Daniel Zhang has made an interesting point in his recent blog post that RIM could potentially improve their market share if they focus on markets other than Canada and US; however, I am not sure that such a focus would help resuscitate the company. Blackberry’s main point of difference is BBM, and the recent service crashes have compelled even more unhappy Blackberry owners to opt for an iPhone. It will be extremely difficult to re-gain customer loyalty after the numerous glitches and with nothing left to differentiate itself from the heavyweight competitors such as Apple and Samsung, RIM has no hope for survival in the “age of the iPhone”.
Blackberry doesn’t have much of a cost advantage over its competitors making them even less appealing to their target market. Also, Apple has recently expanded its country basin for the App Store, including Africa and Asia, making it more difficult for Blackberry to compete overseas.
I think that rather than focusing on foreign markets, RIM’s best shot is to innovate with the few resources they have left to release a product that is truly unique and is able to compete in the same league as Apple and Samsung.
Works Cited:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/yaochengzhang/
http://www.mediabistro.com/appnewser/apples-expands-app-selling-in-africa-asia-europe_b24037
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/15260186
iphone-vs-blackberry-storm-300×216.jpg (photo)
blackberry-death.jpg (photo)