[Superfly_FR]

Dr. your patient doesn't need anymore of that sweet, cough syrup you keep feeding him. He's coughing up blood. That's emphysema with a side order of inoperable lung cancer. Never mind the embolism. He doesn't need a pep talk; he needs an oncologist and a priest, stat! In fact, nevermind the oncologist.

You have the same scans as the rest of us. RIM has been showing the purest clearest pictures of cancer a corporation can have. It is a textbook case. It has been spreading to every part of the organization for a very long time. You can come to accept it or not. But no one has to assign credibility to the notion that it's only a cold, and RIM will come back stronger than ever. Just hurry up with that priest.

I'm happy some of my family and friends or even anonymous, get cured when you, doctor, said "let them die" (besides that, I believe your analogy is a bit ... well ... you know).
Reminds me this, still sitting on my desktop for dark days when I miss my mother too much; some go threw, others don't.

[Superfly_FR]

I have to disagree. As much as I dislike Apple, Jobs was brilliant.

Yes, indeed.

And RIM is in far worse shape than Apple was.

No, it wasn't : anemic market share, no software, poor cash and internal (ego) fights ...
Marketing wise, apple story is basically a ... miracle. Or a genius shot, the one that happens once in a decade.

[kevinnugent]

Ay carumba! I like the cut of your jib, lawman!

[qbnkelt]

Rim should name their next phone the Aztec.

NNNNOOOOOEEESSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I can think of is that HIDEOUS car!!!!!

[lawguyman]

While that makes for a nice story AFTER the fact that Cortez won there would have been a whole different viewpoint if Cortez had got his a$$ kicked by the Aztecs and upon retreating found embers instead of his ships. The first to kick his nuts in would have been his own men and history would have judged him to be the biggest moron who walked this Earth. Success makes stupidity seem to be a winning strategy.
There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity. Cortez's stupidity is seen as bravery only because he won.
RIM will be ready when they are ready. If they don't bring BB10 in time for market acceptability then they are dead. The market might even accept a 4th Quarter 2013 date, all the naysayers and stock analysts don't really know what works in a market. But that's besides the point.
By announcing a date and staking personal reputations like Cortez did would be shooting oneself in the foot. Simply because once the announcement is made and they don't make that deadline, the market would definitely kill them and hey the ships are burnt anyway so there's no going back.
Discretion is the better part of valour.

What you have written is true for most people and in most cases. It is not true for RIM. RIM is looking doom in the face. Time is its enemy. It needs to motivate its employees to be excellent. It is either succeed or fail.

[sam_b77]

What you have written is true for most people and in most cases. It is not true for RIM. RIM is looking doom in the face. Time is its enemy. It needs to motivate its employees to be excellent. It is either succeed or fail.

RIM needs to motivate its people for sure and for all we know they are still highly motivated but simply underestimated the task at hand. At this point in time everyone knows that no one at RIM has any sort of realistic time line. In that event announcing a date and committing to it would be dangerous. I think they themselves don't know how much time it would take. They only have a rough guess at this point. Why announce a date when they are in no position to? If they can't keep that date, the Aztecs will kill them .

[mud314]

My question is this, what has the board been doing all these years? They allowed two goons to run the company, did nothing. Then they select an escape goat and still nothing. Shouldn't the board of this company be as much to blame, if not more, than the two id1ots and the goat?

[undone]

How's that VCR coming along?

Wow...must have been a jerky day for you...

[kill_9]

The OP fails to recognize that most of Research In Motion's employees have no part in product development (hardware or software).

[Majestic Lion]

So......you're saying Thor is a mass murderer?

Nope. I'm saying that Cortez was, and the OP seeking to emulate his reasoning behind burning his ships in order to encourage his men to be "bold" (ha!) is quite short-sighted.


Also, this is the reason many CEOs are advised against speaking publicly without coaching, as they're prone to saying things that are similarly not well thought out.

[Ben1232]

OP, Maybe that was the rationale of the last two bosses / owners and they've backed down.

[Buzz_Dengue]

Love all the armchair CEOs!

I love all the armchair Wallace Hartleys!!!

[Buzz_Dengue]

Rim should name their next phone the Aztec.

or Aztek...

[OzarkaTexile]

My question is this, what has the board been doing all these years? They allowed two goons to run the company, did nothing. Then they select an escape goat and still nothing. Shouldn't the board of this company be as much to blame, if not more, than the two id1ots and the goat?

I think the two goons deserve all the credit for RIM's success and all the blame for it's failure. Boards rarely provide anything more than token legal oversight, especially when things are going well.

[billbsb]

I like the originality and boldness! I smiled to the comparison with Cortez. Cool!

[Rangrfan]

i want to know a successful business that runs on the premise of punishing their employees? god some of you are psycho.

[rcheung135]

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 suppose it's easy to say you can take the reins as POTUS, but when you actually get into office it's a completely different story.

[rcheung135]

i want to know a successful business that runs on the premise of punishing their employees? god some of you are psycho.

Foxconn? Apple perhaps?

[Laridae]

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.

As much as I like your historical reference to Cortes, that is a monumentally Baddd idea!
They tried that once with the PlayBook - shipped it before it was ready - and how did that work out? Even with an updated O/S now, it's too late - the damage is done; they don't come back.

What RIM has to do is make sure that BB10 is polished and bug-free when it's released. (Isn't that what makes Apple products so successful? Jobs was fanatical about making sure everything worked properly.) And if it happens to enable its users to walk on water, then that wouldn't hurt either. Crunching the deadline is certainly dramatic but, alas, naive and simplistic. As someone once pointed out; making a baby takes 9 months, no matter how many women are assigned.

[h20work]

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!

Someone just watched "hunt for red october" again

[Laridae]

Building a platform, not a product.
This says it all; wish I'd read it sooner.

http://crackberry.com/blackberry-10-...ts-vs-platform

[Luckyman6886]

Foxconn? Apple perhaps?

No, I don't think that