[rjkolo]

I read this and had a sinking feeling in my heart. I love my Blackberry and I would hate to ever see it fall or go but the below link is full of nothing but facts...tough read for Blackberry lovers but a must read for sure.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/23510...macy_race.html

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[californiablackberry]

Android Pummels Apple and Blackberry in Smartphone Supremacy Race

^ Lazy Link for those who don't want to copy and paste.

[southlander]

So, with no new devices, aged products, and bad press RIM is still #3 and virtually neck in neck with Apple? Sounds good to me.

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[darkmanx2g]

41.7% marketshare RIM had 12 months ago. Yup sounds good to me.

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[katiepea]

no you see, apple isn't having quarterly marketshare loss, investors leaving, revenue dropping, and developers leaving....i would say they're as far from neck and neck as you could possibly be.

[Economist101]

So, with no new devices, aged products, and bad press RIM is still #3 and virtually neck in neck with Apple? Sounds good to me.

Would you expect good press for a company with aged products?

[chiefbroski]

Don't worry about it guys/girls! That's like saying Steve jobs is garbage because he is only the 110th richest person in the world. He's not trying to be the richest, he's trying to make an iphone.

What's wrong with number 3? Haha, I love my blackberry and as long as they release better and better devices, I get all warm and fuzzy inside with the new blackberries!

RIM isn't in the business of being the #1 smartphone maker. They are in the business of making the best business and communication smartphone. As customers, we just want the best phone for our money. Lots of people appreciate blackberries for that.

Let's look on the bright side.
Blackberries are now more exclusive, like a bugatti, lol!

[i7guy]

Would you expect good press for a company with aged products?

I could care less about the press, I care about the stock price. What I want to see is an apple-esque turn-around.

[lnichols]

Right they say RIM is drifting rapidly to the bottom of the heap, then they say, at the end of article of course, that WebOS and WP7 are already there and losing too. RIM hasn't put out any good phones for a while so of course they aren't doing great in a rapidly growing market.

[Economist101]

I could care less about the press, I care about the stock price. What I want to see is an apple-esque turn-around.

Apple's turn-around occurred when it pushed into new markets (music players, phones, tablets). Unfortunately, when it comes to identifying the next market to enter, Mike Laziridis is no Steve Jobs.

[curiosityscat123]

One of my concerns for some time now has been that Application Developers view Blackberry as the red-headed stepchild when it comes to making their new apps RIM compatible. Before ya'll get started on how wrong I am, I am saying this from personal experience and frustration as I continually found the "newer" apps I wanted, just weren't compatible with RIM (and most had no plans to develop for it). Plus there was the "little" issue of Adobe Flash being everywhere I turn, yet it not being compatible with RIM (Playbook may change that, but it sure hasn't helped me over the last 6 yrs).

My point being, future Market Share will be dependent upon the apps available/compatible with a device, and it is an unfortunate truth that if Developers do not have the motivation to develop for a platform (as a developer you want the most popular system compatibility - so 3rd in Marketshare doesn't cut it), so BB will lose ground with the masses, which effects Market Share, Company profit, and when you hit a Company in the wallet, the choice is for it to change tactics (i.e. Start motivating developers) or it will eventually fade out (one of the reasons they got their thumb out of their ***, and finally did something about Adobe Flash compatibility - to a point).

I'm a Blackberry fan, because I like the keyboard, but it's getting harder and harder to keep justifying my choice of BB when it is still falling behind in app compatibility.

I hope Blackberry/RIM gets a clue soon, and sees the big picture!

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[katiepea]

RIM isn't in the business of being the #1 smartphone maker. They are in the business of making the best business and communication smartphone. As customers, we just want the best phone for our money. Lots of people appreciate blackberries for that.

Let's look on the bright side.
Blackberries are now more exclusive, like a bugatti, lol!

they definitely used to be in the business of being the #1 smartphone maker, and were also in the business of being the best business platform, so if they're #3 now, might you think maybe they aren't that anymore? as far as the best phone for the money, you're right, that's where RIM really slipped. they were releasing the same phone for years and charging the same as iphone/android handsets, even though their offering was extremely less hardware wise and software wise than what they were competing against.

[ADGrant]

they definitely used to be in the business of being the #1 smartphone maker, and were also in the business of being the best business platform, so if they're #3 now, might you think maybe they aren't that anymore? as far as the best phone for the money, you're right, that's where RIM really slipped. they were releasing the same phone for years and charging the same as iphone/android handsets, even though their offering was extremely less hardware wise and software wise than what they were competing against.

I paid $50 for my 9700.

[katiepea]

I paid $50 for my 9700.

how much was it the day it was released?

$200 is how much it cost, with contract the day of release

[anon(4018671)]

Apple's turn-around occurred when it pushed into new markets (music players, phones, tablets). Unfortunately, when it comes to identifying the next market to enter, Mike Laziridis is no Steve Jobs.

Well there is QNX car... looking forward to seeing what the NDK will allow.
For a lot of people I'd think when the PB has enough features that you could eventually use that as your main system.

Consider:
At home plug it in to a monitor via dock, pair automatically with your mouse and keyboard. You suddenly have whatever sized screen to watch movies etc in presentation mode while typing/chatting with a friend or two or writing up a document. Right now you can't watch a full screen movie on your mac (I use an imac) AND chat at the same time. Your computer is down when full screen'd but presentation mode allows a different experience without owning a computer! The 7 inch is so portable that you can take that with you and connect somewhere else (hopefully) etc... am I crazy? Many positives.

NDK and Apps please!

[ADGrant]

how much was it the day it was released?

$200 is how much it cost, with contract the day of release

I bought it about 18 months ago.

[ADFXPro777]

I do agree with Economist101 regarding Mike Lazaridis. He is a brilliant man and I admire the protocols he has created and implemented for Blackberry. For the most part, I agree with a lot of his ideals and ethics regarding smartphone technology, security and practicality. But when it comes to corporate management and leadership, he might not be the right person for the position.

Overall, however, with a fresh balance sheet, steady income, international sales expansion and the new-generation Blackberries (especially the QNX-powered phones) near the horizon, I wouldn't worry too much about RIM.

[katiepea]

Well there is QNX car... looking forward to seeing what the NDK will allow.
For a lot of people I'd think when the PB has enough features that you could eventually use that as your main system.

Consider:
At home plug it in to a monitor via dock, pair automatically with your mouse and keyboard. You suddenly have whatever sized screen to watch movies etc in presentation mode while typing/chatting with a friend or two or writing up a document. Right now you can't watch a full screen movie on your mac (I use an imac) AND chat at the same time. Your computer is down when full screen'd but presentation mode allows a different experience without owning a computer! The 7 inch is so portable that you can take that with you and connect somewhere else (hopefully) etc... am I crazy? Many positives.

NDK and Apps please!

i think they should probably work on getting email to the device first, then that

[otacon#AC]

Being with RIM for many many years and it really pained me today when I ordered a Droid 3. I've been waiting for RIM to stop playing catch-up for a long time but I don't see it changing anytime soon. Maybe in a year from now or something I'll come back but for now I bid RIM adi�s.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

Don't worry about it guys/girls! That's like saying Steve jobs is garbage because he is only the 110th richest person in the world. He's not trying to be the richest, he's trying to make an iphone.

What's wrong with number 3? Haha, I love my blackberry and as long as they release better and better devices, I get all warm and fuzzy inside with the new blackberries!

RIM isn't in the business of being the #1 smartphone maker. They are in the business of making the best business and communication smartphone. As customers, we just want the best phone for our money. Lots of people appreciate blackberries for that.

Let's look on the bright side.
Blackberries are now more exclusive, like a bugatti, lol!

Good analogy. I agree with most of it. That's just it, RIM doesn't have to be number one. While some people will completely dog them out for not being it, they don't have to be number one in order to be successful.

Now there are obviously many things that need changing at RIM. Until new devices are released to market, they are in a downward spiral. They know it, we know it. Things will turn around. But it will be a very long time before RIM returns to the number one position, if ever. The beauty of it is that they don't have to.

It's hard to compete with Android. There are so many devices it's very very hard to keep up. Especially when they release lower cost devices that really bring in consumers. But it is what it is. The smartphone landscape has changed & is constantly evolving. We'll see where RIM ends up a year from now.

[sosumi11]

RIM isn't in the business of being the #1 smartphone maker. They are in the business of making the best business and communication smartphone.

What is the difference? Didn't RIM used to be the #1 smartphone maker and now you say number 3 is "good enough"?

Being in business and not trying to be the best is a recipe for failure. If management makes this statement, how are employees supposed to react? Can you imagine if EVERY company had this stance? And you can't sugarcoat the it with a business and communication spin. This is no longer valid.

Apple was not even in the industry four years ago, and today every product is compared to theirs.

However, RIM has hope. Although Android phones are selling (thanks to low pricing), Google is not making any money on them. I predict that Google will pull the plug on Android within the next 12 months for the following reasons:

1. Lawsuits, lawsuits and more lawsuits. Google has a fierce battle with Oracle that can be extremely costly even for Google. Not to mention the OEM lawsuits.

2. Free is not free. Microsoft has extorted licensing fees from Android OEM/s and how many more fees will be coming? With Windows coming, I bet you will see many OEMs jumping the Android ship.

3. Google is not getting anything on its investment. Since Google gets compensated by clicks, the fact is that cheap people are buying cheap Android phones. These people simply do not click, nor would buy apps. It's like Napster marketing their new pay service to the 70 million free Napster users. Market to people who WANT to pay. Not to those that don't. It's just a matter of time that Google will realize this. Google is not a consumer company. They have NO support. Android is a money pit for them.

4. Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They demoted Eric Schmidt cause he made an enemy of Steve Jobs.

5. The lost Nortel patents. 'Nuff said.

[katiepea]

google won't be pulling the plug on android, and you can bring up lawsuits all you want, but so far all of these bullying lawsuits seem to be going exactly nowhere, htc only agreed to pay microsoft, they were never ordered to, the US patent office has dismissed nearly all of the oracle claims, and google could very well end up purchasing RIM and owning that patent portfolio. it will however be more interesting to see how the patent system turns out. it's clearly broken, and i don't think it benefits anyone, most of all consumers, for companies to rely on lawsuit money as revenue. i think you're going to see more and more companies teaming up to fight it. what if htc, samsung, and google all just got together and but up RIM and oracle... it's extremely possible, if not likely, as it's currently in all of their best interests. bringing up the nortel patents...well i can't in my rational brain, consider that google did anything other than bid those up, if they wanted them they could have afforded them, that was a joke to start, and google did it with skype, which they also never wanted, also.

also, google makes quite a bit of money from their market, even on free apps

[sosumi11]

Good points, katiepea, but there is the issue of ROI. Is Google really making anything on Android for all of the R&D they pouring in it. The Android tablet is a key part of the the Android ecosystem and if there is no support, where is the platform heading?

RIM and Microsoft both have a solid and very loyal customer base. Google does not. This is going to be a huge factor when renewals come up.

What incentive does Google have on keeping Android going versus just making apps for the more significant platforms? Google's brand can be stronger by making sure they have Google maps, search, message, etc on EVERY device.

They are a software company, like Microsoft. Google needs to remember that.

[Tre Lawrence]

Google's wants one thing: for people to use Google to search. I truly believe Google's strategy does not calculate for profits from Android. In this, Google seems to have learned from Apple: give people stuff for free (or make a fantastic, popular ground level product), and tie them into your ecosystem.

Not, to say it isn't working for Google may seem a bit superfluous, but hey... I'm an amateur.

Also, there is a lot of growing speculation that Google losing the patent war leaves them only one set of options: delay lawsuits and acquisition. Don't know how I feel about that, and speculation sometimes oft leads nowhere. But if we indulge fantasy, who do you think Google will aim for?

[katiepea]

For any other business I'd agree, but this is Google, well known for tossing around money for fun, if you go back to when they released android, they made it clear it wasn't about money, but more about making sure apples draconian influence was limited, and that's word for word why android exists. They weren't ever trying to hit the lottery with android, just release a platform with more options for their customers. I think Google will hold tight for a year, rim won't be any better by then, and I'd wager you'll see rim acquired, by everyone who has a stake in androids future

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