Blackberry mobile phones - what Research in Motion (RIM) did, does and should do
Marc Posted on
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 7:43PM Blackberry owner Research in Motion (RIM) faces an almighty, though not altogether unsurprising, challenge in 2012.
Not two years ago the Blackberry was the king of the smartphone. It was still the executive weapon of choice and the iPhone (still on 3GS, pre-4) was steadily catching up, but was more of an expensive plaything for creative ‘types’, not for the corporate world or for mums.
Android phones were still called G1’s, or something...
How times have changed. Today’s early morning news that RIM chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie had stepped down comes at a time when Blackberry’s market share is plummeting. It has fallen so far behind Apple’s iPhone and the array of Android phones, it is even perceived to be trailing Windows Phone 7 and Nokia.
Blackberry Curve mobile phone handset. Photo by Honou on Flickr
The Blackberry used to be great because:
- Business loved it. It had the best IT security, best Windows integration, and it never went down.
- Loads of kids’ dads would hand down their Blackberry phone when they got an upgrade at work. It meant a Blackberry handset - with free messaging - was the first smartphone for many teenagers in the UK.
- The Blackberry had the best email by far. Better than Android, way better than iPhones. You could argue that it still does have the best email service, certainly if you have to use Microsoft Outlook for work.
The Blackberry started becoming rubbish because:
- Business started hating it. Office workers and executives alike found a more fun mobile phone called iPhone which they could sync with their work email and use daily.
- It doesn’t have any decent apps. Apple’s App Store and Android’s Market have zillions, most of them wonderful.
- It went down. For several days last autumn. And that Really Annoyed People.
Now I don’t know whether RIM’s new CEO Thorsten Heins is a magician, but Blackberry can expect to continue being rubbish, unless:
- It brings out a new and fantastic operating system ASAP which has multi touch, brilliant apps, superb voice recognition, and sits alongside a family of equally stunning products such as tablets and computers which all talk to each other, all of which can access a vast ecosystem of content such as music, books, games and films.
- It never goes down again. Ever.
- And RIM does some incredibly generous deals with corporations who are making bigger eyes at Apple and Windows Phones for future partnerships.
The change in Blackberry’s fortunes was nicely captured this month by the BBC’s second series of Sherlock Holmes. The first series, which aired in August 2010, saw the eccentric but brilliant sleuth using a Blackberry as he navigated his way through the mean underbelly of London. In the second series, his mobile phone of choice is, of course, an iPhone 4. (Seeing as the series was filmed in early 2011 it wouldn’t be a 4S. And besides, there are no scenes co-starring Siri.)
In all seriousness, this is bad for the consumer. Blackberry should be providing Apple and Google with better competition. Without strong players in the mobile market, technology and innovation will slow down.






