Consumer Behaviour: Consumers Perception of Blackberry Phones

Besides, there are always many new entrants enter the market with the flow of labor and capital (Laudon, 2014, pp. 124). Although the requirements for the entry to the mobile market is relative higher than others, the number of new entrants are considerable while customers are more selective. As a result, those companies like the T-Mobile in this case that are lack of competitive advantages will be omitted by customers. As for the substitute, the development of entertainment tools decrease the desire of the mobile phone although there is little instrument can replace the mobile phone

RIM has a wide range of customers and established in many developed countries which can gain its brand image among its competitors. As RIM is responsible for innovation of high technology products, there is an effective R&D in RIM to make RIM stay competitive in smartphones industry. A strong relationship between RIM and its service providers showed one of RIM’s core capabilities.

- There are plenty of hardware component manufacturers for cellphones but BlackBerry’s operating system is complicated therefore it limits the number of software developers that will work with them.

Trends in the market include the growing number of people within the 15-29 age range. Also, phones are being used for much more than just calling, other functions like texting and music playing capabilities have dominated much of a user’s data usage. As for market characteristics, the mobile industry has reached almost 50% penetration with about 130 million subscribers, and reaching its maturity. The cost structure has been very confusing for consumers, with hidden fees, overcharges, and lacks to reward users who do not use their plans to the max. And finally, channels include all service provider stores and retail consumer stores, for example, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy.

Making hundreds of millions of dollars, RIM is blowing other competitors out of the water with huge demands for their products. Skipping almost a decade to 2007, when RIM’s subscriber base jumps to 8 million and revenues double to over $3 billion. That same year, RIM becomes Canada’s most valuable company, surpassing Royal Bank of Canada’s market worth on the TSX. BlackBerry’s innovation is what started the company and continues to improve it. Canadian inventions like the first telephone, Java programming language and the famous Canadarm required great innovation, like BlackBerry, to make them prominent and to stand out from the rest of the world. In conclusion, BlackBerry’s bold features and breakthroughs in telecommunications have shaped our mobile experiences we have

This paper investigates two problems (a software and hardware) with at least five usability problems which are solely poor user experience knowledge, interactions and poor systems. As a result, this paper identified the following systems: 1. BlackBerry Operating System (OS) as a software problem and 2. BlackBerry Curve 9320 as a hardware device problem. This paper will furthermore describe both the issues in detail and provide possible solutions to the identified problems. The following table provides you with a summary of problems for each system identified in this

Primarily, RIM is well known for developing Blackberry, a cellular smart phone that was established in 1984. Blackberry is one of the very few cellular device companies that introduced and supplied people

In 1997, RIM went public with a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange and raised $115 million from investors (Hempel, 2009). The following year, it made RIM made history again when it introduced the first Blackberry: The RIM 386. The first of its kind, it was a PDA organizer and had the ability to synchronize with corporate emails. This was beginning of their rule in the corporate world. Their products became synonymous with business electronics (“Research In Motion,” 2003). The following year after that, the company introduced its first BlackBerry brand e-mail device, a bulky rectangle with a narrow screen that ran off one AA battery (Hempel, 2009).

In the most recent market analysis from the NPD Group, iOS has assumed control of 43 percent of smartphone sales. The analysis further shows the market for basic phones has dwindled and that the cell phone market is fast becoming a smartphone market. The demand for anything other than smartphones is evaporating. This push toward high-end smartphones is helping not only Apple, but also Google and Samsung, which are benefiting from the desire of consumers to carry these all-powerful ‘mini’ computers in their pockets. With the connectivity these smartphones present, users are never left ‘out of

RIM was founded in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada by Greek Canadian Mike Lazaridis, a computer genius who at the age of 12 won a prize for reading every science book in his local library. Together with his RIM co-chief executive Jim Balsille, Lazaridis introduced the revolutionary BlackBerry wireless mobile device in 1999, and the results were electric. Celebrities Lady Gaga, Brad Pitt, Nicki Minaj and Kim Kardashian were pictured with their BlackBerry devices by their side. The rise of “CrackBerry Nation” seemed unstoppable. Until the Apple iPhone entered the market. Competition from the iPhone and later Verizon’s Droid Razr along with various other “smart phone” upstarts caused RIM to lose its business focus and its public relations edge.

In 2011, Apple increased their market share from 15.6% to 19% while RIM fell from 16% to 10.4% (Global Mobile Statistics, 2012). There are several different prospering smart phone brands that are negatively impacting RIM’s financial success. Not only are there a large number of competitors, but they are also well known companies such as Sony, Samsung, Google, and Apple to name a few. These are dominant companies in the electronics sector and all of which have large fixed costs so they must operate at economies of scale and produce near capacity. In turn, they have to sell all these products so that competition becomes more aggressive (Clegg pg.62). These companies all have the competitive advantage of offering their consumers another product lines whereas BlackBerry only offers phones and the new PlayBook which hasn’t been overly successful.

RIM has had a rash of bad press due to failures in its email system as well as its product and management strategy. RIM has suffered two major disruptions of service in 2009 and 2011 that have tarnished the touted reliability standard that has been a standard marketing tool for BlackBerry devices. In 2011 alone, RIM stock dropped more than 50% due to a series of product errors and profit warnings. (Sharp & Prodhan, 2011)

BlackBerry is not just a phone, it is the power to do more and be more. The brand is the best available platform for mobilizing the business providing not just wireless email but business solutions to integrate mobile workers and important communications, information, business applications and back-end systems. In today‟s past faced life BlackBerry is the perfect tool to keep people connected to friends, family work as well as pursue their interests, all at the same time. BlackBerry products and services have been a significant contributor to the productivity enhancements ultimately reflected by the increase in profitability.

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 product first launched in 1999 ▪ Wide range of Wireless Service Providers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and all major global providers) ▪ 41 Million units sold in 2009 ▪ 80+ Million units currently in use globally