Yeas but you forgot the most important part...BES SUCKS! I hate managing that thing...
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RIM Is Waaay Out Of Touch
- Thread starter HardOCP News
- Start date
Yeas but you forgot the most important part...BES SUCKS! I hate managing that thing...
5
5icko
Guest
Nobody cares.
Before the iPhone, Blackberries where status symbols that where useful to a lot of business people.
The problem is that RIM never made a successful transition to the consumer side of the business.
Meanwhile, the iPhone and Android phones have added enough business features (like active sync support for Exchange) to fill the need of most business users, yet they still have the consumer features like good web browsers, cameras, large screens, apps, etc.
RIM is on its way to becoming a minor player in the cell phone industry, unless they can find a new niche. Their only benefit at this time is their added security & lower bandwidth. I wouldnt be surprised if Microsoft does something with version 8 of their phone software, that when tied into a Microsoft network, takes away that advantage.
Maybe RIM should switch to a modified version of the Android OS, that has the security features of the existing BBs, yet still allows the use of android apps.
awsiemieniec
Gawd
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So they're marketing to 12 year olds now.
Last year I met a senior executive from RIM at a local bar in Los Gatos. Everything he said came out as denial so absurd that it would give the staunchest religious zealot a run for his money. "People need our security... the iPhone is a fad..." and on and on. His dutiful wife just sat there and agreed with everything he said. I couldn't convince him of anything... it was like talking to a brick wall.
It's this culture of denial that has killed them, more so than anything else.
"So they're marketing to 12 year olds now." So, Apple was marketing to the 6 yrs old and up,by putting their macs in the elementary schools. As the marketing people say, the 6 year olds are our future consumers. You wean them on a mac, they will by a mac when their older.
Unless you are in an industry (or government) where security is extremely important. Then the IT department is going to laugh when you want to use your iPhone/Android to connect to the network.
With a BES server you can completely control or lock down a BB phone. You can also force updates over the network. One of the best features of the BES SERVER, is that it backs up the users phone settings. When they get a new phone, its simple to setup & restore their contacts (just an email address and a password). No need for that malware called iTunes.
5
5icko
Guest
I suggested this very thing to the RIM exec (and similar, such as partnering with MS, building relationships with other hardware makers such as HTC, etc.), but he would have none of it.
My guess is that this denial comes straight from the top, since players take on the demeanor of the coach.
Back in 1996, I had a similar experience with an Apple exec in San Jose. They were in dire straights when I suggested that they make clones... and my idea was received as blasphemy. It took them 15 years and the return of Jobs to essentially do this very thing.
Incidentally, I saw Jobs quite a bit over the last couple of years, since he frequented my favorite breakfast joint in Palo Alto. I always said hello, but never spoke otherwise... his wife gave any onlookers a pit bull glare--far more effective than any bodyguard.
5
5icko
Guest
My contacts are all backed up using gmail sync in real time, and other apps can do this using other email services. My setting are all backed up using Lookout (free).
At the risk of repeating myself... nobody cares! They want a phat screen, lots of apps and ease of use.
You'd fit right in at RIM... if they weren't going down the toilet from this very mindset.
Spare-Flair
Supreme [H]ardness
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I have many friends who went to Waterloo and worked at RIM. I could tell that place was not going to be around for the long term. It was a company of students and engineers. They had little business acumen, almost no industrial design (Blackberries were some of the ugliest phones for years), and possibly the worst marketing I have ever seen from a high-tech, stock market darling.
I mean, the bloody President of the United States was on record saying he couldn't be without his Blackberry. Him and other high level execs in government and business were all visibly using Blackberries. RIM did nothing with this. The biggest free endorsement of all time since the BBC picked Acorn's (predecessor of ARM) computer to be the official BBC Micro Computer for television and schools in the UK.
I mean, the bloody President of the United States was on record saying he couldn't be without his Blackberry. Him and other high level execs in government and business were all visibly using Blackberries. RIM did nothing with this. The biggest free endorsement of all time since the BBC picked Acorn's (predecessor of ARM) computer to be the official BBC Micro Computer for television and schools in the UK.
And the president still uses the BB, keeps it between his legs when he goes to bed on vibrate mode so the calls he gets at night won't be a total waste.
MavericK
Zero Cool
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5
5icko
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Phoenix333
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This is what happens when you have people with zero creative direction trying to justify their jobs in a company that's completely out of ideas.
5
5icko
Guest
This is only a small part of the problem. There's no vision on the part of the leadership combined with a culture of denial and a total failure to understand the marketplace.
Having that funky Mac rammed down my throat in college only caused me to despise them.
And wake up already. RIM is on the precipice, and will be out of business by the time those kiddies are ten years old. Someone is going to swoop in and buy what's left of it for pennies on the dollar... probably Google or MS.
westrock2000
[H]F Junkie
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RIM Says....
"I'm gonna go for wat I want irrespective of d challenges I face
*god that was hard to type*
"I'm gonna go for wat I want irrespective of d challenges I face
*god that was hard to type*
Outamyhead
Supreme [H]ardness
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I think it's more the kids/tweens market.
Half tempted to post on BB's twitter feed "I was being bold, I moved from the iPhone 3GS that replaced my Blackberry Curve, and got an Android GSII".
RIM will be over as soon as one of the other companies come out with a way to lock down their phones in an enterprise environment. Companies are so worried about IP loss, that blackberry is the only secure solution right now. If RIM had been on the ball, they would have spun off another group for non-business users years ago.
I'm really surprised that Microsoft hasn't come out with a phone that is tied in with an enterprise active directory structure that could be locked down for business use. When/if that happens...who knows.
I'm really surprised that Microsoft hasn't come out with a phone that is tied in with an enterprise active directory structure that could be locked down for business use. When/if that happens...who knows.
Are you guys listening? I'm about to save RIM $5m in consultancy fees and explain how to bring their product back from the edge of total obsolescence:
1. Corner the keyboard market. Whatever the cost, whatever the challenges, make sure the Blackberry is the de-facto quality standard in qwerty typing on a mobile device. Tune your marketing accordingly; convince people that Iphone/Android = touch screen gimmick, Blackberry = serious business with a real keyboard.
2. Redesign the product line with a higher material quality, and charge double the price. Take a page from Apple and make elegant, industrial design a priority. Make a (flagship model) Blackberry a status symbol that people associate with business users, not kids at the mall. It doesn't matter if it's more expensive than the competitors, as long as it's better people will gladly pay for it.
1. Corner the keyboard market. Whatever the cost, whatever the challenges, make sure the Blackberry is the de-facto quality standard in qwerty typing on a mobile device. Tune your marketing accordingly; convince people that Iphone/Android = touch screen gimmick, Blackberry = serious business with a real keyboard.
2. Redesign the product line with a higher material quality, and charge double the price. Take a page from Apple and make elegant, industrial design a priority. Make a (flagship model) Blackberry a status symbol that people associate with business users, not kids at the mall. It doesn't matter if it's more expensive than the competitors, as long as it's better people will gladly pay for it.
If you took the writers for "Adventure Time" or "Regular Show" and paid them to do some serious advertising cartoons, this is what you would come up with. Im not sure if this was an attempt at some counter-intuitive market strategy or the most awkward teenage moment of advertising. Either way it has taken over ownership of FAIL and hung new curtains. I wish this could be un-seen.
DSee
2[H]4U
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The new Blackberry 9900 has the best keyboard on the market. Period.
Now it's up to their marketing department to share that info....
5
5icko
Guest
And this one time, at band camp...
WHats wrong is that they have no heart in it for these extra functions. They dont WANT to put in all the whiz-bang features and the market is forcing them, so what they come up with sucks ass. (a tablet that cant get email on its own???? REALLYYYYYYY????????).
They have no vision for pocket computers, they jsut want to churn out email devices and the market is slapping them around for being so fucking blind as to think secure email is the limit of what they should be doing.