RIM Branches Out with Enterprise Management Tools for iOS and Android Devices

Don't forget people were saying the same thing as Apple was working on the first iPod.

Apple had Steve Jobs.

RIM has two turkeys that saw the avalanche coming four years ago but went on clucking. All they actually did was deny, deny, deny, and verbally downplay Apple's direction as best they could. Are these two to be trusted at all?

Somehow they'll just "grow" vision miraculously years later? I'm afraid we've seen the best Ballsilie and Laziridis can do already. And there doesn't seem to be a Steve Jobs-type visionary in sight to help them.

I really should just stop reading any RIM-related articles here. This sort of "Apple rocks, everyone else must die" attitude makes me sick. Do you think that the engineers that work at Apple are just naturally smarter or hard-working as those elsewhere? Do you really wish layoffs on thousands of people?

I know a bunch of guys who work at RIM and QNX, they are hard working, passionate people. When my job was threatened by layoffs at my company, I was reassured by the fact that RIM and QNX were hiring. A lot of my ex-coworkers ended up over there. They have families to feed and mortgages to pay off, just like everyone else.

I guess the best hope for my friends and the rest of the employees at RIM is that upper management will figure it out and put the company on track for some successes. I feel like they need it after some of the recent bad press.

Apple "figured that out" by being the one to make it happen. Before Apple, smartphones like Blackberries, Nokia N95, Palm Treo, etc. were for business people and power users only. Your average mom or teenager had no use for one.

You might say the two companies went at it from opposite approaches. Smartphones for consumers (with limited penetration into enterprise markets) and vice versa. The race is on to see which will reach the other side quicker.

Yes, there's some people here who will always be cheering for Apple and deriding other companies. But there's many of us who are simply being realistic.

The real problem is that RIM has very little chance of survival. As much as I'd like to see them turn around (mostly because QNX is freakin' awesome), I have little confidence that they will figure out a new plan before going out of business.

Apple was once the beleaguered company. Except during their turnaround, they had a few things they could rely on that together helped them stay afloat:
1) entrenched markets that were not being met well by competitors : film, computer graphics, audio
2) die-hard fanbase
3) willingness to make hard decisions; willingness to cut products that didn't help the recovery; willingness to focus
4) willingness to try to branch out and try new things; willingness to try new markets; internal research groups doing actual research
5) a consumer market to market to (amongst the other markets)

RIM doesn't have nearly the same resources to utilize in order to turn themselves around.

The release of tools that involve the use of iOS and Android is an example of trying something different. But this doesn't stem the bleeding of customers, nor does it easily translate to a reliable income stream. (remind you of Sun and Java?)

They have a fanbase. But unfortunately, it's shrinking.

They don't do general consumer devices, which would be the bigger market. Just business-oriented devices. But iOS and Android is eating away at them there. Even then, HP/Palm and MS shows how difficult going for the general consumer is.

Unless they feel like going an all-in on a completely new product category that just blows everybody out of the water, I wouldn't be surprised if they were gone in 3 years.

(and yes, I used to own a blackberry too)

I give them 2yrs lol

I really should just stop reading any RIM-related articles here. This sort of "Apple rocks, everyone else must die" attitude makes me sick. Do you think that the engineers that work at Apple are just naturally smarter or hard-working as those elsewhere? Do you really wish layoffs on thousands of people?

I know a bunch of guys who work at RIM and QNX, they are hard working, passionate people. When my job was threatened by layoffs at my company, I was reassured by the fact that RIM and QNX were hiring. A lot of my ex-coworkers ended up over there. They have families to feed and mortgages to pay off, just like everyone else.

I guess the best hope for my friends and the rest of the employees at RIM is that upper management will figure it out and put the company on track for some successes. I feel like they need it after some of the recent bad press.

A few years ago, people used to bring their BB home to work and to get access to their emails. Now, people want to bring their personal phone at work to work and to get access to their emails. Apple figured that out a long time ago.

Apple "figured that out" by being the one to make it happen. Before Apple, smartphones like Blackberries, Nokia N95, Palm Treo, etc. were for business people and power users only. Your average mom or teenager had no use for one.

You might say the two companies went at it from opposite approaches. Smartphones for consumers (with limited penetration into enterprise markets) and vice versa. The race is on to see which will reach the other side quicker.

Probably gives you a hint about how they feel internally about the long term viability of their hardware business.

RIM should focus heavily on corporate services.

Only way i see them survive.

I think they'll be dead within 4 years

RIM is going to get bought by google for their patents, google will then look for ways to envelope their tech into The Googleverse.

As far as people carrying around a BB... it's not going away tomorrow but they clearly have no vision. There are people who are addicted to the BB, people who won't leave an actual keyboard, and their international market in places like Indonesia, Thailand, and India is growing. People love BBM there as it's a cheap replacement for the SMS they have had to pay for for 20 years. Come to Asia and you will see flocks of girls with BBs hanging around their necks from necklaces with bling all over it. The BB is a big thing out here... and it just got here a few years ago. iMessage is awesome, but the rollout is terrible and people are confused on how to sign up and use it. BBM on the other hand is simple and PIN based. Apple really needs to work on how iMessage works and goes viral.

The QNX based handsets on the horizon look abysmal and RIM is seriously like Detroit in the sense that they can't seem to design a decent handset. With Asia and Europe running circles around them design wise.

The talent left the RIM boat over the last year or so and that doesn't help. They seem to be a slow boat toward a new reality... their market in the US, EU will never be the same... they have a future in 3rd world markets where they can push backed on BBM...but they will never dominate again. Clearly those two guys who were running that company were very closed minded and egotistical. Not visionary and open minded like SJ. Maybe they should have taken LSD and study medication in India like the MAN!

I am a MacHead and still carry a BB 9700 because the iPhone was a disappointment. The email always has to download, which takes a moment, the contacts seem to be constantly syncing... and that slows me down. The BB handles changes quick and effectively. I had iPhone 1, 3G, skipped 3GS and 4... I will have my 4S in a few days and I really hope that it does what I hope it can do...so I can finally, after 15 years, get away from the BB and go 100% Apple

Just my two cents

RIM will survive. HP's about ready to buy something again. The two-headed clown that run's rim currently however doesn't have a chance.

...Smartphones for consumers (with limited penetration into enterprise markets) and vice versa. The race is on to see which will reach the other side quicker.

In reality, iPhone won both the consumer and enterprise market.

I give them 2yrs lol

They'll most likely still be there in four years, unless they screw up big time with their servers and security. Don't forget that RIM's market is (still) mainly big businesses like banks and law firms. The IT people from these businesses are usually quite slow in changing everything upside down (unless there is a security issue, of course).

If the Android or Windows Phone 7 manufacturers brought out some phones with decent hard keyboards (none of that sideways slide out crap or bizarre key spacings) I'm pretty sure Blackberry would lose the users it has left.

Well that's the thing. RIM tried to get a grasp of the non-business market and they probably failed at that because there got late in the game (iOS, Android and even Win7 were already far away).

A few years ago, people used to bring their BB home to work and to get access to their emails. Now, people want to bring their personal phone at work to work and to get access to their emails. Apple figured that out a long time ago.