[Cooper]

CHYM 96.7 - Appreciation Motion for Research In Motion. - YouTube

So they're saying we need to consider what RIM has done for the community of Kitchener-Waterloo (Mainly Waterloo)

Thanks to the success of RIM, Mike Lazaridis produced Perimeter Institute and The Institute for Quantum Computing, Jim created CIGI.

RIM has been charitable giving back to groups like the Food Bank (in fact last year RIM purchased a brand new refrigerated truck)

With all of this, including the fact that thousands of people are employed by them and they're the largest employer of Co-Ops from University of Waterloo.

I enjoy the sentiment, but the reality is that the stock market cares about performance. Analysts care about performance, future performance and sustainability.

Thoughts?

[NJBlackBerry]

Not to mention the amount spent in local bars!

[Cooper]

Originally Posted by NJBlackBerry

Not to mention the amount spent in local bars!

[stevetaz]

Think about what? It was a good run and it was nice they shared the wealth.

Now they have to decide if they want to be fondly remembered after they are gone or if they want to focus on making themselves healthy and relevant so they can be charitable long into the future.

I have my doubts.....

[Dubdub]

One has to remember that RIM is an international company with users around the world, not just in North America.

Why does every keep trying to bury RIM? Its time has not arrived yet, IMHO.

[Tillia]

Great point Dubdub. One has to remember that in the world smartphone market the USA is just a small portion. RIM is struggling there but the US market doesn't control everything in the world. Yes, their media is more vocal. Yes, this media is very anti-RIM but everything seems to be taken out of context. The company has never not turned a profit since creating the smartphone market. There has never been a quarter without some growth and expansion into new markets. Less than "analysts" predicted but still not a true loss anywhere. Do changes need to be made? Yes. Do they need to pull up their bootstraps and come out swinging. Yes. But is it over yet? Hell no. Not by a long shot. My favorite quote right now, not sure whose it is is "Rumors are carried by Haters, spread by Fools and accepted by Idiots". Sounds about right if you consider the North American media where RIM is concerned. Of course mine is but one lowly opinion and it won't be popular but I don't really care.

[stevetaz]

FWIW....I am certainly not a RIM hater and there are many posters here who are also not haters, but you have to have your head buried in the sand to not recognize that RIM continues to shoot themselves in the foot after inventing the smartphone market.

They appear to have sat back and rested on their success while the others in the industry clawed their way up the ladder by innovating and listening to consumers. BlackBerry started out as a provider focused on corporate services and they were the 800 pound gorilla. Those corporate clients were quite happy, but they are made up of many different people with varied needs and when they started to demand more than secure email RIM either didn't hear them or chose not to.

I loved my BlackBerry and hated to give it up, but my company made the decision to leave due to costs as well as the demands for the devices to do more.

Through my years with BB I noticed what seemed to be an arrogance on the part of RIM. A simple thing like announcing a new device with a target release date became almost laughable because everyone seemed resigned that the target date was an illusion. The assumption was that the actual date would be months away and the same seemed to hold true for important OS updates. The familiar battery leaks back in the 4.2 era went for how long before it was finally corrected? Updates would be released but it was almost impossible to find something as simple as a change log detailing what was different because RIM just didn't release those.

Device after device came out over the past few years and they were hard to tell apart. You almost had to look at the model numbers just to know one was different from the other. Then the Storm hit. Big fail. Storm 2 was an improvement, but their marketing was so poor you couldn't know anything was changed or that they even released a better version.

An email giant releasing an important entry like their PlayBook tablet without a native email client? What were they thinking? They said it would be out within 60 days and here we are what, 9 months later hoping we are lucky enough that the update hits 10 months later? That says nothing of all the other improvements that were promised.

Yes, I bought a PlayBook and I do think it has some very strong points, but it almost seemed like they did everything they could to kill it before it hit the market as well as after.

QNX was to be their savior. Delay, delay delay. Will it work with BES? Who knows? Will it actually be released this year? Maybe.

Believe me, I truly hope RIM can right the ship, but in the brief time I was with them (3 years +/-) I got a very bad taste for what they seemed to be doing with their customer base....Ignoring them.

Now to see the annointed ones step down, but the replacement goes out of his way to say he didn't think there was drastic change needed? I don't expect anyone to bash their predecessors, but a statement like we will examine every facet of what we do to make sure we are heading upward might have been a bit more reassuring.

Seeing one of the dynamic duo as the head of the Innovation Committee? That is truly laughable and not very reassuring at all.

Again, I hope they can turn it around. As far as the USA not being the whole industry, that is correct, but it is a very important part and it is their backyard......

Just an opinion.....

[Cooper]

@stevetaz

The unfortunate part is the ignoring comes right from Mike L. a guy obsessed with the security model RIM provided and the great hardware and OS on the PlayBook.

He literally didn't understand why people wouldn't want their devices because of great security... everyone wants that!

His reluctance in challenging emerging smartphones not only in OS functionality and features but just in plain hardware design were major faults.

My only smartphones have ever been BlackBerries, I've always been happy with them. Look at one of the new androids coming out this year so far and RIM has nothing comparable hardware wise and those are devices that people obviously want...

Change is good... maybe with Mike and Jim stepping down we will see the needed changes.

I'm excited for 2012, and I'm hoping RIM has all of the success they need.

[daphne]

Well, I am with Mike L in that security is trememdously important to me. I don't care about all the bells and whistles of iPhone and Android. Android is a malware magnet and Google does nothing to stop that. I will continue to buy and use BlackBerrys as along as they are on the market. My 9930 does everything that I need and more. I understand that many people do not feel that way however and for that reason RIM should innovate to be able to compete better in the North Americal market.

[Dubdub]

I had an iPhone. Hated it and came back to my BB. It does what I need it to do and it just plain works!

[tsac]

Sometimes a simple CEO change can do wonders for the moral of a company and energize it all over again.

[Dubdub]

RIM needs to work on their message and decide what their core strengths are. Then play to those and not try to be everything to every market. I work with a lot of businesses, although none as large as RIM, and they all have similar problems. They say the same things as their competitors say, they try to be everything to everybody and they have a clear, concise strategy to move forward.

[bertiebassett]

Originally Posted by Dubdub

RIM needs to work on their message and decide what their core strengths are. Then play to those and not try to be everything to every market.

I heard a stat today (from a rim source) that they were now 85% consumer.. as a battle scarred BES admin that's a very scary statistic as it shows they're more interested in the 15 year old BBMer than they're long-standing business market.

Given that very few companies execute consistently well in B2B and B2C markets then you do have to question the longevity of the BES solution..

[AaronR]

Like Dubdub....
I'm a well past 15 yo (4 1/2 x) who values security and the ability to type on the device (I actually sent back a 9810 because of the keyboard).
But I'm a 35 year computer user, and I've seen lots of great companies come and go. Rim may very well be a casualty. Nothing lasts forever, even my Harley.
I really don't think it's ALL Rim's fault - how often does a Steve Jobs come along? L is smart and driven, but not with that kind of long term vision, and B seems to be a standing antic among the N.Y analysts.
The problem is, as written above, that in most businesses you need to set deadlines and stick to them, and Rim does not. Nor does it over-deliver.
Rim may monitor sites like this, but there is never a representative who comes here and "talks" to us.
Talk about the Waterloo ivory tower!
I'll be sorry to see Rim go, but I'll adjust. Just another arrogant group like Nortel.
In the meanwhile I'll trade the stock instead of investing , and do puts every time a deadline for a release comes about.