RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

BlackBerry maker to cede most consumer markets - Yahoo! Finance

Returning to their roots in business:

"We plan to refocus on the enterprise business and capitalize on our leading position in this segment," Heins said. "We believe that BlackBerry cannot succeed if we tried to be everybody's darling and all things to all people. Therefore, we plan to build on our strength."

Will they pull the plug on BB10 now, or are they so far along that they'll push this os for enterprise?

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

I think it is a good move, going back to their roots. No way can they compete with Android, iOS or even Microsoft for the consumer market. Too late to the game and not enough pizazz either.

Gonna be tough in the business world too, however.

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

And dump the PlayBook. 500,000 discounted units in the last quarter. Cut it loose.

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

Totally agree. the PB was not something RIM needed to spend cash on developing.

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

Loyal BB user from the early days. I must admit, I wonder what RIM is up to. They are simply not keeping up with the competition. iPhone and Droid are miles ahead. I can't easily read a web site, I cant easily open attachments. Everyone is telling me to switch! Is there any hope?

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

Looking at my signature, my main BES peaked at 580 late last year. I checked it today and we're down to 429. iPhones are arriving daily and I have literally a box of Bolds and Curves piling up.

I suspect by year's end I'll have under 100 left.

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

We've dropped over 100 users from our largest BES since the end of January this year, after we introduced a BYOD program and added iPhone to our list of corporate standards.

I'm wondering how long it will be before I decommission this BES altogether.

Oh, and a little perspective on RIM and the consumer market: http://advice.cio.com/blackberry/169...onsumer-market

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

RIM got totally distracted by the PlayBook and wasted a lot of time, money and goodwill with it. And I have one! They lost focus on their core business customers, many of whom invested in ActiveSync. 18 months ago the ratio of BBs to non-BBs was 7:1. Now it is down to 3:2. And we don't buy any Androids.

Wonder what the final straw for Balsillie was? When one of your founders leaves, it is a very bad sign...

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

Okay so first people say that the leaders should step down. They do but remain on the board and so then people say that is not good enough. One actually retires and now it will be spun as "a very bad sign....." I love how the negativity attaches to every statement no matter what RIM does. It's actually pretty annoying.

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

You'll have to get used to it, around here.

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

WOW, just wow. I remember when BB's were considered the top dog in cell phones. I was a complete BB junkie back in the 8700C - 8310 days. Then came iphone, then Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, now I'll be getting a Lumia 900 next month. RIM just sat there while ios, android and now WP 7.5 just blew right past them.

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

I'm sorry that it annoys you. Watching a company destroy themselves annoys me.

I never advocated the leadership stepping down - I said they made a HUGE error with the PlayBook. If you want all happiness, try another less realistic board.

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

Man, oh man... why is it that the biggest true innovators, the ones that were the first, and best, in the PDA phone/smartphone market, are the ones that keep dying?

The original smartphones, the ones that opened the category up to the business people first, and then the rest of us, were BlackBerry, Palm Treo, and the Danger HipTop/T-Mobile Sidekick... and one-by-one, they've all been getting knocked out of the marketplace. :-(

No other smartphone has ever offered me everything I want and need in a phone the way the BlackBerry does. Good luck getting push email integrated with an AOL account on Android... it's my understanding that it can't be done. And good luck finding another smartphone platform that gives you, in the box, all the software tools you need to backup & synchronize your data yourself, on your computers, so that you don't have to rely on cloud-based backup. We all saw how that cloud only backup & synch idea failed miserably with the Sidekicks. (n)

I'd love to keep an optimistic outlook, and believe that RIM is going to come back out of their corner swinging and win the day again. But realistically, the odds are slim to none that they can pull it off now. They let the other guys gain way too much market-share. :-(

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

This is good news right? I long ago gave up on being able to impress my friends by showing off how my Berry does cool things (like go on the Internet) and I have an iPod and iPhone for the fun stuff. Maybe they will just hunker down and give us bigger, faster versions of the hardware they have. I'm still hoping for a Bold the size of my gf's Driod phone.

And didn't Mike Lazaridis already rant about how RIM didn't need all the fun, consumer stuff? So this can't be too much of a surprise.

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

He did, and he was lambasted on these forums for it.

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

The basic issue today is too many people only want things that flash and ding. The blackberry was designed as a secure device that allowed users to forget about security because it was being handled by the phone. No viruses , No hacking, No concerns it just worked. When the users today realize they are very vulnerable to many different security issues including their finances they will demand a secure device. What goes around comes around. It just takes a while. Its like the new cell phones that you simply swipe near the checkout device at the store. Wonder what happened if you loose track of your phone and virtually everything you own is exposed and soon gone.

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

Fourstring - what's your point? That an Internet forum isn't the right place for people to express their opinions? Or just the opinion that all is well at Research In Motion? I am sure there are plenty of Fanboy forums out there where RIM can do no wrong. They might even think the PlayBook is a success!

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

Bullcrap. It's this exact kind of thinking that is sinking RIM right now.

The majority of users don't give a crap about having the most secure device. They want a smartphone which they can use for basic productivity and install a bunch of apps to add value to their handheld. They want the iPhone and Android phones. Nobody wants a BlackBerry handheld anymore, and RIM is finally accepting that.

RIM can't wait around for people to come back, no matter how "cool" they think BB 10 will be.
They need to focus on retaining what enterprise market they have left, and that seems to be what the new CEO is planning to do.
IMO, it's too late for that too.

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

While I do not need a secure device, I am very happy to have it. But I need a bulletproof communication device which allows me to run my business from anywhere like I sit in the office.
With every release of the OS starting with version 6, the quality and usability was less then I expected. The only 3rd party app I really use is a backgammon game and signalloc. I tried to use OS6 and also a 9900 with OS7 for several weeks. Nothing came close to the 9700 with OS5. So I went back to this.
While I absolutely like fancy add-ons like an accelerometer, compass (add a baromether, thermometer, radar, the more the better), and also like 3rd party apps, I simply wont buy a device if the basic functions like mail, addressbook, calender do not work reliable.
Dont know, how many users are like me, I guess there a some more.

The first failure of RIM was to think, that with a Java device, all they have to do is do add the mobile safari, and everyone will be happy. They did not think about that on a keyboard device with a tiny screen the experience is worse then the incomplete renderding with the past browser.
The second failure was to believe that the evolution of the CPUs will allow them to make a java based device which gives the user decent speed for interaction.
If I am a consumer and about to buy a new phone, and see, that a Blackberry will just work like any other phone but slower, why should I then choose the slower one?

It took about 2 years until they finally realized they need an OS which basic functions run native on the hardware. If RIM started development of this concurrently with the last release of OS5 that would have saved more the one year of useless development efforts. The 9900 would today run a snappy and usable OS, and still would be compatible with a BES server.
Since time was now running out, they bought QNX. But it turned out that it was not possible to develop something usable within a short time. So the playbook was launched as a test-balloon. Thanks to unfinished functionality success was limited.
Under big pressure the development of the final playbook-OS had to be done, while development for BES and current devices has been slowed down.

Now, that the playbook somehow has been finished, the OS still has to be converted to something usable in a phone. Will take another 9+ Month. But as we learned from a recent press release, it will not be a blackberry compatible to the current BES nor is there an upgrade for the BES planned. Instead, you need a new server software to manage it. Why? because time is running out again. Of course to help RIM to finance those 3 to 4 years of lost time, we most likely have to buy the new server and licenses for the Devices.

Again, the new OS will also have email, addressbook, and calendaring as the basic functionality, and most likely the device needs to be charged 1 time during the day. For me, that means I would get about the same as before, but no added basic functionality, plus I have to buy and run another server.

The idea of RIM to again focus on the needs of their business customers is good, but like it looks currently, I will replace my phones with used 9700 as long as possible. That will give me another 3 years. Only if something appears which gives me a better functionality then I currently have for an acceptable price, I will make the switch to the new OS.

Re: RIM to exit most consumer markets?
 

I'm pretty sure I answered a question that was asked. Nothing more, nothing less.