iPhone is the New BlackBerry
Writer and philosopher George Santayana once said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. This quote has been reworked in popular culture to the very famous saying “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. This has been a statement assigned to many world leaders to avoid repeating the sins of their predecessors. However, I feel that it can also be applied in everyday life and also in business. A knowledge of what worked and did not work in the past is crucial to success in the present and the future.
I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when a report came out that another company was taking a stab at revitalizing the BlackBerry brand. Like many tech enthusiasts, I have very fond memories of BlackBerry in its golden age but also vividly remember how a string of arrogance and bad decisions from their leadership began to lead to their downfall. As I survey the current smartphone landscape I can’t help but see parallels between BlackBerry and Apple. This brought up a question to me, is the iPhone the next BlackBerry? And more importantly, has Apple learned enough from BlackBerry’s mistakes to avoid the same fate?
