Blackberry is losing out to iPhones

Research in Motion (RIM) is the company that makes Blackberry phones.  Blackberry mobile phones are going downhill.  The phones that sell the most are iPhones and Androids.  These are dominating the world market.  This is the future of the world market as well.  So people are going for these phones and they don’t like Blackberries as much.

 

RIM is losing jobs and revenue as well.  There have been 5,000 layoffs for this company because the company is losing money.  Their net sales went down by 42% a year ago to $2.8 billion.  The CEO Heins chose to cut costs and downsize but this is not enough for the company.  It must find innovative ways to sell their products in the global market.  The CEO is not doing the best job as well.  He needs to find creative ways to sell the product to gain more of a market share in the phone market.

 

The Blackberry was first a business phone.  Many business people, lawyers, consultants and other people who are in organizations had Blackberrys. This wasn’t enough for the RIM so they had to expand to the regular consumer.  They made it more user friendly so the average person could use it, not just corporate people. They gave the phone a music player which most people do not know about.

 

They should have set up an office inSilicon Valleybecause this would have given them an opportunity to see what other companies are doing. It would have made them compete more with these companies.

 

In 2010 they set a plan to make a touch-screen rival to iPhone. They came up with the Blackberry Torch which did not do too well. RIM needs to learn to discontinue products and make new ones.  Many tech companies have bad products but they are discontinued and the company learns from their mistake. Companies such as Microsoft had Zune and Apple hadNewton.  Both of these companies did not do well but they reset and brought out better products.  RIM did not make a new innovative product.  Their product called playbook did not do too well and they lost a lot of money on unsold playbooks.

 

There is still hope for RIM to succeed though.  They have over $2 billion is cash on hand.  The bottom side is that the cash can go away due to costs.  Also many of the people who left blackberry for iPhone are not coming back anytime soon. So they have to find innovative ways to get people to subscribe to Blackberry.

 

He should invest in developing countries as well because there would be a market for the phones.  The price is what is most important to know.  There is an elite in the developing world that will buy the phone because they need it.  The problem will be setting up the infrastructure in the developing world to make it be efficient.

 

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2012/07/how-the-blackberry-died.html

 

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2012/06/rim-dying-because-it-got-future-phones-completely-wrong/54031/

Blackberry: A Globally Local Phenomenon?

I use my Blackberry more than I would like to admit (thanks to the curse of BBM); most Blackberry users do! Canadian company Research in Motion (RIM) has been producing the Blackberry since 1999. Today, Blackberry accounts for 3% of the total mobile sales in the world. Though this may seem to account for a small number, the Blackberry has had significant social implications in the region in the past few years. The Blackberry has redefined the way people interact not only with their phones, but also with one another. Thanks to their instant messaging platform Blackberry Messenger (BBM), RIM was able to make messaging, sharing photos and broadcasting information so easy and so accessible. In doing so, RIM was able to penetrate markets, such as ours in the Gulf, to meet market demand for easy exchange of information and media. Keeping in mind objectives and strategy in a global environment, I will explain this blackberry phenomenon in the context of operations management.

Having this in mind, it is important to understand the RIM, while initially aimed for a business customer base in North America and Europe, was able to diversify into Middle East markets, particularly in the Gulf where mobile phone usage is very high. This issue of globalizing the business explains that RIM was not only able to understand the market at hand, but also learned to improve their operations abroad to attract and retain global clients and talent. In seeing this shift in global markets and adapting to this new commercialized leisure customer base, RIM began providing better goods and services that keep in mind the cultural mindset and markets. They introduced the “display pictures”, for example, to their popular BBM application and made photo sharing instantaneous and easy. Both these features show that this interaction between foreign customers and the supplier (RIM) can lead to new opportunities and extension of the life cycle. This clearly coincides with the fact that blackberries have shown an extended growth in life cycle across Middle East markets in particular, and in doing so, they are also able to improve operations by allowing for the free flow of ideas and creation of an improved product fit for both consumer and producer.

With this new market in mind, RIM needs to think of perhaps hiring more local talent based in the Middle East, in a way to further ensure success in the region. In doing so, RIM can make its mission explicit by allowing for an employee base that understands cultural implications and habits. This could help solidify the strategy for the company and make it more concrete and attainable. By doing that, RIM can continue to produce the Blackberry, ensuring a loyal client base in the Middle East and other global markets that are consistent with its reputation, values, and its ability to generate profits by capitalizing on market and cultural trends.

With new market trends on the way, most notably Instagram which only works on the iPhone (and more recently on Android), how do you think RIM needs to respond to ensure growth, profitability and loyalty by its client base in the Gulf?