back to article RIM is really in trouble when even Windows Phone 8 looks great

RIM has seen its once dominant market position in corporate mobile plummet from a great height in the last couple of years. The Canadian giant has suffered a huge fall in stock price and, more importantly, penetration - currently around eight per cent market share - with continual declines, quarter upon quarter. So there is a …

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    1. bazza Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: Tablet flop

      Android apps don't have to sideloaded. Lots are turning up on the BB App World as official releases. You can't tell that they're Android apps unless you know them as having been seen first on Android devices. RIM have made the porting job dead simple. It's only Kindle Reader that is the major Android App the hasn't been placed in App world (Amazon - boo) and requires sideloading.

      For £129 the 64GB Playbook is a tremendous piece of kit. I have one, and am very pleased with it indeed :)

  1. ThomH

    Dare I make an Apple comparison?

    It feels to me that there are a lot of parallels between RIM now and Apple in 1997 — a product once emblematic of what has become a fundamental device category, and a resilient niche as a result, but marketshare that's been eroded almost down to nothing by later competitors with stronger offerings. So they're betting the house on a bought-in new operating system.

    That being said, one reason so much has been written about Apple's recovery is that it was so improbable; there's probably no iPod in RIM's future. So I'm going to keep an open mind but not necessarily a great store of confidence.

  2. Dare to Think
    IT Angle

    Commodity computing

    Good article, but it does not mention that smartphones, indeed mobile phones in general have become a commodity. The USPs used to be functionality (in software), now that every mobile OS does more or less the same than the rest the USP is again hardware.

    Soon there will be more, other Linux distros available for mobile phones, Canonical is developing in this direction at this point in time. It wouldn't surprise me if there is or will be a community effort for Debian. Which brings us back to the business adaptivity of mobile OSes: Wouldn't it be better, from a security perspective, for companies to create their own Linux distros for desktops, tablets and smartphones?

    It's easy enough.

  3. Simon Rockman

    There will always be a place for Blackberry

    But it will become a niche player which is good at secure email. That's not important enough for lots of people who will favour "secure enough" and other things like NFC, Floating cameras and ecosystems.

    Blackberry should build an e-ink long life email device and licence BBM to ONE android manufacturer to give them a point of differentiation.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: There will always be a place for Blackberry

      You do realise that RIM had NFC working on all its high end devices before anyone else, and that Apple still doesn't? Or that RIM is rolling out NFC-based micropayments systems in second world countries?

      They are doing interesting stuff, but it is not aimed at the US market.

  4. Sean Kennedy

    I said it before, I'll say it again

    RIM needs to bail on the hardware. They have demonstrated a unique incompetence in this area, and other companies are handing them their lunch. The App store needs to go too. In fact, the only thing they really should be focusing on is managing mobile data devices. They *should* be focusing on a point to point secure mobile solution. Indeed, they should have for a couple years now.

    What do I mean by that? A client, available for all major phone platforms, that provides management and security functionality. Business email, stored encrypted on otherwise wide open devices. The ability to remotely wipe business data. To GPS track phones...the list goes on and on. They could very well have maintained their corporate presence had they jumped on board this ship years ago, but they still have a name in corporate data security and could trade on that, although it would be an uphill battle at this point.

    Were I a share holder, I'be furious at the opportunities the board has continually wasted.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I said it before, I'll say it again

      In fact the Playbook is a marketing failure but one of the best tablets - and they called the 7 inch form factor when Jobs did not. Their current entry level offering is a niche piece of kit but very well adapted for its job - low power, large battery, simple operation but with the in-depth features there if you look, and physically robust. It doesn't suit the wants of American teenagers, but it provides good messaging and phone performance with a 3 day battery life, and the cheap Android phones just do not do this.

      I'm sure that Jeremy Clarkson hates the Hyundai I10 with a passion, and no American would be seen dead in one, but they sell very well around the world for much the same reason: cheap, reliable, economical to run, and much better than the low end products of US companies.

      Your assumption is that RIM is incompetent. I would suggest that it was incompetent, but under the new management it is clawing back.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I said it before, I'll say it again

      "What do I mean by that? A client, available for all major phone platforms, that provides management and security functionality. Business email, stored encrypted on otherwise wide open devices. The ability to remotely wipe business data. To GPS track phones...the list goes on and on."

      So...Good for Enterprise then?

      Again another commentor who I can only assume hasn't seen/avoided anything to do with BB10. The hardware has been built from the ground up and they are doing a HUGE amount of work to ensure a large App ecosystem is available on launch. Developers are loving the new OS and I'm sure that will show in January.

      Hardware wise, the cheap Curve phones are a disaster but you get what you pay for and I havent had any issues with either of my Bold devices. If Apple produced a budget iPhone I am 100% certain it would have just as many problems as a BB Curve device (or a full price iPhone ;) )

  5. bailey86

    I smell MS marketing/astroturfing...

    ...all over this article and the comments.

    WP is struggling against iOS and Android.

    The only market they could possibly go for is the corporate one. And that is pretty well covered by BB.

    I expect there will be plenty of attacks against BB over the next few years.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I smell MS marketing/astroturfing...

      But for BB you need a seperate server infrastructure and have to pay a BB network tax. WP does away with all of that cost and complexity and connects directly to your Exchange servers whilst still allowing a similar level of device control....Corporates will be interested.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Want to embrace new but don't have rubber gloves.

    Blackberries have been doing the "Work" thing for us for a few years but now there seems to be a subtle shift from the phone being seen as a work tool to something from the mythical land of handheld nirvana.

    I don't want to take up some other system because (to cut down some of the blue sky talk) "You can install all sorts of shit on them!!" I want secure reliable "just works" sort of technology.

    I'm getting tired of this blurring of my most people come to work, it's not to beef out their faecebook profile it's to get a task done and precious few individuals will get the tasks done better with more distraction.

    It may be part of the mindset that thinks the UK will get by as a service industry and we can support 50% of the population in the media industry the other half (non interesting jobs) can be done by immigrants.

    A country has to produce something and as far as I know naval gazing has never really contributed much to the GDP.

    Yeah I know it's a rant but as others have said show me where BYOD is working, give real world examples of good practice and efficient deployments, save the name calling for daytime TV.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Want to embrace new but don't have rubber gloves.

      Pedant alert

      Naval gazing has frequently ensured that the UK did not have a sudden precipitous decline in GDP.

      Navel gazing...different story.

      BYOD as a concept is, I imagine, well funded by that Californian company that never had much impact on corporations.

  7. tom 78

    The main reason for BB's success with the teens was

    Tight parents providing contracts with limited text allowances or pay as you go sims.

    This made the Blackberries main appeal BB Messenger, completely free of charge and very functional.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The main reason for BB's success with the teens was

      But it's not free. You pay a ~ £5 a month tax on the line rental just for the BB features...

  8. Tom 35

    even Windows Phone 8 looks great

    Ha ha ha good one.

    From what I've seen BB10 looks like it may put them back on track. I have never had a Blackberry but I will be having a look at it when it ships. The only way I'd end up with a Windows Phone would be if work gave me one (some of the marketing types have received one) but I'm not holding my breath for that.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: even Windows Phone 8 looks great

      Or if you wanted the best Camera, the best Touch Screen, with the best contrast, the best Navigation, the best Maps, the best Augmented Reality and NFC support with Wireless Charging and the best Smartphone OS with the best cross device eco-system currently available on any phone you could go get a Lumia 920......until then you will just have to hold your breath...

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