RIM is in hot water, failing stocks, an aging OS, formerly fighting co-CEO’s, and outdated app store that even developers hate developing for, billions worth of inventory sitting around cuz no one wants to buy it.
It would so seem the writing is on the wall for the once cutting edge company. I could cite numerous times the company tried to climb out of the hole, only to fail hilariously. But I’m not. I’m here to actually say some good things about the company.
I”m certainly not a life long blackberry user. I only use one because the company I work for provides one to us at no additional cost. It’s not a terrible phone, but it’s lacking in a few areas that the ‘other’ guys are pioneering.
RIM put smart phones on the market, and at one point were the go-to guys for mobile communications for business; at a time when data on phones was more of a novelty, they took the idea and gave the power to the masses. Data for Blackberry unfortunately only meant emails and eschewed things like texting in favor of updating their Blackberry Email Server for the I.T Manager at all the small to enterprise level companies.
RIM also put Canada on the map as a tech leader – save for Nortel’s stock busting turns at technology.
Their service offering for government and legistative bodies was great (back then) as well. Offering management of devices that really no one understood was a blessing – the ability to brick a device with a keystroke was like a wand of power. RIM was paving the road for future mobile technologies.
Then Apple came around with something that changed the face of mobile tech forever. A smart, saavy phone that gave the user something Blackberry never could: an enjoyable experience. Then Blackberry tried to do something it had never done before either: Adapt to a market that was changing too quickly, that was so radically different from what their phones could do, and put more power to the user, than it did the Administrator.
Unfortunately, RIM can’t handle change all that well. So that’s where we are today; A former giant that’s making last minute plays in an attempt to save itself from a marketplace it once dominated.
If it weren’t for Apple making it’s venture into Blackberry’s territory, we’d all be having a very different conversation right now.
Source taken from:
http://gizmodo.com/5812832/ten-reasons-why-blackberry-is-screwed