Question: 1. Enumerate and define the facts of the case. 2. What is the ecosystem of stakeholders defined in the case? 3. Define and discuss the different strategies of the BlackBerry and iPhone mentioned in the case. 4. What strategic implications did you learn from the case? How can such a strategy be applied to other business strategies? Give an example.The Failure of BlackBerry to Develop an Ecosystem of Stakeholders In 2007 the Apple iphone was introduced as a consumer product which became known as the smartphone. At the time, the dominant player in this category was Research in Motion (RIM) and later known as BlackBerry. As late as 2010 BlackBerry held 43 percent of the commercial and government communication sectors. As consumers, including the business and government segments, found the smartphone to be superior as far as utility, BlackBerry's market share began to decrease precipitously. Although BlackBerry's technology allowed it to be a superior communication device for email and phone, the iPhone was superior as a handheld computer device, including communication and messaging, with much more versatility. BlackBerry's demise provides an informed example of how the competitive landscape has changed in regard to successful business model implementation. Previously, having a good product or service and well-run cost-effective company with sound capital structure was sufficient. With newer business models, having an effective strategy to manage the ecosystem or network of suppliers and customers has become more salient. Because BlackBerry had remarkably loyal customers and a strong product it failed to recognize the importance of Apple's ecosystem innovation, which allowed it to expand and diversify its range of applications for its handheld computer (smartphone). In particular, complementors to the industry were key; the innovation for Apple was its ecosystem of app developers. Apple not only focused on the value chain of making the iphone and iPad, but it also focused on managing the ecosystem of creating valuable apps. As a result, an army of software developers were committed to producing iphone applications, was behind the development of Apple's device for the general consumer and for business professionals. They created a network of stakeholders and facilitated a way to make it easy to install apps on the phone. App developers responded in huge numbers. When the app store launched in 2008, there were 500 apps. Within a year there were 55,000 apps and over a billion downloads. This was the significant difference between the small development community focused on BlackBerry and the massive development community that arose around applications for the iPhone. The "open" system strategy approach used by Google in fostering the Android system allowed a competitive ecosystem to develop that rivaled that of the iPhone. Even now BlackBerry has not been able to create the type of stakeholder ecosystem comparable to those of Apple and Google. Since 2010 BlackBerry has had two new CEOs and, although there are improvements, the firm has never recovered. Although BlackBerry has tried to focus on the business and government sectors using its classic look with physical keyboard, it still had a 34 percent drop in revenue in fourth quarter of 2014. The reviews of its latest product, the BlackBerry Classic, note that although consumers are likely to appreciate the retro feel of the device because of the perfected physical keyboard and mouse-like trackpad, preloaded apps are slow and poorly designed. The app situation is problematic because BlackBerry doesn't have the number of app developers of the Apple or Google ecosystems. Many of the apps that you do find are difficult to download and often do not resize to fit the Classics' square screen well. As such you get a real physical keyboard to help with emails, manage your calendar, and browse the web, but few other good software applications. Although this is the Classic is the best model ever released, it is expected that BlackBerry will continue to decline due to the lack of quality apps such as the ones found in its competitors' ecosystems. Apple was able to outsource innovation to more developers than it could afford to employ thereby ensuring a steady stream of desirable new applications and content. Transparent revenue sharing for these developers and a few early app millionaires created incentive at negligible expense. On the other hand, BlackBerry restricted its development community and could not hope to innovate fast enough to compete with the iphone's positive feedback loop accruing value to customers, innovators, and content providers, resulting in profitable market share which drew capital market players as well. In summary, BlackBerry's big failure was that it did not pay attention to the complementary software that became available on other ecosystems. A big lesson here is that managing supplier and stakeholder value creation also creates strong support from customers because it creates value for the all stakeholders and likewise draws financial capital and an associated increasing stock price