1. carullo's Avatar
    05-29-11 11:12 AM
  2. Zach7's Avatar
    Interesting article. It has been popping up on the forums this morning!
    05-29-11 11:19 AM
  3. CGI's Avatar
    This is the part most of us agree; "They're stuck in the past. They know what worked and keep playing that card and it's not working any more, and they don't seem to have any ideas,"

    Blackberry seems to be stuck in "me too" mode... implementing what others are doing months after others do it... and not doing anything special/better than the competition --> see playbook.

    I do think RIM will succeed. But I do think they need something radical to happen to snap out of this funk.

    Fortunately for them; there are a bunch of loyal customers who still appreciate what they do well --> the communication aspects of their handsets.
    05-29-11 12:15 PM
  4. Zach7's Avatar
    I wonder with all the recent Microsoft sightings and relationships between the two companies if this holds any water? Interesting in the podcast they mentioned the two companies also!
    05-29-11 12:19 PM
  5. sleepngbear's Avatar
    The problem I see with shuffling execs at this point is it's like locking the door after the horses are out of the barn. The problems that RIM is feeling right now are due to strategic errors made four years ago or more -- specifically failing to recognize the the threat of the iPhone. Had they done so rather than scoff at the idea as something that could never be built when it was still being rumored, they'd still have been reacting, but at least they'd have been reacting sooner.

    I think RIM's management is doing ok today, considering the hole they dug themselves years ago. I really don't know what changing leadership at this point will change. What they need is an injection of some serious marketing smarts. And I'm not talking about slick ad campaigns -- I'm talking about marketing from the ground up. Studying the wants and needs of existing and potential customers, finding holes in what the competition is currently providing, and coming up with the next innovation that's going to have the other guys playing catch-up. Maybe that's what QNX on a hand-held will give them, I don't know. I do know that what they need is more than just faster processors and higher-res displays. If there is to be a shift in executive management, that shift needs to bring in somebody who can come up with something that will do to the business what BES and BIS did.
    Zach7 and allengeorge like this.
    05-29-11 02:20 PM
  6. Zach7's Avatar
    The problem I see with shuffling execs at this point is it's like locking the door after the horses are out of the barn. The problems that RIM is feeling right now are due to strategic errors made four years ago or more -- specifically failing to recognize the the threat of the iPhone. Had they done so rather than scoff at the idea as something that could never be built when it was still being rumored, they'd still have been reacting, but at least they'd have been reacting sooner.

    I think RIM's management is doing ok today, considering the hole they dug themselves years ago. I really don't know what changing leadership at this point will change. What they need is an injection of some serious marketing smarts. And I'm not talking about slick ad campaigns -- I'm talking about marketing from the ground up. Studying the wants and needs of existing and potential customers, finding holes in what the competition is currently providing, and coming up with the next innovation that's going to have the other guys playing catch-up. Maybe that's what QNX on a hand-held will give them, I don't know. I do know that what they need is more than just faster processors and higher-res displays. If there is to be a shift in executive management, that shift needs to bring in somebody who can come up with something that will do to the business what BES and BIS did.
    Very well put!
    05-29-11 02:51 PM
  7. southlander's Avatar
    ... Studying the wants and needs of existing and potential customers, finding holes in what the competition is currently providing, and coming up with the next innovation that's going to have the other guys playing catch-up...
    The only issue I see with that is it assumes the speed from ideas to execution has to be fast. Not looking that way now. Except supposedly the PlayBook was built from the ground up in about a year.
    05-29-11 03:07 PM
  8. greggebhardt's Avatar
    RIM needs more than marketing. They must introduce some cutting edge hardware. Unless they do, they will keep fading.
    05-29-11 03:58 PM
  9. jemei's Avatar
    They should give some flexibility to consumers. At the moment owning a BB is much expensive than other smartphones in most of the countries. You have to pay xtra monthly BIS plus a data plan.

    Talk about apps. Nothing much I can see in apps world and most of the developers are not really interested to develop for BB.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    05-29-11 08:48 PM
  10. sleepngbear's Avatar
    RIM needs more than marketing. They must introduce some cutting edge hardware. Unless they do, they will keep fading.
    I don't agree with this at all. RIM has never been about cutting edge hardware, even when they were on top. They do need to get their hardware more up to date, and I believe the specs on the next batch of phones coming out will be perfectly adequate for that. No matter what's cutting edge hardware today, somebody will always come out with something newer and faster soon enough. RIM needs a new differentiator, and hardware isn't it.
    05-29-11 10:22 PM
  11. WillieLee's Avatar
    They've tripled revenue since the launch of the iPhone. That's some horrible performance.
    05-29-11 10:23 PM
  12. howarmat's Avatar
    RIM needs more than marketing. They must introduce some cutting edge hardware. Unless they do, they will keep fading.
    I don't agree with this at all. RIM has never been about cutting edge hardware, even when they were on top. They do need to get their hardware more up to date, and I believe the specs on the next batch of phones coming out will be perfectly adequate for that. No matter what's cutting edge hardware today, somebody will always come out with something newer and faster soon enough. RIM needs a new differentiator, and hardware isn't it.
    They may not need cutting edge but they are dumb as **** not to have a FFC on any of them and better have wifi hotspot feature too. these are pretty much a standard on all phones now.
    05-29-11 10:27 PM
  13. Skeevecr's Avatar
    Blackberry seems to be stuck in "me too" mode... implementing what others are doing months after others do it... and not doing anything special/better than the competition --> see playbook.
    If you don't think that the playbook isn't special and doesn't do something better than the competition then I would suggest that you haven't actually used one because while there are some areas where it lacks there are also some things that it does brilliantly.
    05-30-11 02:16 AM
  14. _StephenBB81's Avatar
    RIM needs more than marketing. They must introduce some cutting edge hardware. Unless they do, they will keep fading.
    I completely disagree!

    RIM needs Solid Hardware, but it doesn't need to be cutting Edge
    RIM needs a Robust Development environment for Developers to make apps
    RIM needs a stable and consistent OS
    RIM needs to Release bloody phones!


    Cutting edge doesn't sell phones, if it did then you'd see no low cost androids, the curve wouldn't have sold as well as it did, and the iPhone 3GS would have been blown out of the water. the Playbook and xoom would have sold a million units opening week. Specs are NOT the end all be all of development, was the 9700 and all subsequent phones under powered? yes,
    did they need 2Ghz processors? no!, all of them SHOULD have had the Torch Processor, at full clock of 800mhz NOT down clocked to 624Mhz
    05-30-11 08:14 AM
  15. _StephenBB81's Avatar
    They may not need cutting edge but they are dumb as **** not to have a FFC on any of them and better have wifi hotspot feature too. these are pretty much a standard on all phones now.
    a review of "all phones" at Rogers shows that less than 20% of the phones they offer have both FFC and Wifi Hotspot.
    05-30-11 08:15 AM
  16. _StephenBB81's Avatar
    To the Point of RIM needing new management?
    I don't think that is the case, they are starting to move, and there was some internal juggling during playbook development putting some forward thinkers as project managers which is positive!

    I do wish RIM would come out of their tried tested and true business model and look for other sources of revenue, BES was a sell feature for Blackberry 5,6,7 years ago, today it isn't something you can sell, they need to either 1: Make BES a must have product again, 2: Make an Add on for BES to target other markets, 3: Focus on the consumer and build a robust content delivery platform, like itunes has for Apple products.


    RIM wont and SHOULDN'T ever be the hottest hardware on the market, and the sexiest phone, can't do it when building both an OS, and a Device, and trying to maintain functionality for the business user and consumer alike, without relying on 3rd party's for software, and we know RIM doesn't like relying on 3rd parties, they go out and buy 3rd parties they rely on. But this doesn't mean RIM can't make a compelling product, they have to either SECURE their enterprise relationships before the BYOP mentality truly takes over, or they need to make a way to attract the consumers.
    05-30-11 08:21 AM
  17. Economist101's Avatar
    They've tripled revenue since the launch of the iPhone. That's some horrible performance.
    Arguments regarding RIM's business prospects aren't based on its revenue and profit; it's still running a more profitable phone business than all but one manufacturer.
    05-30-11 09:42 AM
  18. ngoogs's Avatar
    These CLOWNS announce a phone (9900) earlier this month and it looks like it won't even be released until August/September WITHOUT hardware improvements. Wtf kind of marketing is that? Don't play your hand too early.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    05-30-11 10:40 AM
  19. ngoogs's Avatar
    After reading some of these comments I am starting to agree that blackberry doesn't need CUTTING edge hardware - they need solid hardware that will provide a good, stable performance and then they need to focus on improving their software! I'm just frustrated with the 9900 delay to August because my 8330 is VERY dated here in 2011... I do think the bold touch is going to be a slick device (and so will the rest of the upcoming devices), I'm just frustrated that they weren't here yesterday like they should have been. But being patient will pay off in the long run, I assume, because despite my 8330 not running as many apps as I'd like it to (I'd like Shazam and a few others but I can only run Facebook and twitter and keep reasonable performance) and the web browsers being completely unacceptable, the blackberry platform meets my needs entirely!

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    05-30-11 10:50 AM
  20. allengeorge's Avatar
    @deRusset: I agree with your point that RIM is too focused on their previous revenue model, which focuses on enterprise connections and BES. The problem with that approach is that Apple and Google will come in and eat that market from the low-end.

    RIM has been missing out on some big trends. They've been so focused on the BlackBerry as a communication device that they've missed the fact that:
    1. People want to use their phone as a go-anywhere-computer
    2. They want full-time access to all their content (either purchased, or created)


    For 1) one thing RIM can do is put out phones with a minimum feature-set (touch-screen, trackpad, xxGHz processor, OpenGL support, x:x ratio, etc. etc.). Just doing this would simplify developers' lives substantially. Instead of having to fragment your application development up for multiple platforms you can start developing against this reference one. And they do need to improve their development experience - it's hard to find anyone that's pleased with BlackBerry development.

    For 2) I think RIM has to rethink a lot of things. A big reason why Google is so popular for end-users is because it allows you convenient, anywhere-access to your data and preferences [think GMail, Google Contacts, Calendar, Docs, GoogleReader, Youtube, ...]. RIM needs to make the experience the same for the users of its products. For example, you should be able to edit a document on your phone/tablet in DocsToGo, and then, later, edit the same document on your laptop without having to plug in your phone and transfer the files. I actually think BlackBerry Bridge and WiFI Sync are interesting (but not fully-realized) steps in this direction: they virtualize the location of your data; you simply care about accessing it, not necessarily where it is. For PIM, RIM may have to really beef up BIS and cannibalize BES to get to that point, but it's far better than losing that market entirely.

    Other things that can be done include partnering with Spotify or Amazon to build on-demand media access into they BlackBerry. Spotify is interesting because their social model seems like a natural fit for BBM and the BlackBerry strengths. Maybe you could partner up with some media-hosting service (or build your own) to do quick media/photo-sharing. I think RIM should take a close look at the Kin Studio (though not the Kin - that thing was a flop) to figure out how to visualize social-media in a ... PlayBook, or the web, for example. None of these ideas are disruptive, but I think they're steps towards addressing some of Google's strengths. [Heck - maybe they should simply support all Google services fully :P]
    05-30-11 12:38 PM
  21. Shlooky's Avatar
    All Apple and Google have to do is develop their own version of BBM, enter the business market with enterprise based solutions and RIM is finished.
    It will eventually happen, Apple showed some upgraded enterprise capabilities with OS 4.0 and it's not stopping there.

    RIM has to step it up!!
    05-30-11 04:51 PM
  22. lnichols's Avatar
    I read an article in the Charleston, WV newspaper this morning before leaving my parents for the Memorial Day drive home that was talking about Cisco, RIM and some other company as being likely to get changes at the top. Said Lazaridis should be made only CEO (i'm not sure about that) and B man taken out of co role. Pretty sure that with the poor stock performance that it isn't long before investors demand someones head.
    05-30-11 08:06 PM
  23. sleepngbear's Avatar
    All Apple and Google have to do is develop their own version of BBM, enter the business market with enterprise based solutions and RIM is finished.
    It will eventually happen, Apple showed some upgraded enterprise capabilities with OS 4.0 and it's not stopping there.

    RIM has to step it up!!
    That's all, huh? Jeez, sounds pretty easy. I can't believe neither of them haven't just done this already.

    Apple has made some inroads into the enterprise on a small scale, but they've got a long way to go before gaining wide-spread acceptance. Google's cloud solutions and Chrome OS are lightweights and aren't even on the radar screen yet.
    05-30-11 08:33 PM
  24. howarmat's Avatar
    I read an article in the Charleston, WV newspaper this morning before leaving my parents for the Memorial Day drive home that was talking about Cisco, RIM and some other company as being likely to get changes at the top. Said Lazaridis should be made only CEO (i'm not sure about that) and B man taken out of co role. Pretty sure that with the poor stock performance that it isn't long before investors demand someones head.
    from what we have seen i say the other way around or replace them both
    05-30-11 08:46 PM
  25. Venichie's Avatar
    They just need something that stands out of the crowed. I mean what goes through your head when you hear Xbox? Too me I think extreme games. What about Nintendo? Family and group gaming. How about Apple? Realiabe and quality perhaps?
    I really think they need to make thesmelfs more known, other then being secure (most don't even know about it being ecenomical).
    One thing I'd change with the playbooks hardware, is its bluetooth tech. Could you imagin how useful the BRIDGE app would be, if they had bluetooth 3.0 (along with atleast 1 phone out with it too)?!
    Now with software, I'd just try to promote more developers to make better inegrated apps with the bridge function.
    I think mostly everything else has been said or thought of. Anyways... I'm just dreaming.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    05-30-11 08:54 PM
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