On an analyst call last week Jim Balsille, co-CEO of Research in Motion said, “The launch of Pearl has been the most successful Blackberry launch that we have ever had. Our intention with Pearl was to open up a new market segment for Blackberry and this is what we have experienced.”
There is no doubt that the BlackBerry Pearl plays a huge part in RIM’s better than expected earnings, 95 cents per share, 2 cents more than what the street predicted, however, I just cannot help but feel that RIM left a lot on the table with the BlackBerry Pearl. RIM added 875,000 new subscribers this passed quarter, but, that number might not be related to first BlackBerry owning Pearl users as you might think.
We’ve seen estimates that say only 60% to 70% 30% to 40% of BlackBerry Pearl buyers are first time consumer BlackBerry buyers. If this is the case, the Pearl could have only been responsible for a fraction of the new subscribers RIM added this quarter.
I think that the lack of a BlackBerry Pearl marketing campaign truly targeting new consumers and a discombobulated release of the Pearl on Cingular allowed “the most successful BlackBerry Pearl launch ever” to go largely unnoticed by the audience the BlackBerry Pearl is supposedly targeting.
Was the BlackBerry Pearl launch successful? RIM sold a crap load of devices so, on the surface, you have to say yes, the BlackBerry Pearl was extremely successful. A potential issue for RIM is that the BlackBerry Pearl, although a success, wasn’t overwhelmingly successful with the target audience of first time BlackBerry buying consumers.
Fortunately for RIM, they sold enough BlackBerry Pearls to the ‘wrong people’ that they still beat the street and have now have the hindsight to address getting the BlackBerry 8800 into business users and consumer users hands alike.
Robb: I agree with you that the marketing of the Pearl could have/should have been amped up even more, and certainly Cingular again botched a major BB launch pre-Christmas.
That all being said, what RIM accomplished with the Pearl was really “rimarkable.” For a company like RIM to go off in an entirely new design direction with the success they achieved is really pretty amazing, mistakes and all.
As for those estimates of first time buyers of the Pearl being about 60 to 70%: even that is not necessarily a negative. First, 60 to 70% still amounts to a pretty substantial number. Second, that figure also indicates a rather large degree of current user loyalty and excitement. I am sure when Apple releases a new model of iPod, many of the initial buyers are current iPod owners as well. So that percentage figure can be taken as a feature and not a bug.
Going with the iPod analogy, even that device took about a year or so to really take off in sales.
So it’s still very early in the cycle of RIM’s consumer product line, and some mistakes are to be expected. But measured against realistic expectations, RIM has hit a home run.
Thought, I made a mistake in this post. I said only 60% to 70% of BlackBerry Pearl users. I actually had this backwards. Only 30% to %40 of BlackBerry Pearl sales were from new BlackBerry subscribers.
I wouldn’t call 30% to 40% new subscriber adoption negative either when existing BlackBerry users are buying the Pearl in droves, however, RIM will have to re-evaluate their consumer marketing campaign, or lack there of, if they truly want to make an entrance into the consumer market. The Pearl not only is catching on with consumers slower than what analyst thought it would, consumers aren’t aren’t aware that the Pearl is the “BlackBerry for them.”
The iPod did take a year to catch on, however, it was a new device and Apple marketed the hell out of it until it did. MP3 playing smartphones aren’t brand new, however the consumer market is still immature. Like I said the other day, RIM is selling an email device that makes phone calls and plays MP3s to a market looking for a mobile phone that can send email and play MP3s.
RIM needs to change this perception with consumers if they are to have a chance in this market. Unfortunately their competitors have a head start on them. That SuperBowl commercial idea that you have, however, could change that overnight.
Robb: Ahh…that statistic change makes a big difference. You are correct…if the estimate is true, and we really don’t know for sure, then you are correct…RIM needs and wants more than 30 to 40% of Pearl buyers to be new to BB. However, that indeed is at least an opening into the market.
You are also correct: Apple has marketed the heck out of the iPod, and that has made a huge difference.
Now if RIM had a marketing campaign like Apple does with the iPod…well, one can dream…
I would settle for a consumer marketing campaign period. If RIM does anything that even approaches what Apple does with the iPod, it is game, set, and match for everyone else.