I am often asked the question, “What can RIM do to get the BlackBerry back on top?”
To be totally honest , I don’t know that there is anything, realistically speaking, that RIM could do to regain the crown of top smartphone in the foreseeable future.
As a matter of fact, a potential bright future for Research in Motion could be one where the BlackBerry doesn’t even play a significant role in getting things turned around.
A lot of people, many industry analysts included, believe that Research in Motion exists as a company because of the BlackBerry. What actually is true is that Research in Motion is the company that manufactures the BlackBerry and does a list of other things that generate tremendous revenue for the company with far greater margins.
Jim Balsillie’s strategy wasn’t a bad one…
The story behind Jim Balsille’s resignation from RIM’s Board of Directors is making its way around the interwebs.
It is a story where Mr. Balsillie, in essence, wanted to start offering RIM’s proprietary network infrastructure to carriers so they could offer inexpensive smartphones not necessarily named BlackBerry to their customers with very inexpensive data plans that offer BBM, Facebook, Twitter, and a few other social media services.
RIM’s network services are ridiculously high margin compared to the BlackBerry and it makes almost a billion dollars for RIM each quarter.
It would be naive to think that a path to righting the ship at RIM couldn’t be based around expanding RIM’s proprietary network beyond BlackBerry users whose numbers are well south of 100 million to Earths’ feature phone / low-end smartphone market which numbers in the billions of users.
It would be equally naive to think that the only viable future for Research in Motion is one where the BlackBerry is a dominant force in the smartphone landscape.
I personally hope that the first BlackBerry 10 device turns out to be the best smartphone ever manufactured, and, like a magic wand, fixes all that it wrong with RIM.
BlackBerry 10, however, is definitely not RIM’s only shot at turning things around, and, may not even be RIM’s best shot at doing so.
Hopefully BlackBerry 10 isn’t RIM’s only card
It’s hard to say it, but, a bright future for RIM doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a bright future for the BlackBerry.
If Thorsten Heins is doing his job (increasing value for RIM shareholders), moving the company in a direction where the BlackBerry is no longer the flagship for Research in Motion has to be one of the options on the table…
Not the only option, but, at least one of them…
Good article, bro. All but enhances my point that RIM should make a killer entry-level smartphone. http://techb.ro/HfIBe3
Seems as if Balsille was trying to do the same thing…
For a while cheap BlackBerry devices where great entry level smartphones. Today, however, cheap Android devices, or, even phones like the Nokia Lumia 900, offer more of what consumers are looking for and cost, in many cases, less than BlackBerrys.
Yeah, but most of the people who are afraid of smartphones don’t even want to SEE all the “techiness”. Sure, they could get a cheap Android or Win Phone, but just looking at all the options intimidates some people.
BlackBerry on the other hand, even though it has the capabilities of other devices, it doesn’t look as intimidating.
There’s something about that keyboard that comforts some people.
RIM will never be the top dog again. The BB was never anything more then a glorified 2 way pager.
Do they HAVE to be the top dog though? Or, can they simply just do better than they are doing now. Could they just be the best advance feature phone vs trying to be the best smartphone? Maybe a niche is just fine for them. The US government is still high on them for security. Some companies still utilize them for employees. Yep, it can be a “boring” offering compared to most smartphones, and the marketing campaign of showing off how utilitarian it is surely is not helpful. But, could that just be their niche. The phone for those who don’t want their phone to do too much so to speak. Lower data price would also. If they had US carriers offering Blackberry at a lower price point for data, you may see a nice uptake on their devices from the dumphone and feature phone set. Lets be honest, THAT is what has them so popular in a lot of the emerging markets. One carrier in the US does this, but the option is buried in their website and it is with a 75MB cap which is ridiculously low. There does seem to be a concerted effort by the carriers in the US to shun blackberry. Walk in a carrier store and see if you aren’t steered from a BB. I tested this theory a few times. In one instance, they were more content to see me walk out without a new phone, and stick with an Android, than sell me a BB. Isn’t that a bit odd?
RIM could survive as they have other holdings that were doing fine before purchase. So long as those holding still keep up what they were doing, and progress, that will be okay. Blackberry on the other hand doesn’t necessarily HAVE to take on the top 2. It’s not working out so well for WinPhone & they have more apps. Maybe go back to just having a Curve and Bold (1 of each).
Even I have said they need to do something, but maybe the issue is to NOT try to keep up with the top 2. Find a comfortable niche. Look at cable. You have ESPN with the $5/sub/mo rate and you have some other networks doing well with .25/sub/mo rate. They found their niche and it works.
I swear I didn’t even read this article when I posted the above… interesting take on “Super Feature Phone” niche… almost like he read this from the future. lol
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57414928-94/how-a-super-feature-phone-could-save-rim/?tag=contentMain;contentBody;1n