Submitted by “Over the past couple weeks, we’ve read a number of bedtimes stories about RIM’s next move. They all start with the same trope: once upon a time, late last century, Apple was on the edge of the precipice and still managed to come back – and how! Today, RIM’s situation isn’t nearly as dire as Apple’s was then. Unlike Apple, it doesn’t need a cash transfusion and, in the words of Thorsten Heins, RIM’s new CEO: ‘If you look at the platform it’s still growing, if you look at the devices we’ve got a single phone that’s sold 45 million units.’ RIM will pull off an Apple-like rebound and live happily ever after. Equating RIM 2012 with Apple 1997 is, in so many respects, delusional. Let me count the ways.”
Remember how a RIM employee wrote an anonymous open letter to the executives of RIM laying out a bunch of issues?
It would be interesting to revisit that letter and see how valid his comments were.
Edited 2012-08-07 14:57 UTC
RIM is in fact following all the steps that Nokia would take if it wouldn’t surrender to MS (minus Linux).
If they manage to carve some successful niche it will be signal to any innovative company it’s not winner takes all situation after all and there’s a place for competition in the long term.
I really keep my fingers crossed. I hope they will some time team up with HTC to expand.
It depends on what you consider to be a successful niche. I think they could be closely compared to Nextel. Nextel you’ll remember had walkie talkie like capabilities that made them the perfect tool for construction foremen and truck drivers. Their sales exploded beyond their core market and then crashed back to the core market. Now the technology in question is just going to be retired. Not enough money in the core market for developing and maintaining devices and connectivity.
BB will shrink back to their core hardcore bbms and corporate email freaks but they are too big to be supported by that. Development costs for new devices are too great. They’ll be taken over and the devices will disappear.
It is going to be some turn around job.
IMO it is all going to hinge on how good Black Berry 10 OS is received and the pricing.
They apparently did a superb job with the virtual keyboard and side loading of Android apps is a big plus.
The other drawing factor is the bundled free browsing on these phones.
I certainly hope all the best for Black Berry. QNX is pretty unique and competition is always good for the consumer.
The only thing that 2012 RIM has in common with 1997 Apple is technology.
Really, RIM sells 1997 technology at 2012 prices… I’m not trolling here, seriously, they use outdated pre-internet data plans, they use outdated keyboard phones, they use outdated OS9-era Operating System… RIM is a vintage company!
And that’s amazing from a market point of view. RIM is still able to sell this prehistoric technology at fairly up-market prices. It’s a miracle.
Yeah, RIM is doomed in the long term, but I think that they are giving us a lesson: People love simple “just work” devices. RIM must focus on that.
Except that 1997 infrastructure is a reality in many parts of the world, coincidentally the same places where RIM is now driving dumb 2 smart convertion.
Edited 2012-08-08 09:44 UTC
EDGE is quite universal nowadays; the only thing that RIM offered in the dark ages was email …thing whihc isn’t used so much by this demographic / in the places you mention it;s more about so called “feature phones” being smartphones, really (like S40 handsets with Opera Mini)
Eh? Am I missing something here? In my country anyway, manufacturers have nothing to do with the data plans – they don’t sell them, they don’t design them. RIM phones use the carrier provided data plans just like any other phone here anyway…
That’s down to opinion really. Having only recently switched from a keypad phone to a touchscreen phone, I can say I desperately miss the keys. If it weren’t for how otherwise wonderful the N9 is to use, I’d have switched back to my E52 already.
Hmmm, maybe. I’ve always found it to me more “modern” than Symbian for example. Not as shiny and silky as iOS & Android, but certainly very capable, and closer to the money than you seem to think. Definitely not OS9 levels of catching up to do!
Prehistoric? Overdramatic much? It’s not cutting edge, but I’ve found them quite reasonable for doing the average smartphone stuff – nice screens and fast enough CPUs for web browsing and viewing office documents for example. Again, they’re not cutting edge, but current enough to be usable.
Considering your gloating, at some other times, about even more obsolete Amiga tech – you are trolling.
I assume Mr. Gassee is speaking from a position of authority on how to run technology companies into the ground, yes?
So here’s a genuine question regarding a current dilemma I have… At the moment I’m hovering over the bench with regards to a 7″ tablet. I want something to carry everywhere and use for books and movies. I have other devices for most other aspects of my tablet life, and I want to get something a little different. At the moment, the Playbook is ^Alb129 for the 16GB version and ^Alb149 for the 32GB in a UK retailer. That’s pretty good. The Nexus 7 is ^Alb199 for the 16GB by comparison. I kind of know that I should go Android, but I keep coming back to the Playbook. There’s a lot to like, despite the lack of an app eco system. Anyone care to comment? What would you do? I can justify buying either, possibly even the 64GB playbook (as that’s something like ^Alb189), but would you buy one over the Nexus 7?
for reading ebooks I got myself a kindle
If you plan on reading a lot on it i highly recommend you get a kindle or a similar e-ink device
And a defective kindle is all you need to qualify for a discounted replacement
I’d thought of Kindle, but I do want to use it for movies etc, so that’s not going to work. I’m also interested in doing some dev work, so Android appeals, as does the Playbook, due to the various App Player versions. I think both are pretty easy to develop for, though I can’t say I really know which has the better advantage.