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History

Mike Lazaridis - Founder and former co-CEO of BlackBerry
The first BlackBerry device, the 850, was introduced in 1999 as a two-way pager in Munich, Germany. The name BlackBerry was coined by the marketing company Lexicon Branding. The name was chosen due to the resemblance of the keyboard's buttons to that of the drupelets that compose the blackberry fruit.
In 2003, the more commonly known smart phone BlackBerry was released, which supports push email, mobile telephone, text messaging, Internet network.
BlackBerry first made headway in the marketplace by concentrating on email. RIM currently offers BlackBerry email service to non-BlackBerry devices, such as the Palm Treo, through its BlackBerry Connect software.
The original BlackBerry device had a monochrome display, but all current models have colour displays. All models, except for the Storm series and the all-touch Torch 9850/9860 have a built-in QWERTY keyboard, optimized for "thumbing", the use of only the thumbs to type. The Storm 1 and Storm 2 include a Sure Type keypad for typing. Originally, system navigation was achieved with the use of a scroll wheel mounted on the right side of phones prior to the 8700. The track wheel was replaced by the trackball with the introduction of the Pearl series which allowed for 4 way scrolling. The trackball was replaced by the optical track pad with the introduction of the Curve 8500 series. Models made to use iDEN networks such as Nextel and Mike also incorporate a push-to-talk (PTT) feature, similar to a two-way radio.
Vision and mission statement:
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 with RAM and Ericsson, developing a two way paging system and wireless email network.
The company’s goal and vision is clear: “to provide solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market, including the software that allows the BlackBerry Smartphone to provide mobile access to email, applications, media and the Internet

Since the creation of Blackberry, it commands over 20% of the world’s Smartphone sales, available in over 91 countries on over 500 mobile service operators. Blackberry has sold over 100 million devices and still trumps the Iphone is sales since its development.

With the development of the we see the progress that Blackberry has made. Not only does Blackberry dedicate so much time and funds to research and development, but they have successfully built the brand strong and have reached different demographics in the past 5 years than any other company.

Objective:
Organization structure:
RIM is lead by an executive team comprised of co-CEOs. Balsillie also holds the position of chairman, while Lazaridis is also the company president. There are two chief operating officers; a chief financial officer; a vice-president, Enterprise Business Unit; and vice-president, Corporate Marketing.

There have been recent concerns among industry analysts and company enthusiasts about the decision to continue operating with two CEOs, and about the status of the board of directors of the company. Many feel that RIM should reconsider the co-CEO management decision. An article in Canadian Business states that “RIM should follow Microsoft’s example and make Lazaridis the chief technology officer instead of co-CEO”. Also causing concern and disappointment is the fact that, as the company grows its global business, as of 2006, the board of directors is still entirely made up of Canadians.

Jim Balsillie is viewed as the public face of RIM, having a more charismatic and out-going personality that people identify with. As well, he brings a wealth of business knowledge to the company, holding both a degree in commerce and an MBA. He is responsible for driving corporate strategy, business development, marketing, sales, and finance. Lazaridis, with his engineering degree, prefers to work in the background leading the technology innovation. He is passionate about science and electronics, and is responsible for product strategy, research and development, product development, and manufacturing for the company.
Company turnover:
RESEARCH IN MOTION REPORTS THIRD QUARTER FISCAL 2013
RESULTS
Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion Limited (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM), a world leader in the mobile communications market, today reported third quarter results for the three months ended December1, 2012 (all figures in U.S. dollars and U.S. GAAP, except where otherwise indicated).

Highlights:
• Cash increase of approximately $600 million to $2.9 billion
• Cash flow from operations was approximately $950 million
• Revenue of $2.7 billion
• GAAP net income from continuing operations of $14 million, or $0.03 per share diluted, including a
$166 million favorable tax settlement
• Adjusted net loss of $114 million, or $0.22 per share diluted
• BlackBerry subscriber base of approximately 79 million users
• Shipments of 6.9 million smartphones and 255,000 PlayBooks
• RIM's Chief Information Officer, Robin Bienfait, announces retirement
Q3 Results
Revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2013 was $2.7 billion, down 5% from $2.9 billion in the previous quarter and down 47% from $5.2 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2012. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 60% for hardware, 36% for service and 4% for software and other revenue.
During the quarter, RIM shipped approximately 6.9 million BlackBerry smart phones and approximately 255,000 BlackBerry Play Book tablets.
GAAP net income for the quarter from continuing operations was $14 million, or $0.03 per share diluted.
GAAP net income for the quarter, including loss from discontinued operations, was $9 million, or $0.02 per share diluted, compared with the GAAP net loss of $235 million, or $0.45 per share diluted, in the prior quarter and a GAAP net income of $265 million, or $0.51 per share diluted, in the same quarter last year.
Adjusted net loss for the third quarter was $114 million, or $0.22 per share diluted. Adjusted net loss and adjusted diluted loss per share exclude the impact of pre-tax charges of $55 million ($38 million on an after-tax basis) related to the Cost Optimization and Resource Efficiency (“CORE”) program and excludes the impact of an income tax benefit of $166 million. These impacts on GAAP net income from continuing operations and diluted earnings per share are summarized in the table below.
“RIM continued to execute on its product roadmap plans and to deliver on key financial metrics as it gets set for the global launch of BlackBerry 10,” said Thorsten Heins, President and CEO. “During the third quarter, we continued to demonstrate our strong financial position, generating $950 million in cash flow from operations, and increasing our cash position significantly to more than $2.9 billion. More than 150 carriers are currently completing technical acceptance programs for the first BlackBerry 10 products, and beta trials of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 are underway at more than 120 enterprises including 64 Fortune 500 companies. This is an exciting time and our carrier partners, application developers and employees are all looking forward to unveiling the innovation and excitement of BlackBerry 10 to our customers on January 30, 2013.”RIM also announced today that Robin Bienfait, Chief Information Officer for RIM has made the decision to retire at the end of this year following 6 years of service to the Company. Robin has committed to continue supporting RIM in an advisory capacity to enable a smooth launch and seamless transition.
Under Robin's watch, the BlackBerry service infrastructure has grown from 47 petabytes per year to more than 33 petabytes per month at the same time as the internal corporate infrastructure for RIM has grown at a remarkable pace. Robin joined RIM in the beginning of 2007 with the mandate to take RIM’s BlackBerry data services infrastructure from a single presence in Canada to a distributed model connecting to over 650 carrier partners worldwide. In addition, over this past year, Robin has led RIM’s
Enterprise business unit focused on enabling services for Enterprise customers and preparing for the launch of the BlackBerry 10 platform. Robin has led a distinguished career. Before joining RIM, Robin held a number of senior leadership positions at AT&T and Bell Labs for over 22 years.
“Robin has been an outstanding CIO and has built a world class organization. Her team has diligently prepared us for the launch of BlackBerry 10 and beyond, and I will remain deeply grateful for her leadership and commitment,” said Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of Research In Motion.

product line
The Blackberry is aimed primarily at the business market. This hand-held unit functions with RIM solutions to provide the user with access to time-sensitive information. Loyal users have permeated the market to the degree that many are accused of never letting go of their “crackberry”. With minimal traditional marketing, this product has become a status symbol among business people.The Blackberry unit allows the user both access to and the capability to work with a wide range of business applications, including such things as: * work and personal email accounts * calendar * address book * task list * internet * telephone * intranet access * software access, such as spreadsheets

The newest product introduced by RIM, the Blackberry Pearl, moves away from the B2B market, focusing instead on the consumer market. The Pearl is currently going head-to-head with Apple’s iPhone. The Pearl responds to the increase in consumers’ demands for a product that allows access to various conveniences: * wireless email * camera * digital music player * text messaging * digital video

RIM is confident that consumers will develop a loyalty to Pearl in much the same way the business sector has with the Blackberry.

Distribution network of blackberry:
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) and Tech Data Corp. announced an agreement that enables Tech Data to distribute BlackBerry devices, software and technical support services to its channel of more than 60,000 value-added resellers in the United States. The agreement also allows Tech Data to support the end-to-end sale of BlackBerry solutions for small to medium-size businesses (SMBs) through Tech Data's TDMobility offering operated by ActivateIT, a Tech Data and Brightstar Corp. joint venture company.
Tech Data's reseller customers can offer BlackBerry software, technical support and other services to their clients starting this week. BlackBerry device distribution and activation are also offered through TDMobility for select partners, with general availability planned for later this year, the company said.
"RIM is a strategic vendor partner for our launch of TDMobility into the channel, and ActivateIT is key to making the complete solution possible," said Joe Quaglia, senior vice president of U.S. marketing at Tech Data. "We formed a strategic alliance with Brightstar to enable just this kind of offering and we're excited to offer our reseller customers the opportunity to increase their footprint in the channel by making complete, end-to-end BlackBerry solutions more easily available."
Quaglia said Tech Data's existing operations allow TD Mobility to simplify the mobility transaction for resellers, while providing access to mobile devices, a streamlined activation process with mobile carriers, and a flexible commission structure. Completing the solution, TDMobility enables resellers to create a recurring revenue stream by taking advantage of ActivateIT's Cell Manage platform to help resellers simplify their customers' deployments by offering consolidated billing.
"This agreement opens up new channels for BlackBerry solutions targeted at small to mid-sized businesses in the U.S.," said Derek Peper, vice president of enterprise sales and strategic partnerships at RIM. "RIM is also pleased to support the innovative TDMobility offering through this new relationship with Tech Data - an offering that supports the end-to-end sale of BlackBerry solutions, from devices and software through to training and technical support. This is a great win for RIM, Tech Data, Brightstar, the reseller community, our carrier partners and, most importantly, our business customers."

Market share:
In an interview with a German newspaper on Monday, Thorsten Heins, the chief executive, said RIM's ongoing review could potentially lead to the sale of its handset business or the licensing of its software to rival smartphone companies.
"The main thing for now is to successfully introduce Blackberry 10. Then we'll see," Heins was reported as saying.
The company, set to launch its new line of devices on January 30, played down the significance of the comments, saying that Heins's comments were in line with his prior statements.
"We do not have anything new to report on our strategic review at this time," said RIM spokesman Nick Manning.
The comments sent RIM's Toronto-listed shares up as much as 17.6 percent, with the shares up 15.3 percent at C$18.12 at 1400 ET. The company's typically more-active Nasdaq-listed shares were not being traded on Monday because U.S. financial markets were closed for a public holiday.
RIM announced a far-reaching strategic review last May in which it was widely expected to examine all options, from software licensing deals to an outright sale of the company.
The company virtually invented mobile email with its first BlackBerry devices more than a decade ago, but its market share has evaporated as consumers have flocked to Apple Inc's iPhone and devices based on Google's Android operating system. RIM now hopes its revamped line of touchscreen and keyboard devices will help it win back market share.
RIM shares are down almost 90 percent from an all-time high of over C$150 in 2008, but the stock has rallied in the last four months as the launch of the BlackBerry 10 devices nears. Its shares have nearly tripled in value since dipping as low as C$6.10 in late September.
The stock rose more than 6 percent on Friday alone, after an influential analyst raised his rating on the company and said that the BlackBerry 10 operating system performed as well or better than rivals in recent tests.
Byron Capital analyst Tom Astle on Monday raised his price target on RIM shares to C$18 from C$14.
"There are several emerging datapoints that suggest this may be a more successful product cycle than many expected," said Astle in a note to clients.
Future venture of blackberry:
Rumors indicated that the company would look to Android to save its business woes; however, in an interview with The Telegraph, BlackBerry's (previously Research In Motion) CEO Thorsten Heins stated that ”If you look at other suppliers’ ability to differentiate, there’s very little wiggle room. We looked at it seriously – but if you understand what the promise of BlackBerry is to its user base it’s all about getting stuff done. Games, media, we have to be good at it but we have to support those guys who are ahead of the game. Very little time to consume and enjoy content – if you stay true to that purpose you have to build on that basis. And if we want to serve that segment we can’t do it on a me-too approach.”[85]
On November 22, 2012, shares of RIM/BlackBerry surged 18%, the largest gain of the stock in over three years. This was due to National Bank of Canada analyst Kris Thompson's announcement that the new BB10 devices were expected to sell better than anticipated; along with raising the target stock price.
Competitors
This was interesting.
On Friday. Research In Motion posted a net loss of US$235 million, or 45 cents per share, on sales of US$2.9 billion for its second fiscal quarter.
The company had posted a profit of US$329 million in the same period last year.
What's interesting is that this wasn't the terrible news that investors had expected. Where RIM is concerned, industry insiders and customers alike have lamented that the company is worth more dead than alive. And in spite of the forthcoming advent of the company's BlackBerry 10 operating system and a moderate shot in the arm that this could give Research In Motion, there's something that can't be ignored: the fact that most users don't look upon a BlackBerry device with any form of excitement.
As a 15-year veteran of Washington, D.C. who recently transplanted himself to the Bay area, I feel as if I lived through the literal peak of RIM and the BlackBerry within the Beltway. The devices were ubiquitous, reliable, seemed to have terrific coverage within all areas of the D.C. Metro area and you couldn't throw a dead cat within a Metro station without said dead cat ricocheting off four people engrossed in sending emails for their government jobs on their BlackBerry devices.
With the rise of iOS, Android and Windows-based devices and the fact that Apple, Google and Microsoft saw fit to horn in on RIM's enterprise-based markets. As a result, we're seeing something different that's essentially slaughtered the BlackBerry and pointed RIM towards the exit door: passion and excitement towards a user's product of choice.
Say what you will about the strengths and weaknesses of iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices, their respective companies have managed to create a fervent user base that can hardly be ignored. Apple, Google and Microsoft have come to a point where almost each update offers a cool new slew of features that makes the device that much more useful and enjoyable to use throughout the day. These software updates tend to accompany ever-more-outstanding hardware improvements, thereby creating a user base that's genuinely passionate about their device of choice.
RIM, on the other hand, never seemed to break from offering its usual secret sauce that seems to have run its course and been trounced: that of a reliable, enterprise-level device that was perfect for emails on the go, light web browsing and not much else.
Where it's fairly common to talk about a cool new feature or app for your iOS, Android or Windows Phone devices, the solitary conversation about a "cool new thing" for RIM's devices came a few years ago when I overheard several users trading BlackBerry Messenger IDs. The idea was relatively new, RIM had developed a workable client and this was something worth being interested in.
If you can't convince developers to write an application for your device, then the writing is on the wall. During a recent BlackBerry Jam Americas conference at the San Jose convention center, a large segment of the roughly 1,500 registered developers seemed to be absent for one of the keynote events, the rest of the attendees showing only muted optimism as opposed to the genuine fervor generally found at an iOS, Android or Windows Mobile event.
Can Research In Motion save itself? Perhaps, if BlackBerry 10 competes on the same scale as its competitors and becomes something that users can be genuinely excited and passionate about. Minus an operating system coup, the company would have to throw vast amounts of money that it doesn't have into recrafting how the company, its devices and their feature base is perceived. This would take an incredible marketing turnaround that's been done before, it's almost impossible to schedule and even harder to bring in on time and in a pinch.
In spite of the fact that RIM and its BlackBerry products have fallen far to the back of the pack, its competitors are offering more interesting products and it seems like only the remains of the enterprise market that's keeping the company alive, it'd be amazing to see the BlackBerry and its operating system come back, blow us away in the next release and for RIM's products to become cool again as opposed to "just plain reliable and necessary" as they were in RIM's heyday of the early and mid-2000s. Additional competition never hurt anyone. And if it made its competitors turn their heads and have to offer something that much better, this would be interesting for everyone - user, purchaser and developer alike.
Competitive strategy:
RIM's strong emphasis on competitive and market intelligence allows it to identify market opportunities and provide strategic information to its sales teams all over Latin America
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - March 5, 2012 - Based on its recent analysis of the mobile device management (MDM) market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes BlackBerry® maker Research In Motion (RIM) with the 2011 Latin America Frost & Sullivan Award for Competitive Strategy Leadership. The Latin American smartphones market registered sales of 25.8 million units in 2011, representing a 73.5 percent growth rate over 2010. Currently, RIM is the company with the best competitive strategy and capabilities to make the most of the immense opportunities in the MDM market.
RIM’s robust competitive strategy leverages its strong client base and brand awareness in the enterprise segment to upsell end-to-end mobile solutions, including leading-edge and highly effective MDM capabilities. RIM is truly a pioneer in terms of MDM and has been delivering top-of-the-line MDM solutions all over the world since 1999.
"In Latin America, RIM has been focused on large enterprise accounts, small and medium businesses (SMBs), as well as government departments to increase their installed base and MDM clients," said Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Fernando Belfort "In addition, RIM’s acquisition of Ubitexx and its transformation to BlackBerry Mobile Fusion will empower clients to incorporate secure device management for other mobile platforms such as Android and iOS-based devices and tablets, all managed from a single Web-based console."
Due to its strong presence in the MDM markets, RIM is recognized as a leading brand in Latin America among small, medium, and large organizations.
"RIM’s impressive client base demonstrates the company’s ability to address the enterprise mobility needs of diverse verticals," noted Belfort. "Clients have a positive perception of RIM’s push technology, network and data usage efficiency and effectiveness, access to enterprise applications, and over 500 IT policies available through the company’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server solution."
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTER Comparative analysis:
SWOT ANALYSIS
Threat's

Finding the best talent of engineers is limited as the demand for engineers is increasing due to increase within the industry.
As the competition is increasing, the target of RIM customers is very limited which can influence the decline of RIM customers as customers will tend to be attracted towards the competition.
RIM has a limited amount of products within the spotlight of the industry but does not have any other products to back up the products within the spotlight.
Opportunities
An opportunity for RIM to establish itself in the industry is caused by the rapid growth within the telecommunication industry.

RIM is very successful in developed countries and now has the opportunity to establish itself within developing countries which are now advancing in technology as well.
Within the new market and the new target market, RIM can be more successful with more brand expansion.
RIM is the leader of smart phones also being known as the pioneer of smart phones which can also establish itself as the leader within the industry by continuing to make more innovations of its products

Weaknesses'

Attention is more towards Research and Development and also is responsible for its cost towards high spending.
The target group for RIM is very limited which can turn the company as a defaulter, which is very risky compared to its competition as competitors are increasing. This can undrew the attention of customers.
Is targeted in a niche market resulting in over-priced products.
Strength's

RIM has a variety of strength's beginning with it's manufacturing of high technology products. This strength is highly valuable to RIM to begin with.
Research and Development is another strength in which RIM is really effective towards communication in many deleted countries in which it is a valuable asset within the market. It is very important and effective towards innovative RIM products.
RIM has a very successful market share value of 62%.
Products are exclusive, unique and have very good quality in which existing and new customers are attracted.
An important strength is that the RIM organization is very organized and competent within the management revolving around talent.
Corporation is very strong and is very advancing with technological products with better quality.
RIM has a very successful established reputation globally.

MC KINSEY 7’S MODEL:
The 7-S framework of McKinsey is a Value Based Management (VBM) model that describes how one can holistically and effectively organize a company. Together these factors determine the way in which a corporation operates. The 7's of McKinsey Framework are listed below: 1. Shared Value
The interconnecting center of McKinsey's model is: Shared Values. What does the organization stands for and what it believes in. Central beliefs and attitudes.

2. Strategy
Plans for the allocation of a firms scarce resources, over time, to reach identified goals. Environment, competition, customers. 3. Structure
The way the organization's units relate to each other: centralized, functional divisions (top-down); decentralized (the trend in larger organizations); matrix, network, holding, etc. 4. System
The procedures, processes and routines that characterize how important work is to be done: financial systems; hiring, promotion and performance appraisal systems; information systems. 5.Staff
Numbers and types of personnel within the organization. 6. Style
Cultural style of the organization and how key managers behave in achieving the organization�s goals. Management Styles. 7. Skill
Distinctive capabilities of personnel or of the organization as a whole. Core Competences.

Articles of blackberry:
BlackBerry 10 smartphones launched: Global price and availability
January 30, 2013 | Agencies
NEW DELHI: The first in a new generation of long-awaited BlackBerrys will go on sale in the next week in Canada and the United Kingdom, but won't be released in the US until March. The Z10 will go on sale Thursday in the UK. Prices will vary by wireless carriers. The Z10 will be released in Canada on Feb. 5 and will cost about $150 with a three-year contract. Verizon Wireless announced that it would price the Z10 at $200 with a two-year contract. It will also be.

BlackBerry's Indian touch: Vivek Bhardwaj leading BB's software charge
February 7, 2013 | ET Bureau
"There is not a single line of code in BlackBerry 10 from the earlier version," says the 29-year-old Vivek Bhardwaj , leader of software for the company. Bhardwaj, who grew up in the UK, had studied information systems and then worked for Siemens Mobile and BenQ Mobile before joining BlackBerry. He moved to BlackBerry headquarters in Waterloo, Canada, six years ago, and took over as head of the software portfolio in April 2011

New keyboard BlackBerry launch delayed in US
February 6, 2013 | AP
TORONTO: A modern BlackBerry with a physical keyboard might not arrive in the U.S. until May or June, a month or two behind other parts of the world, the chief executive of the Smartphone maker suggested in an interview. Although Research in Motion Ltd. CEO Thorsten Heins said the exact release date will depend on each wireless provider, he said the physical keyboard version, the BlackBerry Q10, will likely come out eight to 10 weeks after a carrier...

BlackBerry eyes future beyond its new line of smartphones
February 5, 2013 | Reuters
TORONTO: Barely a week after the launch of an all-new, make-or-break smartphone, BlackBerry is already looking at a future in which it is a leader in "mobile computing," Chief Executive Thorsten Heins says. He says BlackBerry's aim is to reclaim its spot as an innovator in world where smartphones will have the processing power to replace tablets and laptops. The company, which changed its name from Research In Motion when it launched the BlackBerry...

How BlackBerry, formerly called RIM, grew out of a student project at University of Waterloo
February 5, 2013 | New York Times
WATERLOO, Ontario: The University of Waterloo, in a city that people outside Canada would struggle to find on a map, is one of the world's best technology schools. BlackBerry, the company formerly called Research in Motion, grew out of a student project there, and for years the school served as a reliable pipeline of stellar engineering talent straight into the nearby offices of the smartphone maker. In 2007, when BlackBerrys still...