Blackberry Thumb

            Blackberry introduced two-way pager in 1996. It provided its users with a cellphone that has instant messaging system, email, web browser, trackball to scroll and a full QWERT keyboard. More than 50 million of them were sold in 2011 (Appolonia, 2019). During its peak of success, the company was worth few billion dollars. It was a status symbol of many wealthy. A new medical condition called ‘blackberry thumb’ appeared. Yet, it ended up in Time’s ‘The 20 most successful technology failures of all time’ (Eadicicco L. et. al., 2017). Steve Job introduced iPhones that offered everything that blackberry offered to its customers but had better user experience. Blackberry failed to foresee the disruption that iPhone was creating. It failed to adapt quickly to the changes. By the time Blackberry introduced touchscreens other companies have mastered the technology. Blackberry did not allow its instant messaging service to be installed in other devices and number of other app developers jumped on that opportunity. Steve Job’s marketing and innovation brilliance and Blackberry’s resistance to change were the reason for its downfall. 

            Sociotechnical systems incorporate collaboration between people and technology in the workplace. Even though technology could resolve many issues it could introduce new issues. When Blackberry was first introduced, many corporations jumped on the opportunity to keep their employees connected 24/7. Not all employees who got Blackberry were thrilled by it. Some called it ‘technology leash’ that kept them under control all the time (Krippendorff, 2011). Because of these technologies, some employees find it had to let go of work, even after leaving work. It spoils their personal life and adds unnecessary stress. Technology also introduces risks like data breach. Nowadays, a data breach could bankrupt a company (Galvin, 2018).  

            A newer technology introduced at work could soon become obsolete. Just like New Coke, Blackerry, pagers, Segway, Window 8 and Google Glass became obsolete, a technology could become irrelevant or obsolete for multiple reasons. Some forces that could make an innovation fail are market competition, customers’ preference, technology glitches, practical issues in adapting to newer technology, cost, geo-political climate, and cultural barriers. 

 

References

Appolonia  A. (2019). How BlackBerry went from controlling the smartphone market to a phone of the past. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/blackberry-smartphone-rise-fall-mobile-failure-innovate-2019-11

Eadicicco L. , Peckham M., Pullen J., Fitzpatrick A. (2017)., The 20 most successful technology failures of all time. Retrieved from https://time.com/4704250/most-successful-technology-tech-failures-gadgets-flops-bombs-fails/

Krippendorff K. (2011). The Flow of Technology Adoption Reverses. Retrieved from  https://www.fastcompany.com/1755281/flow-technology-adoption-reverses

Galvin J. (2018). 60 Percent of Small Businesses Fold Within 6 Months of a Cyber Attack. Here's How to Protect Yourself. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/joe-galvin/60-percent-of-small-businesses-fold-within-6-months-of-a-cyber-attack-heres-how-to-protect-yourself.html