
RIM’s Response to 'Open Letter' - jsm386
http://blogs.blackberry.com/2011/06/rims-response-to-open-letter/
======
bradleyland
I'm print this out in large type on 11x17 paper, framing it, and hanging it in
our office hallway with the caption: "Never sound like this."

~~~
initself
I'd like to know why. Sounded cogent to me.

~~~
whakojacko
Sounded like standard bland pr-speak to me. They didn't specifically address
any of his points and it comes off as extremely impersonal. I hope for RIM's
sake they are sending around a much more detailed memo internally. For
instance, the second sentence:

"It is obviously difficult to address anonymous commentary and it is
particularly difficult to believe that a 'high level employee' in good
standing with the company would choose to anonymously publish a letter on the
web rather than engage their fellow executives in a constructive manner"

seems to just strengthen the original author's point 8

~~~
robtoo
"It is obviously difficult to address anonymous commentary and it is
particularly difficult to believe that a 'high level employee' in good
standing with the company would choose to anonymously publish a letter on the
web rather than engage their fellow executives in a constructive manner"

says the unsigned blog post.

~~~
18pfsmt
Most of us do this everytime we post to HN and let our logic stand for itself.
I feel this is the most reasonable way to conduct ourselves, and I have come
to hate browsing blog comments after being spoiled by HN.

~~~
Helianthus
It's definitely reasonable; but we are also not explicitly speaking for a
corporation.

~~~
18pfsmt
The OP was not speaking for a corporation, near as I could tell, but was
speaking as a concerned employee. The response from RIMM was equally
anonymous, yet it wreaked of the PHB mentality that got RIMM where it is in
the first place.

------
blinkingled
More suspicion (is the letter real?) and blame (sane person would never do
this) followed by more passive aggressive denial (we are aware of a tangential
situation and are addressing it - to hell with your comments, letter boy).
Then boasting - 3B in cash, we are doing just great!

How many times the above strategy has worked for someone in as precarious
position as RIM?

~~~
pyre

      > Then boasting - 3B in cash, we are doing just great!
    

That seems worse than it is when you take it out of context.

In context:

    
    
      > The company is thankfully in a solid business and financial position
      > to tackle the opportunities ahead with a solid balance sheet (nearly
      > $3 billion in cash and no debt), strong profitability (RIM’s net
      > income last quarter was $695 million) and substantial international
      > growth (international revenue in Q1 grew 67% over the same quarter
      > last year).
    

My Translation:

    
    
      > We're still profitable with a large cash cushion and no debt, so
      > we're still in a good position to attempt to pivot our business in a
      > bid for survival. Don't write us off just yet.

~~~
blinkingled
My point was that past success and cash at hand does not guarantee future
success and RIM did nothing to allay the concerns around their repeatedly
failing strategy.

So the assurance that we have money and we can try things out is not really in
the spirit of the open letter - it is not worthwhile to point out cash at hand
in this context.

~~~
tensor
What repeatedly failing strategy? Their strategy seems to have created a very
successful business, although they failed to update it with the changing
market. They've acknowledged that and have new products in the works that they
hope address their shortcomings.

What would you rather them do beyond this? Claim a major shake up of their
internal structure? That would be incredibly damaging to their ability to
quickly create and ship the products they need to. Not to mention, as
outsiders, we really cannot know if there is even a problem with their
internal structure. Certainly a single anonymous letter is not enough
information to draw this conclusion.

It seems to me that people just _love_ to see successful companies fail.
Perhaps its reaffirming to know that even successful people make mistakes.
Perhaps people are just morbid and love to see others suffer. Maybe people are
too attached to their current products.

Regardless, all we can do is wait and see. Everyone has noted RIM's precarious
position, RIM included. Hyperbolic negativity is unnecessary.

~~~
blinkingled
"What repeatedly failing strategy?"

Hmm. Let's see -

1) Failing to see and then react to the post Blackberry SmartPhone world for
years.

2) Failing to have a coherent platform strategy for Mobile Devices before
launching straight into Playbook

3) Having no strategy at all - who in their right mind would ship a utterly
undifferentiated, incomplete, direction less product first while not making
any progress on the SmartPhone front which was ever so crucial.

4) It is 2nd half of 2011 - and RIM hasn't shipped a passable Smart Phone and
there is no communication as to what their roadmap is - they probably still
don't have one.

You think the negativity is hyperbolic? It is right on the money as far as
facts are concerned.

As to asking me what they should do - just ship a damn decent smartphone first
that can compete head to head with the competition. Show some innovative,
differentiated design and awesome features. Then make a tablet that extends
that phone and works well with it.

And I suspect their internal structure is all too much a part of the problem
that they aren't able to ship anything decent. So they just need to shake it
up - it can't be more damaging than their current status quo - nothing can be.
Frankly Mike and Jim are just stagnating themselves - they just don't get it.
Fresh thinking is in order one for RIM. Otherwise it aligns with the
definition of insanity - performing same actions and expecting new results.

------
redsymbol
I'm thinking about the response I'd choose if I were in one of the CEO seats
at RIM, and I'm not sure I could have improved on this response. As noted,
it's kind of content free and does not acknowledge any responsibility. But RIM
had to make SOME short-term press release response that communicates the
company strengths. No response would carry risk of a strong negative press and
social media response.

At the same time, I'm not sure they could have clearly addressed any of the
specific criticisms in the open letter, for fear of prematurely revealing
company strategies and plans. (And don't give me a line about how companies
need to be more open; every company with any competition has to be ever
vigilant about that, for competitive and other reasons.) Note also that they
didn't claim any of the specific criticisms were invalid.

(Well, actually maybe they could have toned down the FUD on the source in the
first paragraph a bit. But I think they had to include some of it, frankly;
unless/until a RIM exec publicly claims responsibility, none of us know for
sure it's from who it claims it is.)

~~~
Angostura
I think the obvious tactic, would be to say "The open letter identifies issues
that we too have identified and take very seriously at RIM, our current
restructuring is specifically designed to address them and other issues that
we believe will propel into a new era of growth. In terms of user experience
we are doing X. We are strengthening our software management by doing Y."

You take the criticism, acknowledge it and parlay it into a skillful
advertisement for your forthcoming strengths.

If you;re really smart you circulate the open letter yourself anonymously in
the first place.

It would appear that the people in RIM's PR department are not really smart.

~~~
Helianthus
The funny thing is, it's only on circles like these at HN that it seems the
corporation should "take the criticism."

As far as investors/Wall Street/the wider public goes, the non-answer might
actually be the better response. Appearing to take the criticism seriously
could be more damaging--hopefully internally, they are indeed taking the
criticism seriously.

~~~
brettnak
We all know this because we, in theory, all want to operate ethical companies,
and companies that stand for what they are, not how they seem. We endeavor to
seem as we are. Perhaps blackberry could once again lead the pack if instead
of improving their image, they improved their company and let the image
follow.

------
timjahn
Gotta love how there's no author of the blog post. Just signed "Research In
Motion". And "Filed in: News."

And they didn't like how the author of that letter was anonymous? Seems to be
company policy. No faces.

~~~
sc68cal
More importantly, no emotion. The letter to RIM used personal pronouns and
conveyed a sense of exasperation or frustration, while the response by RIM is
incredibly dry and distant.

~~~
timjahn
Great point. I sometimes think that CEOs of typical large corporations like
RIM are a totally different species.

~~~
abbasmehdi
I've chatted with both of them on more than one ocassion in casual settings,
Jim is nice but Mike is cool as F!

------
seb
I don't understand why they think they need to respond at all. And then they
are not even responding to all the points. They just repeat their mantra that
they knew what they are doing at it will all be good soon.

~~~
orenmazor
seriously. they were better off remaining silent. all they've done with this
rash response is sound even more like they have no idea what they're doing.

~~~
skroth
It didn't sound like that to me. Could you elaborate on how it is rash?

~~~
jessedhillon
It's a two paragraph response to a well-reasoned critique, which outlined
several important, thoughtful points. By contrast, the response looks as
though it was co-authored by an accountant and an HR rep.

> _...it is particularly difficult to believe that a “high level employee” in
> good standing with the company would choose to anonymously publish a letter
> on the web rather than engage their fellow executives in a constructive
> manner, but regardless of whether the letter is real, fake, exaggerated or
> written with ulterior motivations..._

That seems like a petty way to respond publicly. Especially in juxtaposition
with the first letter, which was frank but polite.

~~~
skroth
I'm obviously in the minority here, but I don't feel their response was so
bad. There are plenty of "well-reasoned critiques that outline several
important, thoughtful points" of many companies on the internet. I think the
fact that they responded at all is good. Remember Apple's response to the
iPhone 4 issues? We (finally) got Jobs pointing the finger at other companies
and trying to shift the attention.

Here RIM is admitting they're in some shit, and yes, they are only offering
the typical response, but what else do you expect? That's not a rhetorical
question. I'm genuinely curious how they could have responded that would make
critics happy.

My thought is that the only thing they can do right now is promise action,
which they did. Whether they follow through or not, I have no idea.

In response to your quoted text: I have no idea if the person really was an
employee. I think people should take a neutral look at this instead of
assuming one way or the other. On one hand, it could be an employee who has
already talked to his colleagues about these issues and has been ignored. On
the other hand, it's possible that it is just a bad media stunt by someone
trying to bring negative attention to RIM or even trying to make some money
with shorting them. If it's the former, I agree with you and would find this
backpedalling immature. In the latter case I would agree with RIM and feel
their response is appropriate.

~~~
athst
I agree, it was good for them to respond with something. It shows that they
are aware of the many criticisms flying around the press right now, and that
they are actually paying attention. Saying nothing would make it seem like
they are totally disconnected. Maybe it wasn't the best response in the world,
but it wasn't bad either.

In the quick news cycles of today driven by twitter, as a company you have to
respond quickly to stuff like this. Otherwise it just snowballs. I'm impressed
they drafted a response in the same day as well.

------
Skroob
The only positive way to respond to a letter like that is to go out and do it.
A press release reiterating the same old lines isn't going to solve anything;
addressing concerns internally and releasing real products should be their
response.

~~~
SeoxyS
A much better response would have been:

 _Re: Open Letter

Thank you very much for taking the time to express your opinion. We want to
let you know we're listening and very much appreciate feedback.

Hang in there.

\- Mike & Jim_

~~~
jodrellblank
How would that be better? If they _aren't_ listening, that would be a lie.

And from the open letter saying "RIM has a culture where nobody can speak out
without fear of career limiting punishment" their reply is "I can't believe
any real employee wouldn't raise these issues internally", does that sound
like they even thought about the letter for five minutes?

A better (more honest) reply would be "we don't think there's a problem, Apple
is just luck and hype, the playbook is industry changing (Mike said that,
didn't he?), this better not have come from inside or else".

IMO.

~~~
Skroob
"A better (more honest) reply would be "we don't think there's a problem,
Apple is just luck and hype, the playbook is industry changing (Mike said
that, didn't he?), this better not have come from inside or else"."

If that's really what they believe then they're in more trouble than anyone
could have imagined.

------
orky56
There is a fundamental business reality however that following an extended
period of hyper growth (during which RIM nearly quadrupled in size over the
past 5 years alone), it has become necessary for the company to streamline its
operations in order to allow it to grow its business profitably while pursuing
newer strategic opportunities.

So basically they're saying they're taking a break from innovating and will
spend a little while just cleaning up shop. Do they not realize they can't
just rest on their laurels while the rest of the industry leaves them behind?
Take a look at Nokia!

~~~
kragen
I didn't read that as "we're taking a break from innovating". I read it as
"we're about to do massive layoffs because we're gonna abandon our most
successful products and bet the company on something unproven". But I don't
know anything about what's going on with RIM.

------
yellowredblack
The complaint:

 _but unfortunately the culture at RIM does not allow us to speak openly
without having to worry about the career-limiting effects_

The response:

 _it is particularly difficult to believe that a “high level employee” in good
standing with the company would choose to anonymously publish a letter on the
web rather than engage their fellow executives in a constructive manner_

~~~
ellyagg
Since the merits to making anonymous public arguments are so obvious, that
line is one in particular that stands out as defensive. It also confirms one
of the points made in the original letter, that people are afraid to speak
out. Is there any doubt that the author of the above quotation is someone to
be feared?

For a good example of a case where public anonymous argument had far more
persuasive power than "engaging fellow executives in a constructive[sic]
manner" look at the Federalist Papers, which had a profound effect on the
ultimate ratification and subsequent interpretation of the US Constitution.

~~~
yuhong
As I said before, the best thing to do would be to allow non-anonymous public
arguments, but...

------
Toddward
The original letter emphasized that RIM is too corporate and that that's
stifling innovation and progress at the company. So what does RIM do? Fire off
a press release that extols the virtues of and attempts to justify that
bureaucracy.

/Facepalm

------
dforeman
My guess how a fail like this happens- Executive team has an investor
relations (PR) firm on retainer. IR firm sees "Open Letter" as a PR crisis,
pulls page from crisis management playbook and opts to respond immediately.
Responds in investor-speak. Flops with audience who elevated the letter to a
PR crisis in the first place- the internet/consumer. Social media fail.

------
hvs
RIM has $3 Billion in cash? I guess I'm not that surprised, but that's quite a
bit of "help us get back on our feet money." With some clear direction (which
they may or may not get from their current executives) they could definitely
regain some of their previous market.

The more competition the better, and having another player in the mobile space
can only improve things for the consumer (and the enterprise).

~~~
TomOfTTB
It really isn't that much. Look at it this way...

The way a corporate balance sheet works you don't spend money manufacturing
your product. What you do is convert the asset from money to a physical
product you can sell. But that asset is still on your books as being worth
whatever you paid to manufacture it.

RIM claims to have "shipped" 13.2 Million smartphones in the last quarter (as
opposed to "sold"). Assume their phones cost about as much as Apple's iPhone
(Via iSuppli: $187 to build) and you have $2.46 billion worth of assets in the
channel. And that's only smartphones. It doesn't count the playbook.

Keep in mind carriers can return shipped phones. So really RIM's $3 billion
only serves to put them at even every quarter

So in the grand scheme of things it isn't that much.

~~~
dirtyaura
Interesting. Are you saying that this inventory can still be listed under Cash
& Equivalents (1,986M on 28/5/2011) on balance sheet? Or is it under Accounts
Receivable (3,772M)? Does Total inventory (943M) then has phones that are not
yet shipped?

(Values are from latest Balance Sheet data
[http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:RIMM&fstype=ii](http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:RIMM&fstype=ii)
)

I've recently started to learn to read financials more carefully, but all
these nuances of corporate accounting can make it a fruitless effort.

~~~
shaggyfrog
If you check your link's "Balance Sheet" tab, you'll see inventory listed
under Assets as "Total Inventory". It would most certainly not be listed as
Cash & Equivalents.

~~~
dirtyaura
Yeah, I was curious because it doesn't sound likely that shipped-but-not-sold
phones would be listed under Cash & Equivalents (which is ~ $2B). But if his
math about value of shipped phones ($3B) is approximately correct, then it
doesn't fit under Total Inventory (<$1B) either, so it must be under
Receivables (~3-4B), right?

~~~
shaggyfrog
No. A receivable is money owed to the company (compare to accounts payable,
money the company owes to someone else).

------
Shenglong
What this teaches us, is that Bush's "we don't negotiate with terrorists" is a
valuable idea. Every company should have a bi-law which states it will _not_
respond to public letters. This letter, even though it got the point across,
is heavily damaging to the brand.

~~~
9999
How do you think this response damages their brand exactly?

~~~
Shenglong
It's not that the response damages their brand. It's that the letter damages
their brand, and their response only cues more people into it. It's a lose-
lose situation for them once the letter is sent out - unless they had
something witty planned and responded with a semi-troll comment such as "like
this? _present new product_ "

------
orenmazor
I get the feeling the entire first paragraph is a bit of an attack on the
author of the original letter, rather than addressing the problems.

~~~
chollida1
Really? I thought they made it very clear that they were taking a jab at the
author, or presumed author, since it's not at all clear that the letter is
from a real "high level" RIM employee.

~~~
orenmazor
thats exactly what they're doing. they wrote a short and contentless response,
and they spent 50% of it pondering if the original letter was real. whether
it's real or not isn't as important as the fact it's raising some serious
issues.

------
kin
This response is meaningless. Any public company will say the same jargon to
reassure their shareholders but I will put money down that internally RIM
executives are dwelling on the letter and taking action.

~~~
swombat
_I will put money down that internally RIM executives are dwelling on the
letter and taking action_

Really? Are you buying some RIM shares then?

~~~
esrauch
Even if he thinks the company is going to end up doing better in the long
term, that doesn't necessarily mean he should purchase the stock. He could
think they are going to be making moves with only minor announcements and the
stock will fall despite the company actually doing something that will fix
their downward trajectory. Stock purchases are more closely tied to what the
public perception of their trajectory is, or even higher order (eg what will
individuals on average predict what the public will think the company worth
is).

------
kamechan
proves the original author's point wonderfully, doesn't it?

------
shawndumas
Why is it "obviously difficult to address anonymous commentary"?

~~~
saucetenuto
If you're in the habit of addressing the message instead of the messenger,
it's not.

If your instinctive response to criticism is to try to figure out why the
speaker is making it, rather than to try to figure out whether it's accurate,
anonymous critique is very hard to handle.

------
SeoxyS
Disappointing to see RIM be so dismissive of a heartfelt and honest open
letter by someone who (high level RIM employee or not) obviously cares a lot
about RIM and took substancial amount of time to express his thoughts.

------
namank
RIM's action to the open Letter: [http://www.bgr.com/2011/06/30/rim-agrees-to-
consider-splitti...](http://www.bgr.com/2011/06/30/rim-agrees-to-consider-
splitting-ceo-chairman-
roles/#utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBoyGeniusReport+%28BGR+%7C+Boy+Genius+Report%29&utm_content=Twitter)

 _RIM and NEI Investments Announce Withdrawal of Shareholder Proposal; RIM
Committee to Review Matter Raised by Proposal

Waterloo, ON -

Research In Motion Limited (“RIM”) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) and Northwest &
Ethical Investments L.P. (“NEI Investments”) announced today that, following
discussions between them, NEI Investments has decided to withdraw its proposal
that was to be considered at the RIM Annual General Meeting. The proposal
asked that RIM’s Board of Directors adopt a policy that divides the role of
Chair and CEO, and that RIM have an independent Chair. The parties have agreed
that RIM’s Board will establish a Committee of independent directors whose
mandate will generally be to (i) study the appropriate balance between an
independent lead director or chair with full and exclusive authority
customarily held by such an office holder, (ii) determine the business
necessity for RIM’s Co-CEOS to have significant Board level titles to assist
their selling and other responsibilities with certain large customers in
overseas markets, and (iii) propose and provide a rationale for a recommended
governance structure for RIM, which will include clarifications of the Co-CEOs
and Chair roles, as well as the Board’s mandate. The Committee will consult
with NEI Investments in developing the specific terms of reference for this
mandate and before it issues its report by January 31, 2012. The Board will
publicly respond to the recommendations of the Committee within 30 days.

As a result, the proposal will no longer be presented at the Annual General
Meeting and no vote will be taken on the proposal at the meeting. RIM and NEI
Investments are pleased to have reached an agreement on this matter, and these
important issues of corporate governance will receive further consideration at
the RIM Board level_

------
mikemaccana
Wow. That was underwhelming.

------
mikecane
This sounds an awfully lot like Nokia's reaction to the iPhone. And see where
they went.

------
fab1an
RIM prefers to merely adress their shareholders on this issue, while the smart
move would have been to include some lingo addressing their customers and the
valid concerns raised in the 'open letter'. This won't work in the long run.

------
sixtofour
Given that the purpose of the first paragraph (and almost half the post) was
to passive-aggressively attack the letter writer, it's no surprise that the
writer did not engage management directly.

The second paragraph basically said "all is well!"

Ah. Well.

------
stevenj
I know it's simplistic, but RIM just needs to make and ship good products.

------
RyanMcGreal
TLDR: _We're doing great, and things are only going to get better._

------
wesleyd
RIM ... didn't they used to make pagers or something?

------
scorpion032
How can the author's name be "Research In Motion". Why isn't this post signed
by anyone? This is just as anonymous, for what it is worth.

------
etherael
Sinking? what do you mean sinking, ensign? Get back to polishing those
railings and rearranging those deckchairs.

------
shawndumas
Still no mention of iMessage...

~~~
canistr
Unless Apple intends to release low-end iPhones with equivalent iMessage only
data-plans, iMessage isn't a true competitor to BBM.

~~~
r00fus
iMessage will exist on iPod Touch and iPads.

It's not going to directly compete vs. RIM's strength, but it's still a big
threat... once iMessage exists, the sword of damacles is over RIM's head.

------
ericboggs
$3B in cash = RIM will acquire its way back into the game...or into a new
game.

~~~
dfranke
Take that number and compare it to the numbers you see on their statement of
operations. That $3B doesn't keep the lights on for very long if demand for
their product evaporates.

------
siculars
There is way too much PR speak going on here.

RIM = Yahoo!

------
sriramk
I love RIM - they're the gift that doesn't stop giving for my new Tumblr
<plug>[http://corporatebs.tumblr.com/</plug>](http://corporatebs.tumblr.com/</plug>);
:)

~~~
ptbello
Brilliant site. Please, allow users to post comments and "translations" for
each post!

~~~
sriramk
Done. Not terribly sure why I'm getting downvoted here. But atleast one other
person likes it :)

~~~
clebio
Possibly because your link is broken: >...my new Tumblr
<plug>[http://corporatebs.tumblr.com/</plug>](http://corporatebs.tumblr.com/</plug>);

should read as simply <http://corporatebs.tumblr.com/>

(my apologies for further butchering the links; this is my !first! post.)

