黑莓與富士康合作開發手機謀轉型
科技2014年05月19日
黑莓公司首席執行官程守宗和該公司的Z3智能手機。這款手機由富士康設計和分銷。
Beawiharta/Reuters
印尼雅加達——長期以來，黑莓公司(BlackBerry)的設備
在印尼一直很受追捧。兩年半前，該公司在該國的某個購物商場里推出一款新手機時，購機人群變得變得異常騷動不安——這部分上是由於前一千名購機者可以享受
半價優惠——以至於防暴警察匆忙趕到現場，以防發生不測。
但即便是在印尼，黑莓的命運也發生了轉變。上周，當公司開始發售專門針對印尼市場打造的Z3智能手機時，消費者普遍反應冷淡。
然而，對於這家陷入困境的公司來說，Z3的推出代表了一條新的路
徑。Z3是一款觸屏手機，最引人矚目的是其190美元（約合人民幣1200元）的親民價格。像絕大多數手機製造商一樣，黑莓也長期外包其手機的製造環節，
但Z3的設計和分銷環節也是由台灣製造商富士康科技集團(Foxconn Technology Group)承擔的。
富士康最廣為知之的身份可能是iPhone和iPad的代工廠。黑
莓與該公司的這種合作關係，是在一個對黑莓而言頗為關鍵的時期達成的。儘管近幾年來，黑莓設備在全球銷量暴跌，但在董事長兼首席執行官程守宗(John
S. Chen)試圖把公司重心轉移到服務和軟件上之際，手機業務的營收對該公司仍然至關重要。
與富士康達成這項協議，可能為程守宗爭取了一些時間——就算只爭取了一點點。
「在釐清前進道路的時候，程守宗對手機業務採取的僅僅是維持態度，」倫敦研究機構ABI Research的分析師尼克·斯賓塞(Nick Spencer)說。
「但是，在這樣小的規模上，你想知道黑莓如何能生存下去。消費電子產品的關鍵在於規模大小，」他說。
上個季度，該公司售出了130萬部手機，而去年同期的銷量為600萬部。但是，如果沒有手機業務，黑莓的規模就會大大縮水。上個季度，黑莓總營收為9.76億美元，疲軟的硬件業務仍然為其貢獻了37%的份額。而一年前，手機業務佔到了其27億美元銷售額的61%。
富士康的兩名負責人拒絕對該公司與黑莓的關係直接置評。「我們專註於通過提供研發、設計、製造及物流保障等服務來為客戶提供支持。」該公司在一份聲明中表示，「在價值鏈中向上移動，提供全方位服務，是我們的一貫策略。」
國際數據公司(IDC)的電子製造服務分析師邁克爾·J·帕爾馬(Michael J. Palma)表示，由於無需再自行採購零配件，黑莓可以從富士康的購買力中受益，而且從一開始就可以對手機的最終成本有個更清楚的概念。「我認為這是個聰明之舉，」他補充說。
富士康也有助於黑莓縮短開發周期。長期以來，新產品開發緩慢都是黑莓的一條軟肋——該公司最近一段時間的旗艦產品黑莓10，其開發進度就一再拖延。
程守宗說，黑莓員工為Z3開發軟件，並監督富士康在硬件方面的工作，整個過程花了四個月的時間。「可能是這個行業中的最快速度，」他說。
（帕爾馬錶示，儘管蘋果通常需要一年時間來開發新iPhone，現在很多公司推出新機型只需三至六個月時間。此外，印尼無線運營商批准新機型的速度也比其美國同行快。）
對於富士康來說，與黑莓達成這種合作的時間也很不錯。帕爾馬說，黑
莓正在和富士康的一家子公司FIH打交道。該公司全名為富士康國際控股(Foxconn International
Holdings)，它在經營方面正面臨困境。FIH之前的主要客戶諾基亞(Nokia)也是一個已經失去消費者青睞的手機品牌。（諾基亞現已成為微軟旗
下的一家公司。）
帕爾馬錶示，自那之後，FIH主要是面向中國的小型手機公司開展業務。「對它來說，黑莓是個很不錯的新客戶，」他說。
Z3可能比以前的黑莓手機便宜，但可能便宜得還不夠多。雅加達獨立科技分析師魯比·阿蘭亞(Ruby Alamsyah)表示，現在印尼市場上的Android手機售價可以低至88美元，還不到Z3價格的一半。
「我認為，可以選擇在後蓋刻上『Jakarta』（雅加達）字樣只是Z3的一個營銷噱頭而已，」他說。「該公司仍然希望在印尼市場上東山再起，但我覺得，如果它的價格還是高於大多數廉價Android手機，這個希望就實現不了。」
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BlackBerry’s Partnership With Foxconn Signals Shifting Priorities
May 19, 2014
John S. Chen, BlackBerry’s chief executive, with the company’s Z3 smartphone, designed and distributed by Foxconn.
Beawiharta/Reuters
JAKARTA, Indonesia
— Indonesians have long loved BlackBerry devices. When the company
introduced a new phone two and a half years ago, a crowd at shopping
mall here became so unruly — in part because of a half-price offer for
the first 1,000 buyers — that riot police were rushed in to stand by.
But even in Indonesia,
BlackBerry’s fortunes have changed. Last week, when the company started
selling the Z3, a smartphone it made specifically for this market,
consumers reacted with a collective shrug.
Nevertheless, the arrival of
the Z3, a touch-screen device mainly notable for its budget-friendly
$190 price, signals a new path for the struggling company. BlackBerry,
like most phone makers, has long contracted out the manufacturing of its
phones, but the Z3 has also been designed and distributed by Foxconn
Technology Group, the Taiwanese manufacturer.
BlackBerry’s partnership with
Foxconn, a company perhaps best known as a builder of iPhones and iPads,
comes at a critical time for BlackBerry. Although sales of the
company’s devices have plummeted globally in recent years, the revenue
from the phone business remains vital as John S. Chen, BlackBerry’s
chairman and chief executive, tries to shift the organization’s focus to
services and software.
By reaching a deal with Foxconn, Mr. Chen may have bought himself some time — if only a little.
“John Chen is just sustaining
the handset business as he sorts out the way ahead,” said Nick Spencer,
an analyst with ABI Research in London.
“But at these low volumes, you wonder about BlackBerry’s viability. Consumer electronics is about scale,” he added.
During its last quarter, the
company sold 1.3 million phones, compared with six million during the
same period a year earlier. But without the phone business, BlackBerry
would be a significantly smaller company. In the last quarter, the
ailing hardware business still generated 37 percent of BlackBerry’s $976
million in revenue. A year earlier, phones accounted for 61 percent of
$2.7 billion in sales.
Two representatives for Foxconn
declined to comment directly on its relationship with BlackBerry. “We
are focused on supporting our customers by providing services such as
research and development, design, manufacturing and logistics support,”
the company said in a statement. “Moving up the value chain to provide a
full suite of services has been our ongoing strategy.”
Michael J. Palma, an
electronics manufacturing services analyst at IDC, said that by no
longer sourcing parts by itself, BlackBerry will benefit from Foxconn’s
buying power while having a clearer idea of the final cost of handsets
from the outset. “I think that’s smart,” he added.
Foxconn will also help
BlackBerry shorten development cycles. BlackBerry has a long history of
being slow to develop new products — BlackBerry 10, its most recent
flagship product, was repeatedly delayed.
Mr. Chen said BlackBerry
employees handled the software development for the Z3 and supervised
Foxconn’s work on its hardware in a process that took four months. “This
is probably the fastest in the industry,” he said.
(Mr. Palma said although Apple
typically takes a year to develop new iPhones, many companies now turn
around new models in three to six months. Also, Indonesian wireless
carriers are faster to approve new models than their American
counterparts.)
It also is a fortuitous time
for Foxconn. Mr. Palma said BlackBerry was dealing with a Foxconn
subsidiary, Foxconn International Holdings, which is known in the
industry as F.I.H. The subsidiary, however, has been struggling. In the
past, the subsidiary’s main client was Nokia, another company whose
phones have fallen out of favor with consumers. (Nokia is now part of
Microsoft.)
Mr. Palma said F.I.H. had since
turned mainly to small phone companies in China for its business.
“BlackBerry becomes a nice add-on,” he added.
The Z3 may be less costly than
previous BlackBerry offerings, but that may not be enough. Ruby
Alamsyah, an independent technology analyst in Jakarta, said that
Android phones now are sold in Indonesia for as little as the equivalent
of $88, less than half the price of the Z3.
“I think the Z3, with the
optional engraving of ‘Jakarta’ on the back, is only a marketing
gimmick,” he said. “They still want to recover in the Indonesian market
but I don’t think they’ll get it back if the price is still higher than
most cheap Androids.”
Joe Cochrane reported from Jakarta, Indonesia, and Ian Austen from Ottawa. Muhammad Rusmadi contributed reporting from Jakarta.
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