Blackberry Innovation: Diffusion Research Project

“Accepting or Rejecting Innovation” by Jared Diamond, discusses about the factors and processes of adopting new innovations. Diamond explained how innovations, no matter how progressive and efficient it is can be delayed or not used at all. The first factor that decide the new technology can be used is the economic advantage. This is the most obvious, according to the author is if the technology can provide an economic advantage, society would more readily support it. The wheel was used as an example in Native American society, compared to industrial nations, it was not as valued economically due to the lack of domesticated animals. The second factor that the author list was the social and prestigious value of the innovation also plays a crucial

First developed in 1993 by IBM, smartphones quickly took the market by storm. Providing users the ability to access large databases directories at the tip of their fingers.

An innovator reject the legitimate means but accept the goals and comes out with the new means that can’t be accepted by the society. The examples for this are people who cheated on exam, and poor people who have so many kids (because they thought that the kids can

Due to Canadian innovation and ambition, Canada became the country it is today, just like BlackBerry, which had to think of clever and innovative products to stay ahead of the competition. Research In Motion Limited (RIM), now known as BlackBerry Limited, was co-founded in 1984 by Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin as an electronics and computer science business based in Waterloo. The first RIM devices were the Inter@ctive Pager 900, 800 and 850, these were wireless handheld two-way paging communication devices. Computer company, IBM, bought $10 million worth of Inter@ctive Pager 800s after the success of their previous device, the 900. These devices became very successful, and shaped RIM’s way of thinking and product line. In 1997, RIM goes public on the Toronto Stock Exchange and two years later, they release the first handheld computer under the BlackBerry name, the BlackBerry 850, an email pager.

Several key points are presented in the article for how companies can be successful. The first, is that companies must be innovative and be willing “to change their core products or business models” (Bertolini et al., 2015, p. 90) to keep up with the change in the marketplace. This may require that they rebrand their product, or change their business

“Innovation is definitely not self-starting or self-perpetuating. People make it happen through their imagination, will power, and perseverance” (Kelley and Littman.2005.p. 6). I believe that an innovation leader is a person who empower himself with knowledge and skills to support others and create a change. My personal definition of innovation is “when people work hard to create a change and transfer their positive ideas into actions.” My personal philosophy of innovation is influenced by the book The Ten Faces of Innovation. From this book I learned that people can play different roles in their lives to be a good innovators. For example, in a hospital the head nurse can play the Anthropologist role and come up with new insights to

innovators are typically lower-class people who desire a high-class life and strive to get it. In ritualism, the third adaptation, individuals are capable of living a high-class life, but don 't necessarily care for it. "A ritualist may get a good education, work every day in an acceptable occupation, and appear outwardly to be leading a solid middle-class life. Yet that person may care little for the symbols of success, choosing to live an otherwise independent lifestyle." (Schmalleger, 2002 p208). Retreatism is the adaptation of those who give up not only the goals but

“You can innovate the promise you are making, you can innovate the products you deliver, or you can innovate with different communication channels in how and where you have dialogue with your customers around that product,” (McReynolds, 2012)

Using existing organizational systems often means completely missing the boat on the real customer and his real needs. This is the customer who values the products as a breakthrough. Products are frequently under-appreciated by firms when the new product is based on an existing platform. This leads to a wait and see attitude and the product is not given adequate support and often under-priced.

RIM was a latecomer to the phone application and touch screen technologies, which are currently the most desired options available on the market. BlackBerry App World went live on April 1, 2009 whereas the Apple App Store opened July 10, 2008 and the Android Market now titled Google Play debuted October 22, 2008. It seems that apps were somewhat of an afterthought to RIM and developmentally, they began the race after Apple and Android were miles ahead. BlackBerry is not known to be a “fun” phone, which can limit its consumer market to business-minded individuals and an older age bracket, possibly alienating the vital teen-early

PRODUCT RELATED ATTRIBUTES Functional Benefits                   Thumbwheel Trackpad 3G enabled Push mail QWERTY Key Pad Virtual real-time communication BlackBerry Messenger Application World GPRS Secured encrypted mail Mobile Voice System Browser BlackBerry OS7 Social Networking Tethered Modem Camera and Video Recording Music on BlackBerry BlackBerry MediaSync

Tidd and Bessant (2009) argued that “Unless an organization is able to move into further innovation, it risks being left behind as others take the lead in changing their offerings, their operational processes or the underlying models that drive their business”.

Blackberry tried to handle its current keyboard cell phones as well as the Storm. In performing this, the end result didn’t attract the traditional Blackberry customers or to those hoping to change to a touchscreen phone. This lead to dysfunction and frustration. Always pick a unique strategy and embrace it; and plan on making the customer want it no matter how good or bad the product truly is.

With Apple being so far ahead of their competition, the only problem one can foresee in Apple’s future is how long they can sustain such innovation before they plateau. Apple does a phenomenal job at releasing their innovative products before their competition, but if their innovation cannot hold steady, this may lead to changes in demand for their products considerably. This can be seen with their release of the iPhone, the first successful touch screen cellular phone. Although people swarmed to the iPhone when it was first released because of its advanced technology, as the years have passed, other similar designs, including those with android and windows based operating systems, have drawn a considerable portion of the market. A clear representation of Apple’s attempt to regain some of this market can be seen when the iPhone was released to Verizon Wireless’ customers in

Blackberry is a brand that was created by Research in Motion’s (RIM) Founder Mike Lazaridis in 1996, providing wireless web enabled devices across multiple networks. RIM is a Canadian based company founded in 1984 that formally worked