...key partner for his company. According to an industry trade publication, Bradlow told the crowd that if he were running RIM, he would "go to the 43rd floor and find a window." He went on to say the most likely outcome for RIM is a sale. A Telstra spokesperson told Canadian Business that Bradlow "immediately apologized unreservedly" for his remarks, but the damage was done. RIM has fallen so far that not even its carrier partners can resist making jokes at its expense. And RIM keeps giving its detractors more fodder. On June 28, the company announced an incredibly bleak set of earnings, including its first quarterly loss in more than seven years. BlackBerry shipments plunged 41% from the year before. Nearly one-third of its workforce-5,000 employees-will be laid off. CEO Thorsten Heins delivered one more bombshell, too: BlackBerry 10, the operating system that will supposedly revive the company, will be delayed yet again, until early 2013. RlM has experienced an incredible and bewildering fall from grace. The company's share price provides the most visceral evidence: it peaked in 2008 at $149.90, and has since crashed by 95%, dropping to less than $8 at press time. There is no doubt that a series of poor decisions and missed opportunities led RIM to this point. Former co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie underestimated the significance of the iPhone when it debuted in...
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...Case 1: Blackberry Benjamin Lieu Kari Morrison Jaskaran Sanghara Vivian Ou Calvin Sawyer Gloria Wong JK and the Implementers From Set 1K Buddy FMGT 1K MKTG 1102 Instructor: Jeff Collier 10/19/2009 INTRODUCTION In 1992, Research In Motion (RIM) introduced a two-way pager as their first product. Since then, RIM has released numerous devices, none more popular than their Blackberry product line. The Blackberry line boasted all-in-one capabilities. Partnered with voice and data transmissions, it became the mobile device that could do it all. However, existing mobile device companies are still in direct competition and RIM will need to continue developing their technology to win dominance in the Smartphone market. PROBLEM How can RIM develop Blackberry to overtake its competitors in terms of sales and market shares? KEY FINDINGS The first Blackberry was introduced in 1998 as a wireless hand held computer. In 1999, Blackberry's lines of products were equipped with voice and data transmission. This led to an explosive demand. RIM's employees grew from 1250 in 2001 to 7000 in 2009. They have a new and expanded target market. ASSUMPTIONS A prevalent assumption we’ve made is that RIM will continue to have enough capital and resources necessary to pursue new technologies and innovations. This is important because research and development requires large amounts of investments. Another is that existing RIM customers will continue to be loyal to the Blackberry brand...
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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...
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...2008, with a market capitalization of close to 70 billion, it was poised to become one of the largest companies in Canada and the stage was set for it to become a near monopoly in world mobile communications market. RIM’s product – Blackberry had taken the world by storm (pun intended, since Blackberry Storm is one of RIM’s most profitable product), and the word “crackberry” had become synonymous with the workaholic professional. Yet, as the mobile telephony market for professionals started showing promise, RIM found itself besieged numerous competitors all over the world. RIM had a distinct first mover advantage in the market and was well known for its ultra-secure enterprise software. However, this advantage was rapidly eroding in the face of high R&D investments from RIM’s largest competitors such as Nokia, Apple, and Microsoft. This was problematic as it foreshadowed the question of whether or not RIM was well positioned to continue to meet expectations, deliver award-winning products and services and maintain its lead in the smartphone market. Oftentimes, Wall Street expectations for technology driven companies were also linked to the technology spend and RIM was clearly not ahead of the game in terms of this metric. Just to maintain status quo, it was clear to RIM’s CTO, Mr. David Yach, that he would need to hire 1,400 software engineers in 2008. Essentially, Mr. Yach faced the unenviable task of having to select the best options to deliver the growth expectations of RIM....
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...AMITY INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL | Fall of Another Smartphone Giant-Blackberry | Another Example of Technology Obsolescence and Strategic Failure | Submitted By: Ghan Shyam Rathi Once a pioneer and leading light in the smartphone market, BlackBerry is in a potentially terminal downward spiral. The Canadian company, formerly known as RIM (Research in Motion) established an iron grip on the enterprise and successfully bridged the gap from pager, to handheld computer, to smartphone. It was once the dominant smartphone due to its mobile email popular with businesspeople and tech-savvy consumers. Nicknamed “the CrackBerry” because it was so addictive, the device was declared by Oprah Winfrey to be one of her “favourite things”. US President Barack Obama could not bear to part with his BlackBerry and Madonna said she slept with hers under her pillow. In the last couple of years Apple's iPhone and Google's Android platform have taken over with a combined market share that tops 90 percent. Struggling to arrest a declining user base, amid poor sales of its latest devices, we are now hearing that BlackBerry might sell up. Brief: BlackBerry Limited, formerly known as Research In Motion Limited (RIM), is a Canadian telecommunication and wireless equipment company best known as the developer of the BlackBerry brand of smartphones and tablets. The company is headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by Mike Lazaridis, who served as its co-CEO along...
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...Innovations 8. Bibliography Executive Summary This document has been prepared to provide RIM, the makers of Blackberry, with a new insight for a strategic plan that will aid the organization into becoming a fair market leader once more. RIM transformed into a dominating force in the cell phone industry between the early 1990s and late 2006 with innovative technology for their Blackberry Smartphones. As an avid Blackberry user, I’ve seen RIM prosper into a fine organization, but most recently the company has been in a downturn. Research and Development hasn’t been effective in creating products with greater return on investment (ROI). With all the new technological advances in the cell phone industry, competitors Apple and the Google Android market, has gained several new customers from RIM. This is mostly due to RIM’s lack of new product innovativeness, such as design and improved system functionality. RIM’s revenue has suffered greatly from what makers of the iPhone and Android product-line has placed on the market for consumers and businesses alike. In order for RIM to begin to strive in its industry again, a few adjustments need to be made with respects to implementing a better marketing strategy. They will need to re-establish who their target market or demographics will be in order to launch a new marketing campaign. Research In Motion: Strategy RIM’s current strategy simply is to re-focus their market towards the...
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...In Motion (RIM) is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of wireless solutions. The company provides platforms and solutions allowing access to time-sensitive information, including email, phone, SMS, internet and intranet-based applications. Its technology also enables a broad array of third-party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity to data. RIM’s portfolio of products, services and embedded technologies include the BlackBerry wireless solution, and other software and hardware.The company operates offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. The company is organized and managed as a single reportable business segment, which includes the research, design, manufacture and sales of wireless communications products, services and software.The segment includes primary operations related to BlackBerry wireless solution.The BlackBerry wireless solution comprises wireless devices, software and services. RIM generates revenue primarily from the BlackBerry wireless solution, which includes sales of BlackBerry wireless devices, software and...
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...Research in Motion and Blackberry Word count (to nearest 100) MKT 201 : 11 am section. Instructor: Professor Deepak Outline Company Overview and Project Focus Research in Motion (RIM) is one of Canada’s companies that are declared in its US official website to be “a global leader in wireless innovation, [that] revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999” (“Research In Motion”, n.d.). The BlackBerry product line includes the BlackBerry Playbook tablet, BlackBerry smartphone, and software for businesses and accessories. RIM launched the Blackberry smartphone in 1999. Indeed, RIM was a global leader with a strong position in the world market in early 2000s. RIM was first to understand that mobile application had to be simple to use. Company Mission and Vision Every company strives to satisfy its customer needs by implementing the strategies within the company’s mission and vision. A mission statement describes the firm’s objectives of the activities it plans to take. However, the vision statement includes the steps that should be taken to achieve the company’s goals and strategies. RIM’s mission statement states, “To develop socially and professionally responsible and proactive managers and leaders with holistic perspectives and competencies” (Ricketts, 2011). To denote furthermore, the mission emphasizes on hiring highly skilled employees that are able to deliver products of value...
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...the comments of former employees of the once leading tech innovation firm point in a direction that states that the company was slow to move on ideas and tended to promote people based on tenure and a sense of nepotism rather than on merit (Glassdoor 2012). There has been a growing sentiment from the people that work for the Blackberry creator that leadership is missing the mark with innovation and are not going to be able to keep up with the competitors in the market because of the lack of ability to manage IT projects is a concise manner which has led to the company not being able to field its long awaited BlackBerry 10 operating system (Glassdoor 2012) . So who is responsible for not making the right decisions at the company? Who can the stockholders blame for the company not being able to keep up with the trends of the trends of the mobile market? To answer those questions one would have to look at who the most recent former leaders of the company along with the current regime. Under the leadership of co-CEO’s Mike Lazardis and Jim Balsillie RIM became the company on the leading edge of wireless technology (Minato 2012). The BlackBerry brand was the brand of phone to have if you wanted or needed a device that was as much as a planner, life manager and all around Personal Digital Assistant as it was a phone. The company enjoyed the spoils of being a successful innovating firm which pioneered in the market and continued to have a steady hold on the market with...
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...BlackBerry Limited: "Should Blackberry switch to Android?" Abstract With its introduction in 1999, Blackberry was a cutting-edge mobile company who changed the very industry that it struggles to stay afloat within today. Every so often we hear the question, should BlackBerry drop their current operating system and use Android as a replacement? Initially it may sound like a good idea, after all Android is the number one smartphone operating system globally. And with BlackBerry’s platform struggling, why not go with the leader? Well, that answer may simply boil down to security, yes security. BlackBerry has always offered a platform that is secure end-to-end. In a June 26, 2014 press release, it was announced that Google will adopt part of Samsung’s KNOX as a security platform for Android which is a business-oriented security solution that will keep work and personal data separate and secure on a single device. BlackBerry’s CEO Chen says that it is a step in the right direction for Android but Samsung KNOX he says “is a fort built upon an insecure foundation” and he also points out the fact that there are tens of millions of secure BlackBerrys and only a few million phones with KNOX. And though that may be true there will be many more soon. How much longer can BlackBerry stay afloat in an Apple, Android, and Windows dominated market? BlackBerry got touchscreens wrong, they got apps wrong, and now all they have left is security. It’s a nice feature, but is it enough? ...
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...Research in Motion/ Blackberry BlackBerry Limited, formerly known as Research In Motion Limited (RIM) is a Canadian telecommunication and wireless equipment company best known as the developer of the BlackBerry brand of smartphones and tablets.(Wikipedia) A global leader in wireless innovation, Blackberry revolutionized the mobile industry when it was introduced in 1999.They are designed to fit into a large pocket or clip into a belt holster, and most have some type of built-in QWERTY keypad. Modern BlackBerries are considered to be both smartphones and personal digital assistants; they have Internet connectivity, web browsing, e-mail, an address book, a calendar, a day planner, an alarm clock, games, text messaging, and mobile phone service. Options on some models include a trackball, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity, speakers, GPS, a digital camera, and functionality as a media player. Business community and the retail consumer market are the popular target markets of the Blackberry. In business, a BlackBerry allows employees that are out of the office or even off-site to stay in contact with the rest of the company. An executive traveling to an out-of-state business meeting would be able to receive electronic documents and communicate with the rest of his/her staff through the use of a BlackBerry or similar PDA; a warehouse worker would be able to receive text messages telling him/her which boxes to pull from storage, and could even access maps showing the correct locations...
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...pagers. In 1997 the company went public and in 1998 released its first BlackBerry Device, the RIM 850. It had a full keyboard, which was unusual at the time, could send messages, access email, send and receive pages and act as an organizer. The mobile device was a huge hit among business professionals and it was not until the BlackBerry 7000 Series phones that the RIM became a household name among the general population. In 1999 RIM was listed on NASDAQ driving interest worldwide in the company. In 2003 smartphones began emerging in the mobile phone market. BlackBerry at this time maintained their FIPS 140-2 platform and were specifically set on targeting the professional consumer market The maintained a vast amount of government and corporate consumers. In 2004 RIM had 2 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide and Balsille and Lazaridis are featured in Time Magazines “Time 100” list. The company continued to experience unprecedented success in the mobile market, so much so that by 2006 the company had 5 million subscribers worldwide with stock price at $124.51. The success of the company quickly was inevitable to change after Apple (AAPL) released its first iPhone in 2007. When asked for his reaction regarding the release of the iPhone Bastille said, “It’s kind of one more entrant into an already very busy space with lots of choice for consumers…. But in terms of a sort of a sea-change for BlackBerry, I would think that’s overstating it.”, (Moon, 2013). The underestimation...
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...Zandi, Cameron Marketing 605 BlackBerry Marketing Campaign Analysis Research in Motion, now operating under the name BlackBerry Limited, was once the leading smartphone maker. The term BlackBerry was coined by Lexicon Branding marketing company, inspired from its keyboard resembling the drupelets of a blackberry. The motivation behind the company name switch from Research in Motion to BlackBerry Limited was to consolidate the company’s brand into a single cohesive global presence and to strengthen its recognition among its operating system, smartphones/devices, and its stock trading name. The telecommunication and wireless equipment company was founded in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada by Mike Lazaridis, who served as CEO until January 22, 2012. He was replaced by John Chen immediately. Chen wanted to change BlackBerry’s strategy by outsourcing manufacturing of its hardware to Foxconn, which is most notable for manufacturing the iPad, iPhone, Kindle, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Wii U. The reason behind this move is to have the company focus more heavily on software technology development. The company wants to make the brand name synonymous with work. Blackberry’s new brand focus is software and service centric, making up 54% of the company’s revenues in 2013. Blackberry Limited has a loyal consumer base, and is most recognized for its sophisticated network security system, most notably its advanced encryption capabilities, which allows for secure exchange of e-mails. This...
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...------------------------------------------------- Business Strategy and Change Management BLACKBERRY Submitted by: Sharma Monika 20142256 Kaur Sandeep 20141745 Khurana Ashish 20150364 Kumar Rohit 20150599 Submitted by: Sharma Monika 20142256 Kaur Sandeep 20141745 Khurana Ashish 20150364 Kumar Rohit 20150599 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The report is about the decline of Blackberry and factors responsible for its downfall. These factors have been precisely described below in the form of PESTEL and SWOT analysis. All the latest data collected in relation to a company Blackberry has been demonstrated in the form of charts and tables correspondence to other rivalry groups, which shows the clear picture and downfall of company in smartphone industry. The latest market data reveals the current scenario and situation of the company in today’s market. The report also demonstrates how the company struggles and make effective use of different strategies of various marketing communication means and tools to stay tuned and compete with such a challenging industry especially in India. It also shows the impact of other line products that contributes to the decline of the company. * * Table of Contents 1 Introduction 3 1.1 Market Data 3 1.2 RIM (Research in Motion) 9 2 Analysis 13 2.1 PESTEL Analysis 13 2.2 SWOT Analysis- Blackberry 16 2.3 Benchmarking 18 3 Conclusion and Recommendations 21 4 References 22 ...
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...Introduction Apple Incorporation is largely responsible for the enormous growth of the personal computer industry in the 20th century. The introduction of the Macintosh line of personal computers in 1984 established the company as an innovator in industrial design whose products became renowned for their intuitive ease of use. The company designs, manufactures, and then sells desktop and notebook computers, portable digital music players, and cell phones. It also creates software like the OS X operating system, iLife, iTunes, and peripherals such as printers or storage devices that go with these products. But the most famous product that they manufacture is Macintosh line of electronics that is the iPod, iMac, Macbook, iPhone and iPad. Apple Incorporation ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple Incorporation is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings. Apple Incorporation was found by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. Both of them were college dropouts. It was first incorporated on January 3rd 1977. Previously the company’s name was Apple Computer Incorporation but it became Apple Incorporation on January 9th 2007 because of the company was ongoing expansion into consumer electronics. Up to September 2010...
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