

RIM: The inmates have taken over the asylum - pathik
http://www.mondaynote.com/2011/03/27/rim-the-inmates-have-taken-over-the-asylum/

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zmmmmm
I'm quite surprised that RIM is making Android apps that run inside the
"player" have to be manually ported and then submitted to their own store and
signed. I know that personally the chance of me investing the time and effort
to do that is pretty small, especially from what I've heard about their signup
process. To me the entire _point_ of having an Android player is to ensure
there is a large pool of apps on day one. It seems like they've done all the
technical work to achieve this and then killed it stone dead with dumb
bureaucratic hurdles.

~~~
gonzo
Why are you surprised? RIM wants to retain control of their platform, and
having the developer re-sign the app enables that.

This way RIM can decide what does, and does not run on it's phones.

~~~
cabalamat
In which case, fuck 'em. They're not the only game in town any more. Maybe
they need a few quarters of losses to get off their high horse.

~~~
ianhawes
Couldn't agree more. I've developed for the Blackberry platform for several
years now, and they've gotten slightly better the past few months but compared
to Android or iOS, we're treated like dogshit.

------
unexpected
Does anyone think RIM would be a prime acquisition candidate?

I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out - what if Microsoft bought RIM?

WP7 hasn't gained any traction, RIM seems lost in the weeds - the could merge
the two entities and ring-fence the entire enterprise market. MS could
convince enterprises to buy their phones/tablets/etc and achieve "full
synergies" with their other enterprise applications.

~~~
jerf
I believe the response I had to Microsoft and Nokia getting together was
something to the effect of "merging two entities that don't Get It together
does not generally produce one that Gets It." I'd say the same thing here.

If someone is going to buy RIM and actually make something of it, it would
have to be a company than Gets It. All the companies that Get It already seem
to be facing the problem of having more success than they know what to do
with. I don't see how acquiring RIM would solve any of their problems. But I'd
love to hear about those problems if you can explain them.

~~~
Stormbringer
Both RIM and Microsoft "get" the Enterprise. This matchup makes sense for both
of them.

I didn't feel that it made sense when RIM was committed to a Java-only vision,
but now that they're whoring themselves out to anybody with an app platform
and they hung their existing base of Java devs out to dry, it makes a lot more
sense for them to jump in bed with Microsoft.

~~~
Ratfish
"Both RIM and Microsoft "get" the Enterprise. This matchup makes sense for
both of them"

Based on what? I'd argue that they "got" enterprise, but are in the process of
losing it. Are a very cruse measure, what about share price over time? Or
units shipped? or...?

------
6ren
Customers don't buy technology, they buy ways to meet their needs.

    
    
      What need was the Blackberry meeting?
      What need is the iPad meeting?
    

From the article, it sounds like the Blackberry is being _disrupted_ by the
iPad - but I'm not sure it fits. A disruption is where the disruptive product
is initially not good enough for the incumbents' customers' needs, and it has
to go elsewhere and get started with other, less demanding customers, who
value it for being cheaper, more convenient or simpler. Then, the disruption
gradually improves til it is good enough for the incumbents' customers. At
which point, it's game over for the incumbent.

I'm not sure that the iPad fits this bill. It depends on the needs of the
Blackberry's customers, and what they were trying to get done with it. It's
also probably important to see the iPad not as standalone, but as
"iPad+AppStore"; and as an extension of the iPhone, since it can run iPhone
apps.

 _EDIT_ now I'm thinking that the Blackberry was a special-purpose solution
(for the enterprise), and the iPad is a general-purpose solution. As soon as
the iPad can also do what the Blackberry does, customers will switch. The odd
thing is that the iPad/iPhone wasn't cheaper, more convenient or simpler - it
was mainly just more general. Maybe more convenient, in being more usable.

 _EDIT2_ The crucial innovation of the iPhone was adding a pointing device
(multi-touch - the fact that it's _multi_ is a nice extra) and a large screen.
Before then, there was no mouse-like input device. Adding it was comparable to
going from the Apple IIe to the Macintosh; or DOS to windows. It made the
device easier to use - the crucial about this is not that it was less tedious,
but that it became accessible to a new group of users, who previously could
not use it. For smartphones, these people simply weren't customers before.
They wouldn't have bought a Blackberry.

In other words, the iPhone _was_ actually more convenient than the Blackberry
- convenience that enabled it to target non-consumption.

At this point, the iPhone still wasn't good enough for Blackberry users,
because it didn't have exchange integration, so RIM wasn't threatened. But
when integration was added, it was good enough, and game over for RIM.

------
quanticle
_The bad news start with unit growth, it is out of sync with the rest of the
industry where percentages are more in the 50% to 100% range. For reference,
Apple’s iPhone unit sales grew by 93% from 2009 to 2010. More recent Android
devices grew even faster._

I wonder if that's really a valid metric to be using. iOS and Android devices
have much less market penetration than RIM, so, of course their growth rate
will be higher.

~~~
SwellJoe
"iOS and Android devices have much less market penetration than RIM, so, of
course their growth rate will be higher."

I'm pretty sure that should read " _had_ much less market penetration",
because Android and iOS both currently have larger market share than RIM
(according to Nielsen: [http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/wp-
content/uploads/2011/03...](http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/wp-
content/uploads/2011/03/nielsen-smartphone-manufacturer-os-
jan-11-mar-2011.JPG)). I'm honestly surprised RIM had any sales growth, at
all. I simply don't know anyone still using a Blackberry, even among people
who were formerly absolute fanatics.

I guess the enterprise market moves slowly enough to keep them afloat for
another couple quarters, but it certainly doesn't look good.

~~~
dezwald
I think there are 2 markets here that need to be separated when comparing RIM
with Apple and Android.

Corporate and Consumer.

RIM dominates the enterprise/corporate market and as of recent has been trying
to break into the consumer market.

Black berries where made for the corporate/work industry. Apple always has
made consumer based products. So we are comparing apple to oranges.

It's like taking a car company that's focuses on building trucks and then
comparing it to a car company that builds luxury cars.

They are completely different. That being said, when entering into a new
market, for instance with RIM entering into the consumer market, it's going to
take some time for RIM to gain market share.

Now, has RIM made some bad development platform decisions in their process?
yes they have. But if you're going to compare RIM to consumer based companies,
I think it's a little premature - give them another year or two.

~~~
SwellJoe
"give them another year or two"

It's not up to me. The market will decide how much longer RIM has.

I suspect you're overly optimistic about their hold on the enterprise market,
as well. While the smart phone market has grown dramatically, and thus RIM can
continue to grow sales while losing market share at a tremendous clip, the
fact is that if they're making phones no one wants, even enterprises will
change eventually. CEOs and CTOs want nice phones, too, and they'll make the
necessarily decisions to switch infrastructure to nice phones. This has
already happened at every major company I know of that used to be Blackberry-
only. They're now offering iPhone and Android to their people, alongside
Blackberry, and everyone is obviously (and sensibly) choosing iPhone or
Android.

