Infographic: The death of RIM

[Jos]

When Research In Motion released the first BlackBerry smartphone around 2002 (they marketed two-way pagers prior to that), the ability to send and receive push email combined with web browsing, organizer, and phone capabilities made it an instant hit. The Ontario-based firm quickly became a force to be reckoned in the mobile space, garnering a legion of devoted "CrackBerry" users who could be seen tapping away on its keyboard at all times. It was meant primarily for business types but its messaging system lured in consumers as well.

That fanaticism is quickly disappearing, though. In an industry characterized by fast-paced change and cut-throat competition, RIM got too comfortable with its success and was blindsided by the iPhone revolution in 2007. Today, Apple and Google, two companies that weren't even competing in the mobile space five years ago have taken the market by storm, while the BlackBerry maker still hasn't been able to come up with an answer.

The infographic below highlights some of the highs and recent lows of the company. It's a bit oversimplified to fit the format but it paints a pretty good picture of the abysmal slide RIM suffered the last year. There's a lot riding on the upcoming BlackBerry 10 release. The message is clear: it's do or die.

Created by: MBAOnline.com

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https://www.techspot.com/news/48377-infographic-the-death-of-rim.html

 

[psycros]

Its disturbing how much that little guy's receding hairline mirror's my own. I'm sure at least a few strands were lost due to frustration with Blackberries.

 

[princeton]

It's really unfortunate, especially since I live in Kitchener. If they do go under completely it's going to really kill our local economy. They have like 3000 people employed here directly, and more jobs indirectly created by them. I'm praying for BB10 to be good for the sake of where I live, but TBH I don't even expect much from them if it's built on the same foundation the playbook was.

 

[Tekkaraiden]

Must be a slow news day if they have yet another "death of RIM" article.

 

[Archean]

I think I read somewhere the RIM is 'considering' to find a 'suitable' buyer for the company, but at this moment anyone who buys RIM they probably will be after the patents.

 

[lawfer]

I think I read somewhere the RIM is 'considering' to find a 'suitable' buyer for the company, but at this moment anyone who buys RIM they probably will be after the patents.

Maybe Apple. They could use the patents. Microsoft literally has most patents, and Google just bought Motorola, that leaves Apple as the only one in the playing field with the least defense.

 

[Archean]

If so, I think MS should buy them out, and do what Jobs did with MS i.e. 'forced' BG to invest in Apple + develop apps for Macs+ out of court IP settlement. Just a thought nothing more

 

[Punkid]

i hope to see Apple with the same fate by 2015

 

[BMfan]

i hope to see Apple with the same fate by 2015

There's too many hipsters in the world
the only reason RIM is still popular in South Africa is because of BBM and a few die hard fans.

 

[Guest]

RIM has over 75 million paying subscribers around world, and expanding . . . . .

 

[Punkid]

RIM has over 75 million paying subscribers around world, and expanding . . . . .

Are u ignoring the fact that theyre not doing well??? Their share fell 10x ,theyve failed to innovate... hell just read the infographic above lol

 

[m4a4]

What people don't get is that enterprise servers are their bread and butter and they will be focusing on that for the next few years (hence an opening to "bring your own phone" service to companies so that they can have the reliable servers of RIM with whatever phone they want).

So I cannot see RIM "dying" anytime soon. Maybe the BlackBerry (if their BB10 doesn't do as well as they though it would), but not RIM.

 

[lawfer]

i hope to see Apple with the same fate by 2015

I'm curious as to why you'd want Apple to fail? They innovate, they adapt to market needs, hell, they created a new market with the iPad. Just give credit where it's due, you don't have to like them, but wishing a company that actually makes good products fails, is bit too much don't you think?

 

[Archean]

I am not sure 'they created' the market, but rather they choose the right moment to sell a product with the right mix of specs + user experience, remember there were others who made tablets before them, but failed.

 

[Guest]

What everyone talks about when they discuss RIM are the financials. In my opinion, that's just the outcome of poor strategy. I think RIM's problem was a long-time coming because of strategy, not financials.

1) They sold their phones as primarily business-driven, not consumer devices. Most consumers want a phone for media consumption, that's thin, can be used as an MP3 player, to watch videos, text efficiently and for social networking. In basically all of these aspects, RIM has failed to design a consumer phone.

2) Because their phones were primarily used by stuck up Bay Street types, it wasn't long before the brand itself became 'uncool' and pretentious business snobs or generally corporate slaves. For younger generation of consumers who want a "cool" smartphone, this is the exact opposite of what you would want to be associated with owning. The problem stems from point #1 - RIM never properly segregated their phones into 2 products lines: (1) Consumer (2) Business.

3) Confusing product line. All the names 9680, blah blah, don't make any sense to consumers. Unless you were a hardcore RIM fan, and you wanted to buy a flagship RIM consumer phone, you had no idea what phone that actually was.

Overall, imho, what killed RIM wasn't just its inability to innovate. It's too difficult to innovate when you don't know what type of company you want to be. Until today, RIM has not made it clear that it's a consumer-driven company, rather than a business driven company like IBM is. Until it starts marketing itself and making more user-friendly consumer phones like HTC, Samsung, Motorola or Apple, it's just going to move closer to death in North America; leaving only emerging markets as the only safe heaven for this brand.

 

[hahahanoobs]

i hope to see Apple with the same fate by 2015

I'm curious as to why you'd want Apple to fail? They innovate, they adapt to market needs, hell, they created a new market with the iPad. Just give credit where it's due, you don't have to like them, but wishing a company that actually makes good products fails, is bit too much don't you think?

http://www.techpowerup.com/164969/Apple-Seeks-to-Patent-MacBook-Air-Design-OLED-Brightness.html\

^Innovation like that?

 

[m4a4]

i hope to see Apple with the same fate by 2015

I'm curious as to why you'd want Apple to fail? They innovate, they adapt to market needs, hell, they created a new market with the iPad. Just give credit where it's due, you don't have to like them, but wishing a company that actually makes good products fails, is bit too much don't you think?

They do not innovate, as they take old tech or someone elses tech and markets it as their own.
They do not adapt to market need, but only "adapt" when it's in their best interests.
They did not create a new market, as the tablet market was already there. They just launched a tablet knowing it could not fail with their sheeple following.
And then they do not make "good" products. They make average products at a high price point.

I would say that with their practices, they either need to change or die. However I doubt that it will happen soon since people are too blind to care...

 

[princeton]

That's bullshit and everybody knows it m4a4. Every tablet before the iPad failed, and the market had been dead since around 2006. Apple's iPad wasn't the same as the junky windows tablets from years before.

 

[m4a4]

There was, and still is little use for tablets. That's why they weren't popular (not necessarily a fail). Apple knew that if they put enough magical marketing behind their ipad, it would sell before those people knew what they would use it for.
I have a tablet, and it is practically never used as it never needs to be used. I have also heard of many peoples ipads collecting dust....

 

[Tygerstrike]

As someone who has to deal with cell phones every day, the post above describing hoe RIM wasnt able to transition to a more consumer market is more correct then most would think. BlackBerrys dont sell. Not to your average consumer. They want big screens for videos and gaming. They want to listen to music. And they want to customize their device to their own "style".
As for Apple, Tablets, ect. Apple is an evil genius. They lead ppl around with media hype on their products. Then the sheep HAVE to go buy the newest brightest Apple product. As Apple has specifically marketed to the 16-24yr olds. Who by and large have desposable income to throw at Apple who greedily gobbles it up.
Tablets....well I say tablets are a great tool. For some it is needed for their work. For some its needed for play. Tablets are a personal kinda thing. I use mine both at work and at home. Yes there are some days when I dont need to use it in one place or another. I was as sceptical as some others when I first recieved my tablet. Why would I need one?? Then I got to useing it at home for general "couch browsing". Then I got to use it at work and found the benifits of doing so. Now me and my tablets <xoom and Ipad2> are almost inseperable.

 

[Guest]

Blackberry will have a new phone that will have Android customize specifically for Blackberry on it and also the next tablet which I heard will be on par with the Samsung Galaxy tablet. Guess they finally understood what was needed to do.