Blackberry OS 10 and RIM's Future

So if you have not heard the news that the company behind the famous Blackberry is in trouble and has just been acquired by a VC firm for almost a tenth of the value a couple of years back. So why is this happening to a once global player?

The answer is simple. Blackberry has forgotten its roots, the success of RIM came as corporate people, like myself, use the device as a means of communication in terms of emailing, although there is some BBMing as well. The main reason I like so many others use the Blackberry is for email. The unique secure nature of Push email, knowing that my email lives securely on RIM servers no matter who my provider is made the Blackberry a unique device.

So Whats Changed

More phones

Within less than 10 years there are not only a huge range of phones out there that compete with Blackberry, mostly running either Android or iOS. Which in itself is not a bad thing as these phones now not only do everything that made the Blackberry unique, but they are a lot more fun, more applications, more networks, which all means you can use your phone for work as well as play.

More Emails Less Blackberry Email

There are also lots more choices for email now than ever before, as 10 years ago you had to either run your own server or you had limited choices in terms of email, and namely push email. However most providers, even free ones like GMail, Yahoo, Live all do some form of push email now. Although none of the free services are as secure as Blackberry is, but they are free.

However, there is a catch to this Blackberry as of OS10 and with all new accounts as ceasing to run a hosted email service via your mobile phone provider, so if you have a dedicated Blackberry email with your provider, within a couple of years this will no longer work.

No Longer need a Blackberry Bundle

Plus the above as of OS10 you no longer need a dedicated Blackberry data plan to use the Blackberry services, this includes email, BBM, internet, etc

RIM are rolling out BBM for other devices such as Android, iOS

In a short while RIM will be releasing a new version of their popular messenger system BBM, this time it will be available on other devices and not just Blackberry's. This will mean that people without a Blackberry will now be able to message people with BBM by using their existing phone, they no longer need to have a Blackberry.

What Does This All Mean?

As you can see Blackberry is trying to move away from their roots as a corporate provider, they are realising that the growing sector of their market is people that just want to use the messenger service BBM and are not bothered about email.

What They are Forgetting!

By moving away from where they started Blackberry / RIM are hoping to capture more of the market that is not interested in mobile email but more interested in texting, messaging, facebook, twitter, etc. RIM are also trying to make their handsets a bit more fun, with the new OS10 you can get more apps and do more fun stuff, sort of. Also as of OS10 you now don't need a Blackberry data plan to use your Blackberry services, this may sound like a good idea, but in reality by doing away with the need for a Blackberry service plan in an attempt to attract new customers and removing the RIM hosted emails services,  means that in order to use email on your Blackberry you now need to use one of the many free accounts out their or your own personal email account.

One thing RIM are forgetting is that by diluting their offering, in terms of making software available on other operating systems, such as BBM means people are moving away from the need to have a Blackberry device. What they need to remember is that BBM is one of the reasons why people buy their Blackberry in the first place, so by making it available on other devices they are removing the need to even by a Blackberry in the first place.

So what we have learnt is that now as of OS10 all your Blackberry is, is a mobile messaging device, that is still no way as much fun as other handsets out there, plus if your a corporate user (and I don't mean a Blackberry Corporate account holder) but someone would likes have a professional looking mobile email, your out of luck. No more Blackberry hosted email, just a phone you can use to message people also known as texting ;)

The Future

So as we can now see as all you can really do on a Blackberry now is use the BBM service, which in itself is restricted to only sending messages to other BBM users, although this is changing shortly, unlike text /SMS where you can send it to any mobile phone, means that the future is bleak for RIM / Blackberry. After all there are loads of tariffs available now with unlimited text messages and loads of data, what that means is that anyone can now get a more fun handset such as an Android or iOS handset and still have the same features that once made Blackberry unique, this includes email as you no longer get a RIM hosted email with your Blackberry device, and the free email services do PUSH email now, so you would be daft to get a Blackberry.

The Solution

My advice to RIM is simple, GO BACK TO YOUR ROOTS, remember that Blackberry was once the communication device of choice for people that want to communicate, not chat! So give all Blackberry users a dedicated email address, and I love the idea of not needing a separate Blackberry plan. But one should not come at the expense of the other.

In short continue to make your handset more fun, but also aim them at the original market, people that want to communicate and not simple by BBM.

Thanks Sean J Connolly FaceBook Me - Visit AJAX Web Development Store BuzzProperties.co.uk - Online Property Sales and Letting

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RIM posts first loss in 7 years, considers splitting firm

So I have been and continue to be a very avid Blackberry user, and have happily used a BlackBerry for almost 5 years now. So when I saw the latest news that RIM have posted a loss and are on the brink of splitting their company I thought, that is so not the right thing to do. That brings us to this blog post.

OK so RIM  are taking a battering from other handsets, particularly Apple and Android handsets with profits falling to the brink of staff cuts, almost 5000 at the time of writing.

What I find funny and quite annoying is that RIM hired JP Morgan to come up wth strategy to save the company, and what did they come up with, yes you guessed it staff cuts and possbly splitting the firm in two. One for the handsets and one for messaging. This advice is so far from what RIM need to do its laughable.

Remember RIM you need to spend money to make money, making your company smaller is not the way to go to increase profits.

Now here is what is wrong and what should be done, well kinda.

1. Firstly the problem is that RIM have failed to keep up to date with the continued move into applications, and that has left the Blackberry OS too far behind the competition. So people like myself who use a blackberry are in a position where we can not get the same amount applications for our handsets. Answer open up the development of applications for the Blackberry OS, but dont go too far as to make it opensource. 
2. On the apps front, dont just port old apps to your new operating sytem, develop new applications to keep up with the times, porting is good but you need new innovations.
3. Now it appears to me that RIM are totally missing the spot when it comes to keeping up to date with their market, the mobile phone market has changed since they first came around and although messaging has moved on, RIM and the Blackberry handsets have not, and are still targeting older users with enterprise solutions, however alot of handset sold are to young people, and in some cases mid to late teens if not younger. This is the market that RIM is missing out on, although alot of people use BBM their overal handset use is limited to this and this alone, and as this is where the RIM story began they need to focus more on how this can be utilised.
4. Email, simple really RIM are not fully pushing the fact that their handsets are still the best for Email as they operate true push email, no other handset offer this type of email with the service and experience that RIM does. So as the world is continuing to move towards mobile workers, I dont see how they can be making such huge losses. This market would allow RIM to kinda burn the candle at both ends, by targeting people who want to use mobile email.

Splitting the Company. Dont Do It!!

Ok word of warning to RIM, don't split your company into two, as you cannot have Blackberry Messaging and Email without the handset, so in splitting the company and lets say selling the handset side will only lead to problems, due to the loss of control of the one thing that makes RIM and Blackberry unique the "Blackberry" handset. This will also lead to increased costs in the future as who ever did buy the handset side, will either expect payment for RIM to use Blackberry services on their handset, or and this is more likely they will pay a license fee for the use of Blackberry service, this fee will be less that the current income RIM makes from handset and messagin licensing to service providers.

So in short RIM dont split up your company, as you cannot have Blackberry messaging without the handsets.

In Closing

OK so I have loads of ideas that could save RIM, and before you go saying "what do I know" I have worked with some of the largest companies on the planet, Orange, Microsoft, Google to name but a few and have always been able and continue to spot opportunities and bring saving and improvement to companies, and not by cutting staff.

In a nutshell RIM needs to give up the idea of splitting the company, and look to add a better offering of applications to its arsenal, and finally broaden the target market, push the likes of BBM and its benefits, mainly cost compared to SMS, to the younger generation and push the benefits of a true push email experience to the slightly olders users, also make people aware that in order to use Blackberry email you dont need to have enterprise architecture to support it.

So Thorsten Heins if your reading this and want to save RIM, you know where I am and only have to ask. I dont even charge anywhere near as much as JP Morgan, but always get results.

Thanks
Sean J Connolly

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