Hi DennisQ – Good Technologies has been gaining steam on enterprise activations on Apple and Android devices, especially in the last year.Although from what I have read and heard, their platform is still not as elegant as RIM’s BES, but it is making significant progress.Corporations now have a viable option for secure messaging and policy administration that can be used on non-BlackBerry devices.
Here’s a recent activations report from Good that highlights enterprise activations between Apple and Android devices.Clearly iPhones are penetrating at a higher rate into the enterprise:
Nemos, you're right, mere statement of assurance from the CEO, Jim Balsillie is not sufficient to make amends or re assure its customers and stakeholders. It is clear that RIM is in troubled waters and would need to re strategize if it's to see its sales and profit margins improve in 2012.
I was once one of RIM's biggest supporters. I believed that BlackBerries are the best option for enterprise users. I thought and that the PlayBook would be a quality product and the obvious tablet choice for corporate users.
Now of course it's obvious that the PlayBook was rushed, released too early, and not very good. And RIM seems to have no clue on how to market it. Trying to pitch it to the consumer market seems like a very poor strategy; they just can't beat Apple in that battle.
I'm not sure what to think about RIM's future, but I do believe they need to refocus: if they're going to stay in the tablet space, focus on the enterprise user, not the consumer. And if they want to compete in the consumer smartphone market, they better start making some more exciting phones. But most importantly, RIM needs to focus on what they used to do best: providing the best mobile communication platform for large businesses. RIM is starting to lose their grip here.
If they are unable to do this, I think the company will not exist in 3 to 4 years.
I agrre with you Dave. RIM is facing crisis as happened for several vendors which act in that market (including Nokia), anyway just be pragmatic: as of today, does an alternative worldwide service to Blackberry exist? This is a very solid base for them to launch a new business era.
From what I see, the biggest mistake RIM made was to confine itself to a particular sector and ignore all the others. Blackberry is only a corporate toy and RIM was more than happy to restrict it to that only. On the other hand, there were major shifts in the consumer preferences in the smartphones market which RIM failed to respond. Corporate executives no longer want to keep 'business' phones with them. Since the cool, stylish models by Apple and Android are offering the same features that Blackberry phones do, the consumer's choice naturally shifted towards them. If RIM wants to resurrect itself, it has to stop restricting itself to the corporate market and expand towards other types of customers.
Let's hope Jim Balsillie is correct in his analysis of the current situation facing the company when he said,
"RIM's business is profitable and remains solid overall with growing market share in numerous markets around the world and a strong balance sheet with almost $3 billion in cash. We believe that with the new products scheduled for launch in the next few months and realigning our cost structure, RIM will see strong profit growth in the latter part of fiscal 2012."
In the CEO’s own words RIM has the chance to see a”strong growth" in the latter part of 2012 fiscal year.
The title is descriptive enough about what is happen to RIM :) i guest even corporate users are shifting to Apple as well. What's left for RIM? Their products are a bit cooler than Nokia it seems.
RIM still has a hold on enterprise corporate users, although they have lost momentum with a downward trend.They need to hit it out of the park with their new line up of smart phones.
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You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
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