Case Write-up
Research in Motion: The Mobile OS Platform War
BlackBerry Limited (Nasdaq: BBRY, previously Research in Motion - RIM) is facing many challenges that threaten its future development. Furthermore, some even question its future. This case write-up addresses its past weaknesses and strengths, while providing solutions to current and future problems. Below, we analyze the strengths and weaknesses compared to their competitors:
Strengths:
Enterprise services - Data Security/Compression: For years, BlackBerry was synonymous with business connectivity. Though the company’s smartphone failed to make a mark in the consumer market, it has always been a top choice for corporate users. BlackBerry provides secure encryption for data, which differentiates it from the competition1. In some markets such as the United Arab Emirates, the government has banned BlackBerry because it restricts their ability to spy on their own citizens.2 BlackBerry phones are also well known for their data compression features. They can compress data up to half of the original size, reducing the time it takes to send the data via the internet.3
Patents: After many years of research and development, particularly in the mobile communications market, BlackBerry has a strong patent portfolio. The estimated value of BlackBerry’s patents ranges from $2 billion to $5 billion.4
Hardware features: BlackBerry has a few good hardware features like durability and excellent battery life. Superior
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.
According to the article “BlackBerry Posts Loss as Phones Go Unsold”, BlackBerry performs a poor performance. Business has a quarterly loss in 2013 for $965 million. The revenue had drop 45% that down to $1.57 billion from $2.86 billion compares with a year earlier. BlackBerry lost $248 million, or 47 cents a share, and analysts forecast 49 cents a share loss for the quarter ended August 31. The net loss is $235 million which excluding inventory charge and restructuring charges in the latest quarter. The cash position also down to $2.6 billion from $3.1 billion at quarter-end. Smartphone maker report a hefty operating loss of nearly $1 billion charge on inventory of unsold phones.
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
BlackBerry, previously known as Research in Motion (RIM), is a global company in the telecommunications industry. Founded in 1984, the company saw huge success in the early age of the smart phones. The company offers various cell-phone related devices as well as enterprise services, including security. Although BlackBerry’s cell phone success has dwindled in current years, its new CEO, John Chen, has made steps to improve profits and change the company’s focus to enterprise software suites and security.
The company you work for has just woken up, smelled the coffee, and realized the potential impact of disruptive innovation on its strategy and its ultimate survival. In particular, your company wishes to avoid Research in Motion (RIM)’s fate in the smartphone devices and mobile operating software systems markets. As part of your company’s reassessment of its current situation, you have been tasked with providing an overview and summary analysis of RIM’s organizational strategy during those critical years when RIM went from dominant market leader to little more than an inconsequential player in the smartphone devices and mobile operating software systems markets. Your analysis
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).
Incorporated in 1984, Research in Motion, Canada’s most successful and influential tech firm, used to be a market leader in mobile phone industry. However, the company seems to be overtaken by a series of deep-rooted dysfunction. RIM during the past years had grown unwieldy and unorganized. Conflicting opinions and a lack of clear direction worsened an already difficult situation. All of the evidence is showing that the management of RIM has failed: a number of high-level people left; the market shares keep falling; product delayed; investors became angry; and an internal chaos remained at this BlackBerry maker.
Starting in early 2009, RIM has been on a sharp decline in the US, which is its largest area both in volume and revenue. Pressure from Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android has pushed RIM towards the bottom of a market it once commanded. The internal environment at RIM has been in turmoil since before its decline. There have been several leaked letters from RIM ex-employees that shed light
BlackBerry, one of Apple's main rivals, offers a more functional design. Its website does subliminally suggest the product, given its glossy black character. A picture of a hand holding a BlackBerry is apparent, much like Apple's depiction of the iPad. However, the website for BlackBerry is much busier and text-heavy. The words greeting the website surfer proclaim: "sharing information is now a contact sport." The words and the blackness are somewhat aggressive and masculine in tone, versus the more feminine image on the white Apple website.
Apple could make future strides in the smartphone industry, if it can figure out a way to steal away some market share from BlackyBerry users. Many business users prefer the BlackBerry to all other smartphones in the industry.
BlackBerry certainly is not dead and the KEYone is the confirmation. The motto of this handset "Particularly Unique" is really spot on, seeing as the gadget accompanies a physical keyboard, an uncommon quality in today's market. Plainly, the cell phone is promising, with the incorporation of a unique finger print based scanner and latest android based OS on board. However, if the shutter speed and processer could have been better I am certain this phone would have created quite a stir in the market. In general, a decent recovery from BlackBerry and, on account of this phone, they are back in the game of
An increase in the population of middle class has put a different perspective on things for Blackberry. Africa is a continent that supports Blackberry very strongly. Blackberry owns 23
▪ 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