[lawguyman]

Things are bad. RIM is as beat up as it can be. It has no credibility. No one thinks it can come back. It is a desperate situation.

If I ran RIM, I would take a page from Cortez's handbook and burn my ships. When Cortez set out to conquer the Aztec empire, legend has it that he had his troops go ashore and then burned the ships. Why? This showed that there was no turning back. Either Cortez and his men would be successful or they would all die. There was no going back.

If I ran RIM, I would publicly announce a BB10 release date. I would advertise it. I would stake my reputation and my company's reputation on it. I would give employees stock options contingent on meeting that deadline. I would promise termination if that deadline was not met. I would resign if that deadline was not met.

We cannot have another RIM delay and the same kind of general deadline. Pick a date and stick to it, come or high water. Motivate the entire company to succeed and punish everyone if you fail!

[WinningWithLogic]

I kind of like this, actually.

They'll never do it. But I like it.

At minimum, if RIM miss Q1-13 Thorstein should absolutely resign.

[Chrisy]

Love all the armchair CEOs!

[montyl]

And if you ran RIM, by this time next year they would be in the same shape as Palm is today.

[Chrisy]

Urban Dictionary: armchair quarterback

[jechow]

Things are bad. RIM is as beat up as it can be. It has no credibility. No one thinks it can come back. It is a desperate situation.

If I ran RIM, I would take a page from Cortez's handbook and burn my ships. When Cortez set out to conquer the Aztec empire, legend has it that he had his troops go ashore and then burned the ships. Why? This showed that there was no turning back. Either Cortez and his men would be successful or they would all die. There was no going back.

If I ran RIM, I would publicly announce a BB10 release date. I would advertise it. I would stake my reputation and my company's reputation on it. I would give employees stock options contingent on meeting that deadline. I would promise termination if that deadline was not met. I would resign if that deadline was not met.

We cannot have another RIM delay and the same kind of general deadline. Pick a date and stick to it, come or high water. Motivate the entire company to succeed and punish everyone if you fail!

I like your out of the box thinking. The only problem being Heins would like to work as a CEO again somewhere else if RIM tanks because operation burn our ships fails.

[lawguyman]

No doubt that this is armchair quarterbacking. But, that does not make it wrong to do. If it is raining out and I tell you to grab an umbrella, it makes me an armchair weatherman but that does not mean it is not good advice.

Everyone at RIM, from Heins on down, needs to feel the effects of success and failure. Everyone needs to have a substantial amount of skin in the game.

[njblackberry]

And if you ran RIM, by this time next year they would be in the same shape as Palm is today.

They could be there anyway... The prior co-CEOs did their best to achieve Palm-like status.

[lawguyman]

I like your out of the box thinking. The only problem being Heins would like to work as a CEO again somewhere else if RIM tanks because operation burn our ships fails.

How many jobs is he going to get with killing RIM on his resume?

[dbmalloy]

Would make sense if RIM was developing and manifacturing a known item.... If it were a matter of making a known quantitiy... then I would agree..... As BB10 is still being developed.... it would be foolish to tag a date to the project.... this is the actions RIM that has RIM on the edge......

[OzarkaTexile]

How many jobs is he going to get with killing RIM on his resume?

RIM was likely dead when he took over.

I like the boldness of the ship burning strategy, but one difference between RIM employees and Cortez's men, RIM engineers can leave for better jobs. When you have layoffs, you select the least valuable people to let go. The most valuable people often choose to leave on their own, because they have the most options for alternative employment. What you're left with is brain drain and the middle of the pack.

[OniBerry]

No doubt that this is armchair quarterbacking. But, that does not make it wrong to do. If it is raining out and I tell you to grab an umbrella, it makes me an armchair weatherman but that does not mean it is not good advice.

Everyone at RIM, from Heins on down, needs to feel the effects of success and failure. Everyone needs to have a substantial amount of skin in the game.

Naw, just makes you concerned about a friend who may get wet.

So, you look outside and see that is raining, and you happen too mention to someone they should take their umbrella with them, as they will probably be soaked. Awesome suggestion.

The difference between armchair CEOing a corporation and say, the person who makes the fries at McDonald's is that, usually the person doing the armchair work, doesn't normally have a clue as to what the company may or may not be doing (as opposed to the fry guy) Have you read some of our more intelligent suggestions? RIM should pay for everyone to upgrade to a BB10 handset (I am still laughing) Another problem, they already have their reputation 'on the line' They just cut about 31% of their work force (or are in the process of) Going around your company letting it be known that firings will come if BB10 is delayed again (People don't always work well under threats) may not be in your company's best interest. You are demanding that they (RIM) stand behind their product (without knowing what they have completed, and what issues they are facing) and give us the date that it will be released.

[berklon]

Love all the armchair CEOs!

No worse than the current CEO and execs at RIM.

Let's see... after Apple launched their first iPhone, there were many who stated that RIM better get moving with something equivalent. A year later when the iPhone really took off and a ton of apps were available for it - these same people continued to get on RIMs case for still not coming out with an equivalent while stating that the apps are a very important part of surviving.

Here we are 5 years after the introduction of the iPhone and RIM STILL doesn't have an equivalent and no real ecosystem to speak of.

Regardless of this particular idea, it sounds many of these "armchair CEO's" understood the market MUCH better than RIM CEO's.

Your attitude of laughing off the "armchair CEO's" is exactly the attitude RIM had that put them in the situation they're in today and soon to be bankrupt.

[njblackberry]

Well, according to this article - and this one is really over the top - no ship burning is required..

Kill RIM, Burn the Corpse and Buy Speculative Nokia - TheStreet

[lawguyman]

RIM was likely dead when he took over.

I like the boldness of the ship burning strategy, but one difference between RIM employees and Cortez's men, RIM engineers can leave for better jobs. When you have layoffs, you select the least valuable people to let go. The most valuable people often choose to leave on their own, because they have the most options for alternative employment. What you're left with is brain drain and the middle of the pack.

I don't know whether the typical programmer has a contract or not. If they are on contract, you can't do much to penalize them. But, if they are at will employees, I would do the following:. Your salary is cut by 25% (pick a number). If we succeed and launch on time (have a firm set of criteria for what is launchable), you will be paid 150% (pick a number) of your regular salary. Everyone in the company should be required to do the same. If you lose people, they are people worth losing. You will be left with team players who have an incentive not to fail.

[EchoTango]

Kinda hard to burn ships when you don't have them to burn......

Sorry guys, but as an ardent supporter of RIM, I've lost the faith ! I think Thornstein and the rest of RIM's employees will continue to go to work everyday until the paycheck stops. Keep in mind, it's not their money at risk. They'll go through the motions until the board, who do have hard cash at stake, puts an end to the charade.

It will be an interesting AGM this month. We thought last year's was the tipping point and that the management and board got the message.

Clearly they didn't.

[undone]

RIM needs some Jedi Mind tricks right now...'Already dead, move along nothing to see'....

If for no other reason just to get off peoples 'kick me I am down' grid.

I like the burn your ship idea, but I think RIM in this particular case is still out at sea, with its rudder final fix (aka no more captain clueless and captain oblivious) its just a question of can they make it to port before then run out of supplies. Some say yes, some say no, personally I would rather the market NOT to shrink, choice is key for innovation.

[kbz1960]

So get off of one sinking ship only to get on another. Nice.

[berklon]

Well, according to this article - and this one is really over the top - no ship burning is required..

Kill RIM, Burn the Corpse and Buy Speculative Nokia - TheStreet

If Apple or Samsung were to do this, it would take RIM out at the knees and would speed up their demise.

I would actually love to see that happen just to see RIM's reaction.

I'm not sure Apple/Samsung would need to do this though, as it would cut into their profits and BB users are jumping to Apple/Samsung faster and faster as it is.

[aniym]

That is one dumb article, low even by TheStreet's standards. First of all, it is needlessly vindictive, suggesting that the author has some chip on his shoulder about RIM.

Secondly, RIM is going out of business all on its own. Apple literally makes hundreds of dollars on every single phone they sell, and plenty of my friends switched from BB to the I4S without any sort of incentive.

MS on the other hand could benefit from such a trade-in scheme. They need to pull out all the stops for WP8.

[anon(757282)]

Apple was down once and had nothing in the product hopper, and was begging for money. Look where they are now. RIM has over $2 billion in the bank, no debt, and a product line that should be compelling once released. They also have a large global customer base. Battered and bruised, but still fighting.

Don't Panic. Not time to burn, but time to build! And meet your deadlines!

[berklon]

Apple was down once and had nothing in the product hopper, and was begging for money. Look where they are now. RIM has over $2 billion in the bank, no debt, and a product line that should be compelling once released. They also have a large global customer base. Battered and bruised, but still fighting.

Don't Panic. Not time to burn, but time to build! And meet your deadlines!

VERY different scenarios. Apple came into a market (MP3 market) that was in it's infancy and ran with it. Then Apple pretty much created the touchscreen smartphone with ecosystem market and ran with it. This is how they turned it around.

RIM? They're trying (and unsuccessfully so far) to release a "me too" product that's NOT in it's infancy and is already dominated by Apple and Google.

You can't even compare the two situations.

Your post isn't based in reality, it's based on emotion and/or delusion.

[jd914]

Apple was down once and had nothing in the product hopper, and was begging for money. Look where they are now. RIM has over $2 billion in the bank, no debt, and a product line that should be compelling once released. They also have a large global customer base. Battered and bruised, but still fighting.

Don't Panic. Not time to burn, but time to build! And meet your deadlines!

I'm gonna use this post as my signature in January.

[kennyliu]

OK, then the question is:

Imagine that the OS turns out to be just great, complete, with no missing pieces, no bugs, with competitive content, etc., which may be quite an unrealistic assumption.

How much of the market share do you think BB10 will gain within a year after it debuts? How many BB10 phones do you think they'll sell? What will the margin and revenue from BB10 phones be?

[jd914]

OK, then the question is:

Imagine that the OS turns out to be just great, complete, with no missing pieces, no bugs, with competitive content, etc., which may be quite an unrealistic assumption.

How much of the market share do you think BB10 will gain within a year after it debuts? How many BB10 phones do you think they'll sell? What will the margin and revenue from BB10 phones be?

They will gain very little if any market share. The stigma attached to the name Blackberry is what's going to keep BB10 from being successful, that's if it ever ships. How many times have we heard those who own BB's asked "you still have a Blackberry?!?!?" RIM is damaged beyond repair, their inability to keep up with the times has come full circle and bit them in the a$$.