BlackBerry — Clinging to Physical Keyboards

BlackBerry's refusal to abandon physical keyboards after the iPhone's 2007 launch cost it 50% of its smartphone market share within five years. The company dismissed Apple's device as an 'email-less toy' and continued selling QWERTY models like the Bold, even as touchscreen sales surged 800% annually. By 2013, BlackBerry's share had collapsed to 1.9%, and it recorded a $4.4 billion quarterly loss. Its late pivot to touchscreen phones like the Z10 failed to recapture the 79 million subscribers it once commanded. This stubborn pivot is more forgivable than Kodak's because BlackBerry at least tried to compete, but it ranks below Yahoo's indecision because Yahoo had far greater capital to pivot successfully. BlackBerry's resistance left it 30% slower to adapt than the average smartphone maker, sealing its fate.