How BB wins or loses

Well, RIM struggled last quarter and anyone that cares knows why. But what will come next? Does the RIMPIRE Strike Back?
The answer, after some rigorous analysis is basically this: It is up to us in Crackberry Nation.
Here is the bottom line.
Three areas where RIM will struggle:

1. Carrier/sales support
2. Content
3. Pricing

RIM fell asleep at the wheel. They had a unique advantage and it worked well until the competition got serious. That is RIM's fault. Their products, prior to OS7 phones, were just not able to compete in areas consumers wanted. However, the new OS7 devices are awesome. Really powerful, beautiful, and yes, the best e-mail and messaging secure phones with the best keyboards to boot. So, what is the problem?

1. Sales Support
The OS7 devices are selling extremely well because we, Crackberry users had not had a great BB for a looooong time. However, once this limited user base purchases these phones the numbers will come down. Why? Because the teenagers at the carrier stores are either for iPhone or Android. I had to basically fight with with one of the girls when I took my wife to look at the new Torch 9850 (I got the Bold 9930). First of all, they did not have the phones out, even though they were in the store so my wife did not get to see anything but a box. She did get to see a droid phone with a big screen and lots of apps. The girl did not know her specs at all nor did she mention anything about the horrible battery life or multiple times droids have been infected with viruses due to their open source. Further, these kids just want to play games and watch videos. It does not matter that the new BB's are equal to the iP4 on internet and 1000x better on e-mail and messaging.
Same goes for the Playbook. If you go to Best Buy, you may feel the same sadness I do when I see the awesome Playbook, upside down, crashed and unusable next to the spec inferior iPad2. Playbook has a 10% faster processor, better cameras and speakers. I got a Playbook on launch day and loved it so much I got one for my wife and my mother in law. They love them as well. Infact, my co-worker saw how awesome it was and he went out and got three for his family. Still, the sales people there will walk you to the apple shrine and if that does not work they will walk you to android. I had to ask if they had BB Playbooks.
Both the new BB OS7's and Playbooks are very competitive. However, if they are not presented fairly, most people will never see them or worse be told not to get them.

2. Content. I was happy to hear Mike talk about BB Movie Store and BBM Music as well as the Android Player and other matters relating to content. BB finally got the memo on this. However, the BIG content providers (Google, Apple, Amazon) all have or will have tablets and/or phones so they have zero incentive to rush to help RIM compete. They would rather take the market share (which is still huge - 70million world wide.). However, if more and more people use BB they will have no choice but to support it. The competition for content is going to help us.

3. Pricing. Did you know that the iPhone is purchased by the carriers at over 600 bucks and the NEW BB's, such as the Bold is little over 500 bucks? Why is it then in a market economy that the iPhone sells for 199.90 and the new BB sells for 250.00? The reason is Apple's strategy to establish a dominant negotiating position with each carrier before moving on. I have no problem with android but frankly, this type of stuff makes me know I will never get an iPhone. That and the new restrictions to content apps is pushing Amazon's Kindle and Google Books out of the apple eco-system so they can force users to buy their damned books. That and the fact that they are sue happy and going after HTC to try to stop their sales in the U.S. as they have in Europe is despicable.

Anyway, the content issues, now that the new BB's are powerful enough to handle any content will take care of itself over time.
The other two issues (kids selling phones and pricing) are where we come in.

If we just show (not sell but just show fairly) our new BB phones to people thinking about a new smart phone or the Playbook to those thinking about a tablet, then RIM wins huge. Every single person I have shown the devices to is very impressed. Several of them have gone and purchased them. If everyone on Crackberry that likes BB OS7 phones does that, at least once in a while, BB sales and marketshare will soar. If we don't, these very awesome devices will just become a niche product.

What do you think? I don't work for RIM or know anyone from RIM but I do care when I see unfair market practices out there. Microsoft did it to Apple and they would have gone under if but Microsoft injected cash into them to avoid anti-trust stuff. It seems that Steve Jobs learned the wrong lessons from this. I'll never buy a Microsoft phone or an iPhone and would be open to android but just like BB better. But I want people to really have an opportunity to make their own decisions. Many people will not even see the new BB at the stores so it is up to us, the users.