Initial reaction to Research in Motion changing their name from the current to Blackberry was not well received by traders as their stock dropped 12.01% to $13.78 a share. This dramatic decrease has mainly been attributed to the fact that by changing their name to “Blackberry” it appears as if RIM is putting all its eggs in the Blackberry 10 operating system basket making it a potentially volatile move if the system fails. It is important to remember that although RIM is mainly known for the Blackberry phone, it is not the single function of their business which also adds to investors’ concern from the name change. From a marketing standpoint, this rebranding of the company may be a smart long run move. Not only have they started with renaming the company, but Blackberry has the opportunity to take away valuable market share from Apple and other competitors by strategically implementing the marketing mix ―specifically price, product, and place.  As highlighted in a Yahoo Finance interview with former Apple CEO John Sculley, the BB 10z phone will retail in the US for $199 with a contract making it a major competitor for firms like Apple whose iPhone product can cost up to $800 with a contract. This gives Blackberry a real shot at taking back some of the precious market share they have lost over the past few years.  Additionally, an issue that has just recently been resolved in Canada is that Blackberry had still not set in stone service providers for their BB 10q phone which is scheduled to be released in March. Clearly if you can’t find distributors for the product there is no way to deliever it and this is something that Blackberry had to address. I do believe that Blackberry has the potential to rebound with the proper marketing mix, but the rebound is also very contingent on the BB10 operating system being a success.

– Sean Bell