”。它最適合放在人們的夾克內(nèi)側(cè)口袋里。

????這正是黑莓想達(dá)到的效果。近年來，由于在與蘋果（Apple）和谷歌（Google）的競爭中敗下陣來，黑莓已經(jīng)失去了很多企業(yè)顧客，急需通過Passport來扳回一城。黑莓希望政府機(jī)關(guān)、金融行業(yè)和醫(yī)療衛(wèi)生行業(yè)的工作人員能覺得Passport“不走尋常路”的三圍恰好適合他們的工作。

????市場調(diào)研機(jī)構(gòu)IDC公司的分析師拉門?拉馬斯表示：“很高興看到黑莓沒有繼續(xù)抱殘守缺，而是在設(shè)計(jì)上走出了自己的路。你絕對不會把Passport與黑莓之前的Bold、Q10等機(jī)型混淆了，而且它的大屏也有助于黑莓與其他競爭對手保持一致?！?/p>

????僅僅是追上競爭對手還不夠。據(jù)IDC估算，2014年第二季度，黑莓的全球市場份額（根據(jù)出貨量來計(jì)算）僅有0.5%。而短短五年前，黑莓的全球份額最高時(shí)曾達(dá)到20%。不過如果黑莓的份額能保持穩(wěn)健的個(gè)位數(shù)，也足以讓股東相信，公司正在朝著正確的方向發(fā)展。

????IHS公司的電信行業(yè)分析師韋恩?蘭姆指出：“從黑莓重返企業(yè)客戶陣營可以看出，CEO程守宗的目標(biāo)是很現(xiàn)實(shí)的。不過除非他能阻止企業(yè)顧客繼續(xù)‘棄船’，并且阻止黑莓的BB10平臺繼續(xù)被邊緣化，否則不管設(shè)計(jì)上如何創(chuàng)新，都無助于黑莓的茍延殘喘?！?/p>

????高德納公司（Gartner）的分析師肯?杜拉尼也認(rèn)為：“問題的關(guān)鍵是黑莓的BB10軟件。雖然它的設(shè)計(jì)不錯(cuò)，但它依然存在缺乏應(yīng)用的問題，另外它也沒有微軟（Microsoft）、蘋果和谷歌那么多的資金。”

????另外黑莓也缺乏給力的合作伙伴。今年七月，蘋果和IBM達(dá)成合作，同意IBM將安裝了自家數(shù)據(jù)分析軟件的iPhone和iPad銷售給IBM的企業(yè)客戶。企業(yè)客戶原本是蘋果的軟肋，但與IBM的合作卻使蘋果在這一領(lǐng)域獲得了強(qiáng)勢支持——而企業(yè)客戶陣地正是黑莓的傳統(tǒng)“自留地”。

????蘭姆表示：“此舉對于黑莓來說非常危險(xiǎn)。如果在IBM的幫助下，iPhone和iPad在企業(yè)里成了主流，那么黑莓就再沒有地方可去了?！?/p>

????黑莓現(xiàn)任CEO程守宗去年11月才正式走馬上任，不過他從沒公開表示過黑莓的扭虧為盈要依賴智能手機(jī)銷量的復(fù)興。相反，他花了很大精力繼續(xù)改善Blackberry Messenger應(yīng)用。歸功于行業(yè)領(lǐng)先的安全性和文字與郵件的無線通訊加密技術(shù)，BlackBerry Messenger一直是黑莓引以為傲的一個(gè)差異點(diǎn)。程守宗希望與安卓和蘋果通過簽訂授權(quán)交易的方式獲得收入來源。

????另外，黑莓的QNX軟件部門（QNX是黑莓于2010年收購的一個(gè)操作系統(tǒng)）也在為汽車行業(yè)和云服務(wù)行業(yè)開發(fā)新技術(shù)。拉馬斯表示：“程守宗正在把黑莓開放給更多的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)合作伙伴，此舉反過來也會給黑莓的解決方案帶來更多價(jià)值?！?/p>

????但是這并不意味著程守宗不愿看到黑莓智能手機(jī)成功“續(xù)命”——尤其是公司決定將生產(chǎn)外包給臺灣的富士康科技集團(tuán)（Foxconn Technology Group）之后，做手機(jī)的利潤已經(jīng)有了很大的提高。

????蘭姆表示：“黑莓需要做的是專注于他們對企業(yè)的價(jià)值定位，同時(shí)繼續(xù)專心發(fā)展他們著名的安全性能。他們要贏在給‘《財(cái)富》500強(qiáng)’企業(yè)提供更好的解決方案上。硬件創(chuàng)新只是錦上添花?！碑?dāng)然如果“添”得好也是不錯(cuò)的。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：樸成奎

????BlackBerry may be on the ropes, but the company hasn’t lost the will to fight.

????Next month, the company is expected to release the Passport, a new model of smartphone that fuses the company’s signature QWERTY keyboard, slimmed to three rows and strictly alphabetical, with an unusual 4.5-inch square display. The device has been called a “phablet,” the term for a tablet-like smartphone, though it is comparatively squat. It’s best suited for the inside pocket of a jacket.

????tly the point. The Waterloo, Canada-based companyhopes that its device will be used by the enterprise customers it lost in recent years as it failed to keep pace with rivals like Apple and Google. BlackBerry hopes that government, finance, and health care workers find the device’s unorthodox dimensions ideal for their work.

????“It’s great to see BlackBerry step outside of its comfort zone and forge its own path in terms of design,” says Ramon Llamas, an analyst for the market research firm IDC. “Passport won’t get confused with previous BlackBerry models like the Bold and Q10, and the large screen keeps BlackBerry in pace with the competition.”

????Keeping pace may not be enough. For the second quarter of 2014, BlackBerry’s global market share, as measured by shipments, was a paltry 0.5%, according to IDC estimates, down from its all-time high of 20% five years ago. Still, strong single digits may be enough to convince shareholders that the company is making the right decisions.

????“By going back to their enterprise client base, CEO John Chen is being realistic with what he can accomplish,” says Wayne Lam, a telecom electronics analyst at IHS. “But unless he can stop enterprise customers from jumping ship and having the BB10 operating system decline into irrelevance, no measure of design innovation can really help him remain viable.”

????Ken Dulaney, an analyst at Gartner, concurs: “The issue will be the Blackberry 10 software. While well designed, it suffers from a lack of applications and doesn’t have the funding that Microsoft, Apple, and Google have.”

????Or the partnerships. In July, Apple and IBM announced a partnership in which IBM would sell Apple’s iPhone and iPad, loaded with IBM applications for data analysis, to business customers. It’s a move that gives Apple serious support in a market where it traditionally has been weak and, it’s no coincidence, where BlackBerry has traditionally been strong.

????“This move is a huge danger for BlackBerry,” Lam says. “If IBM can help legitimize the use of iPhones and iPads in enterprise, BlackBerry will be left with nowhere else to go.”

????BlackBerry’s CEO Chen, who was officially named to the post in November, has never predicated his turnaround strategy on a massive revival of smartphone sales. Instead he worked to turn BlackBerry Messenger, an application that continues to be a point of differentiation for the company thanks to industry-leading security and encryption for wireless text and e-mail communications, into a significant source of revenue by signing licensing deals with Android and Apple.

????Further, BlackBerry’s QNX software division—named for the operating system it acquired in 2010—is developing new technologies for the automotive and cloud-services industries. “Chen is opening BlackBerry to more ecosystem partners, which in turn adds value to the BlackBerry solution,” Llamas says.

????But that doesn’t mean Chen wouldn’t like to see BlackBerry smartphones take a new lease on life—especially now that profit margins have been greatly improved by his decision to outsource manufacturing to Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group.

????“What BlackBerry needs to do is focus the value proposition they offer to enterprise as well as their renowned security capabilities,” Lam says. “They need to win in offering the better solution to Fortune 500 companies. The hardware innovations are just the icing on the cake.” Still, how sweet it would be.