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There is no question that RIM is facing significant headwinds. As a user, am I disappointed that the PlayBook update has been delayed again? Of course. Do I wish we had more details as to when BBX will be released? Of course. As a pundit in the wonderful world of enterprise mobility, am I finding some coins for RIM’s corpse? Absolutely not. I do believe RIM needs to make some tough – dare I say Draconian – decisions (which I have shared with people privately) to right their ship, but I still think that there is room for a player such as RIM in the marketplace.
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I agree that there is more than enough room for RIM in the marketplace but what’s disappointing is their share of the pie is shrinking very rapidly. If you look at where the company was a few years ago and compare it to present day, you can’t help but be disappointed at their lack of vision and execution. By no means do I think RIM is ‘down and out’ but it seems like the momentum has been shifting (and continues to shift) away from the BlackBerry platform. If this trend continues, it will be a struggle just to stay relevant in the minds of customers – both consumer and enterprise.
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The Death Knell for RIM?
And what will they do to fully meet these expectations? First off, they are NOT going to include the BBM app in the next release of the OS. Wait, what? Apparently the BBM app isn’t ready for public consumption, so users of the PlayBook will just have to keep on using the BlackBerry Bridge for instant messaging.
Coming off the heels of dismal initial sales of the PlayBook and a recent BlackBerry outage, delaying the release of the new PlayBook OS with its native email and calendar apps (which were promised by the end of this past summer), this development isn’t sending a positive message about RIM or its future.
Can RIM survive any more missteps? Or is their bell finally tolling?
While I understand that it is good business practice not to release an update of an OS until it’s completely functional (unless you want to be like Google and label everything “beta”), pushing back this release until February when last month it seemed imminent is not going to go over well with users. It’s also a reflection of the company itself, which has had only bad PR in the past few months.
Rumors swirled last month that the manufacturing of the PlayBook had been halted. While RIM denied this, perhaps it’s something that they should consider. Scrapping the PlayBook with its limited functionality and small user base (I received two free ones this year; I gave one away and the other just sits since I don’t have a BlackBerry and can’t use it for the most basic of tasks—email) might be a good move for the company. They then could concentrate on their sweet spot—smartphones for the enterprise user—and gain back the market share that they’ve lost to iPhone and Android.
Unless they make a positive move soon, RIM’s future looks bleak indeed.