Research In Motion’s Vision Misses the Mark… Big Time
It doesn’t take a genius to see that BlackBerry maker, Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM), is hanging on by a thread.
Consider: In the three months ending August 31, comScore reports that Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android operating system boasts a 43.7% marketshare in the United States. And Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone marketshare reached 27.3%.
By contrast, RIM only managed to claim 19.7% of the market – a 20% drop from the previous three-month period.
Heck, even the company’s dominance in the business market is on shaky ground. A survey conducted by Enterprise Management Associates indicates that at least 30% of BlackBerry owners at large corporations are planning to jump ship soon. According to Officebroker.com, that number reaches 40% in the U.K.
As if things weren’t bad enough following the massive data outage a few weeks ago, the company just took another hit on the chin. And ironically, the blow comes from a video that was meant to boost investors’ spirits.
Let me explain…
I Hope Mobile’s Future is Brighter Than This
Last week, CNET and BlackBerry news site, N4BB, posted a leaked video that depicted RIM’s grand vision of the future for mobile technology.
Both sites were very complimentary toward RIM’s message. N4BB called it an “interesting must-see for BlackBerry fans.” And CNET said, “If this is where the beleaguered company is headed, I admit it looks pretty cool.”
I couldn’t disagree more.
My thoughts align with Gizmodo’s assessment of the video: “A horrible corporate snooze fest,” according to reviewer Sam Biddle.
You see, RIM’s video shows us what new mobile technology will do for the business world in the coming years.
Some of the “advanced” features include tracking down a lost smartphone, remotely wiping data on the device, using your phone as identification to enter a building, and sending a request to IT for approval to download a mobile app.
Yawning yet? These technologies already exist!
Check any app store and you’ll see multiple applications that can locate your phone and erase your data from afar… Near field communication (NFC) chips are capable of letting us into buildings. And how is requesting IT’s approval for an application download revolutionary at all?
As Biddle aptly puts it, “There’s nothing aspirational about RIM’s aspirations.”
Ordinarily we’d post the video here to give you an idea of how not-so-revolutionary RIM’s vision really is. But it’s been taken down due to copyright claims. And I wouldn’t want to bore you anyway.
Some Friendly Advice…
Even if the video did give us a sneak peek at something truly groundbreaking, it might be too late to get the failing company back on track anyway.
As my colleague, Louis Basenese, told members of The White Cap Report last week: Research In Motion “failed to innovate as the iPhone and Android phones stole its market. It refused to listen to its own customers and tried to impose its vision on buyers. It also boosted sales by striking sweetheart deals in new global markets, but those opportunities are drying up.”
My advice to RIM: Keep this video under wraps. Unless you want investors and BlackBerry users to run for the hills faster than they already are.
Good investing,
Justin Fritz
Related Topics: Stocks, Tech and Innovation
In reality, the only thing that actually misses the mark is your trust in the security of “any app store and you’ll see multiple applications that can locate your phone and erase your data from afar…”
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Rim is DONE. They have never been able to deliver anything on time and they need bbx today, not 6 months, and definitely not 2 years from now. They had a good run, and im glad i sold my rim stock when i did.
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Jonathan Reply:
November 7th, 2011 at 6:16 pm
OS 7.0 was on time.. and I believe PlayBook was only a month off the initial ETA provided 6 months in advance.
How long was Samsung’s Galaxy S2 delay? Like 3+ months.
Anyone who works with the latest technology knows how difficult it is to launch anything on time.
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Ok I’ve heard enough from the bloggers like this. It’s been a year of incessant US media hatred towards RIM, the same company that was doubling its size in the US every year up until a couple years ago, and how did it do that? Through innovation.
You guys can’t keep ragging on RIM to get your page views. This is an old topic. RIM is not near death and it is still growing sales. The fact that they sold any BB 6.0′s in the US ($1 billion last quarter alone) is amazing. The system was dated, the media was ragging, and the sales reps at carriers were aggressively promoting other devices. All I can say is WOW – if they can sell a billion in the US of this dated model (sure it is half of YOY sales), but how many will they sell on BBX? 3-4 billion a quarter? Seriously.. not everyone wants to own a Google or Apple product.
And Google is no picnic. They make crap most of the time. Androids first versions were garbage and its tablet environment still wouldn’t appeal to most. How many products does Google create a year and how many have been successful (remember they didn’t create YouTube)… so really just search and GMail. Not only that, but Google does not create hardware, and given their acquisition of Motorola, unanticipated complications that analysts haven’t yet seen are surely in its future.
And Apple has revived itself from more near-death experiences than any other tech company. But the point is, they’ve been obsolete more often than relevant.
Stop it with RIM. It’s not just unfair, but completely childish and ridiculous.
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I’m sorry I gave you one more page hit. My bad. Won’t happen again….uh… Justin Fritz… got it.
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Okay, so I had a choice of any Android, Apple or Blackberrry … and I ended up surprising myself when I got a Blackberry 9900, and have been very happy with it.
I want a phone that has power for the full day,and good connection. Beyond that I wanted a keyboard.
I got that with the 9900 but I found a far more likable device than I expected. Not inconsistent like the Androids with many cool unexpected features. I can’t tell you how cool something as minor as pulling the phone out of the holster and have it automatically answer is.
Blackberry are down in North America at the moment, but …… I don’t think this is a long-term issue based on what I’ve experienced.
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Funny , because it was reported yesterday in press that doesnt have a financial interest in shorting RIM that they have just overtaken Samsung , And , by a long way Apple in UK sales. But why let facts get in the way of a short and distort piece?
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i guess all these outages happen all by themselves…
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