A company flailing its arms and latching onto anything…
Taylor Carter titled his post on February 8th as “Superior Features Don’t Always Win” and I think he’s right. Taylor talked a bit about Blackberry vs. iPhones in his post and I’d like to focus the subject of my post on RIM.
RIM is a company that has been talked about so much it’s old. When it’s brought up in casual conversation, it is met with a roll of the eyes, a breath and a sigh. But as a Blackberry user who still has a tinge of affection for my smartphone, I’d like to talk about the desperation I see within RIM.
The newest update about RIM? Nothing much other than what can be summarized in this article in the Vancouver Sun. I quote:
RIM rolled out the full version of its BlackBerry Mobile Fusion platform – which allows corporate BlackBerry networks to manage Apple Inc. devices such as the iPhone or iPad as well as Google Inc. Android-based devices – the same day the company was hit with yet another lawsuit and a report saying BlackBerry’s anemic share of the United States smartphone market is still bleeding out.
In February 2010, RIM held 42% of the smartphone market in the US. By November 2011, this became 16.6%. By February 2012, this was 13.4%. This decision to let in other mobile platforms seems to me that RIM is letting go. The smartphone industry is one that is predicated upon exclusivity – that my app store has more apps, that no one else has BBM or that my multitouch screen is superior. It may not be too far to suggest that RIM is divesting it’s smartphone operations. It seems like RIM has finally decided that they’re good at security and the business platform and finally focused on it.
But they aren’t.
BB10, RIM’s next Blackberry platform is a source of confusion. This article tries to explain some of the BB10 features. Most important points? Blackberry won’t run Blackberry apps. No, they won’t. Instead, they will run Android apps. But not all apps will transfer over. What a confusing message – even more confusing in light of Blackbery’s Mobile Fusion announcement.
What is RIM trying to do? Remember, only less than a year ago this was the message that RIM was sending out:
If there is one thing we learned about promotions in Marketing, it’s coherency, consistency and integration. No matter what the promotional channels, there has to be one message. But for RIM, there is no single message to be understood. For an individual, confidence can mean a lot when no one else believes in your idea. The same concept applies to a company – RIM just looks desperate right now. And it shows. No, superior features won’t always win, but never mind winning, first set yourself up to win.