1. Identify, in a SWOT analysis, the critical aspects you have discovered from the application of your chosen models to the industry and to Blackberry.
Strengths
1. Highly secure phones;
The primary RIM’s competitive advantage is its very secure mobile phones. The company released its phones with secure encrypted network that allowed sending emails between phones without possibility of stealing the information. This became the USP (unique selling proposition) of Blackberries and was a very attractive feature for corporates and governments that other phones didn’t have. As a result, BlackBerry became no.1 choice for enterprises and governments
2. Strong focus on narrow customer segment;
Unlike other mobile phones and smartphones companies, BlackBerry tries to appeal for a narrow customer segment – governments and corporates. The result is a more focused approach to satisfying the needs of this narrow segment, something that other businesses rarely do.

Weaknesses
1. Inability to market the brand;
BlackBerry’s brand was known for the market long before Apple’s iPhone launch or Samsung’s Galaxy success. When the iPhone was launched, RIM had a better quality BlackBerry phone in the market, enjoyed larger sales and greater brand reputation but was unable to build on that due to poor marketing efforts. It spent and continues to spend significantly lower amounts ($41.3 million) on marketing, about 10 times lower than Apple ($400 million) and 8 times lower than Samsung ($334 million) in 2012, according to CNET. Even with better quality products, the company would be unable to “sell” them to consumers as it would be overshadowed by Samsung’s and Apple’s marketing spending.
Inability to market the brand also resulted in declining brand reputation and low customer loyalty. According to Interbrand, BlackBerry’s brand was one of the top declining brands in 2012 out of