[blackhawksfan75]

I wouldn't view this as conceding. I see it more as a rebuilding phase, similar to a sports team. Get rid of the old and in with the new. Start from scractch and work your way back to the top. Apple has been there themselves. People will leave, some will stay and I hope for those that do stay onboard with RIM that future is bright.

RIM does have a huge mountain to climb, the consumer wants the best of both worlds with their smartphones. One that will do daily business tasks but also handle their entertainment needs such as music, watch tv, or read books/magazines. RIM failed to realize this until it was too little too late.

[Laura Knotek]

Here is another article.

RIMageddon: Heins follows turnaround playbook, doubles down on enterprise

By Larry Dignan | March 29, 2012, 2:17pm PDT

Summary: RIM struggles to hold its subscriber base as it refocuses on enterprise services and pulls back on me-too consumer efforts.

Research in Motion’s fourth quarter was the trainwreck that was expected, but new CEO Thorsten Heins cleared the executive suite and lowered the expectations for the future. In other words, Heins is following the playbook of many new CEOs and focusing on the company’s strengths.

The moves from the new CEO playbook (not to be confused with RIM’s tablet): Reset expectations, shake things up a bit and hunker down for what’s going to be a bumpy ride for the quarters ahead. When Dell started its turnaround it also stopped providing an outlook.

How bumpy? RIM’s business doesn’t look good. The company reported a fourth quarter net loss of $125 million, or 24 cents a share, including goodwill and inventory writedowns. Revenue for the fourth quarter was $4.2 billion, down 25 percent from a year ago. Excluding charges, RIM’s fourth quarter earnings were 80 cents a share. Wall Street was looking for fourth quarter earnings of 81 cents a share on revenue of $4.53 billion.

On a conference call, Heins said that RIM needs an aggressive shakeup and left the door open to multiple possibilities. “We are undertaking a comprehensive review of strategic opportunities including partnerships and joint ventures, licensing, and other ways to leverage RIM’s assets and maximize value for our stakeholders,” said Heins.

Heins added that RIM will focus on managing multiple devices as well as doubling down on its enterprise strengths. “We can’t succeed being all things to all people,” said Heins. RIM will also look to exit media delivery and consumer focused efforts. Heins added that the company has been whacked because it lacked 4G support.

RIM’s quarter could have been worse, but the company stopped providing an outlook. That move by Heins makes sense. His predecessors missed earnings projections by a country mile after coming out with overly optimistic projections. RIM’s new policy is to refrain from providing an outlook. RIM did say that “company expects continued pressure on revenue and earnings throughout fiscal 2013.”

Even though Heins said that RIM wasn’t a turnaround story when he took over all signs point to the company being a reclamation project. To wit:
The company shipped 11.1 million BlackBerry smartphones, which was light.
RIM wrote down BlackBerry 7 inventory.
500,000 BlackBerry PlayBooks were shipped.
Heins said that RIM has a strong subscriber base of 77 million.
BlackBerry 10 phones are on track for the latter part of 2012.
But Heins said: “the business challenges we face over the next several quarters are significant.”
Clearing the exec suite

RIM’s fourth quarter results also came with a bit of house cleaning. Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO, has resigned from RIM’s board. CTO David Yach will retire. Jim Rowan, chief operating officer of global operations, has resigned to pursue other interests.

RIM said that it will look for one operating chief across the company.

These moves—especially Balsillie’s resignation—put a definitive end to RIM’s previous regime.

However, Heins will need a seasoned turnaround team to compete. RIM’s market share is eroding rapidly, according to Nielsen. Meanwhile, analysts note that RIM’s BlackBerry 7 devices are aging rapidly.

Heins added that RIM is on track to hiring a chief marketing officer. He will also outline his new team going forward.
Another home run needed

RIM’s fortunes largely hinge on new BlackBerry devices on deck later in 2012. In the meantime, Heins said RIM will focus on pushing new BlackBerry 7 devices and catch new smartphone users. Heins said the company must keep its subscriber base in tact so it can develop new services for the enterprise. Heins was even forced to acknowledge that security and push email support—RIM’s historical mainstays—aren’t valued as highly anymore.

Heins noted that BlackBerry 10 devices will be on time, but analysts said that RIM needs a better ecosystem to compete. Developer devices will be delivered in May with shipments of BlackBerry 10 devices later this year.

The biggest worry for RIM going forward is competition. Wedbush analyst Scott Sutherland said in a research note:

With the continued momentum and global expansion of iPhones and Android-based phones, our checks with industry contacts and carriers indicate interest is minimal for BlackBerry phones outside of certain emerging markets. Furthermore, with Window 8 devices coming to the market with Nokia and others, we see increased competition.

Sutherland argued that RIM lacks the content, ecosystem and devices to compete.

RIMageddon: Heins follows turnaround playbook, doubles down on enterprise | ZDNet

[anthogag]

That was from Heins himself.

Quote: "We plan to refocus on the enterprise business and capitalize on our leading position in this segment," Heins said. "We believe that BlackBerry cannot succeed if we tried to be everybody's darling and all things to all people. Therefore, we plan to build on our strength."

And i could cut and paste other quotes but that means one thing; RIM is dropping out of the race for the consumer market and refocus on business.... Um, yea, kiss developers goodbye. Kiss consumer targeted marketing goodbye.

Whats worse is Heins is wrong in his assumptions; apple and android is taking away blackberry share of the business world too. Until RIM discovers what it has done wrong over the last few years, and change that, they will continue to lose both business and consumer market share. The business world AND the consumer world is wanting more of what apple and android is offering. Many of us who are not intellectually dishonest know what that is. Why RIM chooses to ignore it I will never know.

Now sit back and whatch what happens to shares of RIMM now.

I read the blog. How much of the 77 million subscribers are consumers...ya a lot. They spent a lot of effort building a consumer market in countries around the world. They're not going to 'cede' this.

They have a goal to make a great ecosystem. Thorsten said they can't do it alone and this means licensing and partnerships.

Music and video will stay because that's part of the ecosystem

[pythons]

I would agree that RIM does not need to compete in selling music / movies.....
...And that what it NEEDS to do is produce a serious business phone.
...That supports some serious business apps.

What we've witnessed so far are devices that absolutely failed to offer anything worthwhile to "business"....
....And almost less than that for the "fun stuff".
....All the while hyping it's new slab as "Professional Grade"?

RIM need to make hay with it's exchange service and start producing some products that can compete with Droid and Apple......
....Right now RIM isn't competing at all - Business will come back to RIM if they can at least get to where the other guys are NOW.
....Instead of being 3 years behind their tech.

[hootyhoo]

I noticed that the user base increased a paltry 2m (75m last qtr, 77m this qtr). That doesn't seem to bode well for their global strategy.

[anthogag]

The posters in this thread posting bits and pieces from articles,....did you read the live blog on this website

Those quotes are correct but Thorsten basically said he's going to 'take car of business' and RIM can't do it alone on the consumer side. This probably means they'll license BB10

[howarmat]

I noticed that the user base increased a paltry 2m (75m last qtr, 77m this qtr). That doesn't seem to bode well for their global strategy.

correct. The curves they sell at low cost that didnt have much competition are now seeing some competition. The losing marketshare you see in canada and the US is now starting in other countries too

[BBThemes]

I noticed that the user base increased a paltry 2m (75m last qtr, 77m this qtr). That doesn't seem to bode well for their global strategy.

actually, it was closer to 3 million, but this was negated by the way they round the figures.

The posters in this thread posting bits and pieces from articles,....did you read the live blog on this website

yes i did, but i was also listening, so i have all the facts

[grover5]

That was from Heins himself.

Quote: "We plan to refocus on the enterprise business and capitalize on our leading position in this segment," Heins said. "We believe that BlackBerry cannot succeed if we tried to be everybody's darling and all things to all people. Therefore, we plan to build on our strength."

And i could cut and paste other quotes but that means one thing; RIM is dropping out of the race for the consumer market and refocus on business.... Um, yea, kiss developers goodbye. Kiss consumer targeted marketing goodbye.

Whats worse is Heins is wrong in his assumptions; apple and android is taking away blackberry share of the business world too. Until RIM discovers what it has done wrong over the last few years, and change that, they will continue to lose both business and consumer market share. The business world AND the consumer world is wanting more of what apple and android is offering. Many of us who are not intellectually dishonest know what that is. Why RIM chooses to ignore it I will never know.

Now sit back and whatch what happens to shares of RIMM now.

I think your misinterpretation is at a gold medal level.

[grover5]

correct. The curves they sell at low cost that didnt have much competition are now seeing some competition. The losing marketshare you see in canada and the US is now starting in other countries too

I agree that this is happening but I would point out that any consumer buying a mid to low level android device will not become loyal to that brand. Generally speaking the mid to low level android product is woeful at best. Regardless, everything will hinge on BB10. I do feel there are not any great products on the market currently so it is still open season for all.

[dandbj13]

I do feel there are not any great products on the market currently so it is still open season for all.

You forgot the smilie face, because you can't be serious. No great products on the market? Open season for all? Tell that to those still hoping for a WebOS comeback.

[otacon#AC]

RIM isn't giving up. They are just going to go straight to the business sector now. It wouldn't surprise me to see their stock go up on this news. They finally have direction.

[kittencounter]

Best decision ever made!
The consumer market doesn't need efficiency, security and productivity. People want to consume apps and other stuffs. They don't need "smart"phones that do everything for them in the background. They want feature phones that they can interact and enjoy with all the time.
I don't know what RIM will come out with in the future for the enterprise market but I hope they do well.

[PineappleUnderTheSea]

RIM isn't giving up. They are just going to go straight to the business sector now. It wouldn't surprise me to see their stock go up on this news. They finally have direction.

They're not giving up, but it's a pretty darn serious admission that they can no longer compete in the consumer segment.

It's going to suck working at RIM for a while, I'm sure there will be a severe reorganization and layoffs, they'll likely lose a lot of talent. When the guy says there has to be substantial change, it's not a good sign for their workers, it's going to get morale down, and it's going to affect creativity.

[PineappleUnderTheSea]

RIM isn't giving up. They are just going to go straight to the business sector now. It wouldn't surprise me to see their stock go up on this news. They finally have direction.

The stock went down 9% initially in off-hour trading, but when he announced that selling the company is not off the table, it went back up.

[Justthecrack]

The stock went down 9% initially in off-hour trading, but when he announced that selling the company is not off the table, it went back up.

Trading didn't open again until after the call was over.

[app_Developer]

Trading didn't open again until after the call was over.

No, there was trading during the call. I was watching it as I was listening.

[xandermac]

The reality is everyone's going to perceive this statement as "giving up on the consumer market". BYOD is dominated by iPhone and android, we all know this, especially developers. At the same time everyone knows they're losing ground in the enterprise market, the area they just decided to focus on.

Perception is reality.

I think a $125 million net loss will be the best result RIM has for a long long time.


Sent from my iPhone4s using Tapatalk

[grover5]

You forgot the smilie face, because you can't be serious. No great products on the market? Open season for all? Tell that to those still hoping for a WebOS comeback.

I didn't forget an emoticon. I've used all the platforms quite a bit. They all are still wanting. OS 7 more than others in many ways...but they all fall short of a fully capable device in my opinion.

[Justthecrack]

No, there was trading during the call. I was watching it as I was listening.

I see it started again at 4:10 eastern. Regardless, I doubt shares would rise based on whether or not the new CEO jabbers on whether selling is on/off the table. Fundamentals, long-term outlook, and industry structure would determine the likelyhood of that, not CEO jibber jabber, which any large investor would have had guidance on that possibility for a while now. Already reflected in the price.

That initial sell off came on the earnings news, then buy back by those who realize the company still has value above that point. They are still nearly debtless, flush with cash, and holders of several key patents. Now, their DOH (days on hand) of inventory is probably an industry worst by a mile. Gotta manage and move the products better {cool kids apps, marketing}.

[Yaceka]

I was going to pick up a BB10 phone on day one, but after reading this I might go get an iPhone instead. Not getting into the consumer market is going to make the App World even emptier than it already is. :/

[BB10Apps]

This sounds like the complete opposite of everything rim has been doing the last few months. They reach out to developers and offer free playbooks and are developing an ecosystem, then say they are ceding the consumer segment? This doesn't make sense.

I agree with this someone PLEASE EXPLAIN!!!! Also why give those 2000 devices to developers?? or is that cancelled??

[kbz1960]

I think we will hear from Kevin tomorrow?

[WillieLee]

I see it started again at 4:10 eastern. Regardless, I doubt shares would rise based on whether or not the new CEO jabbers on whether selling is on/off the table. Fundamentals, long-term outlook, and industry structure would determine the likelyhood of that, not CEO jibber jabber, which any large investor would have had guidance on that possibility for a while now. Already reflected in the price.

That initial sell off came on the earnings news, then buy back by those who realize the company still has value above that point. They are still nearly debtless, flush with cash, and holders of several key patents. Now, their DOH (days on hand) of inventory in probably an industry worst by a mile.

It was halted because of the news on Balsillie.His departure along with others could have been viewed as a hopeful sign for the future. Especially for the long-term crowd who saw the company trading below book value.

[WillieLee]

I agree with this someone PLEASE EXPLAIN!!!! Also why give those 2000 devices to developers?? or is that cancelled??

AP jumped the gun on the story and went with the negative spin that would grab headlines.