Alice Wo's Blog

Inside Maclean’s business blog, James Cowan comments on how Canada never loved Blackberry but respected it. So what does that mean? We know the Blackberry is sinking in sales and its market share is decreasing, but we usually accredit that with its inability to keep up with the ever-evolving smartphone technology. Sharing this opinion is my classmate, Rohanne. In his blog, he believes that by selling patents and intellectual property, RIM will be on the road to recovery. However, although this is partly the solution, Cowan’s analysis might just be the hidden answer.

Blackberry’s fall

The smartphone is innovative, yes, but it never made the same social connection with its customer base the way that Apple (“I’m a Mac”), Samsung (Apple vs. Samsung feud), and Android (cute green mascot) did. Blackberry, simply put, is boring. It expends little innovation in the methods they use to market their product. They are technologically oriented, but they have little regard for their image. Their bland brand positioning lost them a place in the mark. In Cowan’s words, the two CEOs “were astute engineers and businessmen, but lousy salesmen…In today’s smartphone wars, you need a good pitch as well as a good product”.

Source:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/rohannetaylor/2013/10/12/is-this-the-end-of-blackberry/

http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/10/10/we-respected-blackberry-but-we-never-loved-it/