No, going low end wouldn't have worked, they were focused on enterprise, and that consumers adopted smartphones was just a lucky coincidence.
They were equal to the Windows CE stuff of the time, and the public hadn't bought into touch screen keyboards on phones with resistive screens, they sucked, essentially they were useless unless you were desperate to send a message or compose something on your phone. BB keyboards were a godsend.
But when the capacitive screened iPhone showed up and made it so much easier to use an on screen keyboard, BB should have paid attention to the technology.
Also, the original iPhone was dirt simple, doing something with a BB was tortuous once you used an on screen GUI on a capacitive screened phone.
BB also didn't negotiate with carriers, I remember the Storm had WiFi functionality removed because of Verizon's demand, Verizon was afraid people would use WiFi instead of their expensive data plans/charges. Had the Storm been just a little better and had WiFi, I think it would have sold much better, and allowed BB to focus on capacitive screened phones because of higher sales volumes and profits.
Then the hubris and BS set in, as a market leader, they lacked the imagination and foresight to retain that position.
I really wanted to like BB phones, as mentioned they had good battery life, and they were actually functional, and you could do stuff with them. Apple had the reputation of being a wealthy person's toy, I remember most comments about iPhones were: "I saw a guy with an iPhone today, what a douche." That attitude continues even today, but mostly it's with tech savvy users now who enjoy tweaking their pocket computers. There are some amazing threads on XDA with things like Note 2's with Zero Lemon batteries, modded Otterbox cases to fit and massive modded CF cards tucked in there.
I really enjoy my Note 2, I have a FS BT Logitech kb, a BT MS travel mouse, and a Monoprice cradle that's MHL compatible, turning it into a flipping PC. (protip, Apple stuff doesn't support a mouse), combine that with WiFi printing and it can meet the needs of the bulk of consumers.
That kind of stuff hasn't caught on yet, but it will.
BB is essentially dead, and I'm actually sad, I didn't hate BB, but it's become a symbol of what can happen if a corporation lacks vision and it's leadership can't understand the marketplace.
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