BlackBerry Ltd recently announced strategies to lessen the company's struggles with today's smartphone tech market. It plans to buy back up to $12 million of its public shares as well as propose a new employee share scheme and a change in their equity incentive plan.

The said plans are to be proposed in the Canadian smarthphone company's annual meeting happening next month. The shares it plans to repurchase, worth up to $12 million, represent an estimated 2.6 percent of its public float, will help increase BlackBerry Ltd's worth up almost 2 percent in trading. If the proposal will be approved, the said shares will be purchased either at the Nasdaq Stock Market or at the Toronto Stock Exchange.   

Blackberry Ltd said that it also plans to present other strategies, including a new employee share purchase scheme, and a revamp of its equity incentive scheme. All these plans are still subject to approval though, but they are all intended to alleviate the company's struggles and at least improve its standing in the smartphone tech market.

We can recall the time when Blackberrys were all the rage and the preferred smartphone for work and business purposes. Its excellent data security was at some point in the past the standard by which working on the go was set. The company enjoyed prominence for some time and had its own cult following, even pitting its products against Apple's emerging iPhones. But as technology became accessible to a wider audience, the emergence of other mobile tech companies like Android, Windows Mobile, and Apple seems to have overtaken the company in the race for mobile tech greatness. 

Things have gone downhill from then and Blackberry Ltd hasn't really recovered since. As of May 10 this year, the company has free float shares at an estimated value of $502.8 million.