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Is RIM done for?

post #1 of 89
1/23/12 at 5:37pm
Thread Starter 
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-23/rim-s-new-ceo-unlikely-to-halt-market-share-slide-analysts-say.html
Quote:
Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Research In Motion Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins is viewed by some analysts as unlikely to alter the BlackBerry maker’s course enough to stem its market-share losses.

Heins, 54, was promoted from chief operating officer of the Waterloo, Ontario-based company yesterday, replacing co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis. RIM slid 8.5 percent to $15.56 at the close in New York today, the biggest drop since Dec. 16. The shares have tumbled 75 percent in the past 12 months.

“There was enormous pressure for the company to make a change, and Jim and Mike wanted to make as little change as possible,” Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Co., said in an interview. “To me, this change looks largely cosmetic.”
Quote:
Heins, who came to the company in 2007 after more than 20 years at Siemens AG, told investors on a conference call that he doesn’t see a need for “drastic change” at RIM.

“Jim and Mike’s strategy of not sacrificing long-term value for short-term gain is the right one,” Heins said. “I share that value.”

It sounds like Heins has the same horse-with-blinders mentality that Dick Fuld had while Lehman collapsed all around him. Is RIM finally done?
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post #2 of 89
1/23/12 at 5:42pm
yeah. have you used a BB recently? truly painful.
my wife has one for work i have to help her with it all the time, she has no probs with iphone.
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post #3 of 89
1/23/12 at 5:47pm
Yes. RIMM is done for.
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post #4 of 89
1/23/12 at 5:50pm
Thread Starter 
I never really liked BB's operating system. Now, I don't think it's fair to compare a physical keyboard BB to an iPhone or a better-model droid, but if you compare them to the two touch-screen BB's, they blow the BB out of the water.

BB was smart in getting in the enterprise world first and having great email integration... however they were wining and just stopped innovating, and just rested on their laurels (like Argentina during the 2nd half of a world cup game after being up in the first half)... plus the two founders became increasingly paranoid.
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post #5 of 89
1/23/12 at 5:57pm
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/04/what_on_earth_happened_to_blackberry.html
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post #6 of 89
1/23/12 at 7:50pm
RIM still exists? Of course it is done for. Poster child for what happens when you rest on your laurels.
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post #7 of 89
1/23/12 at 7:59pm
I think BB will be sold during this year or file Ch 11 or the equilvalent. I switched from BB to Iphone earlier this year and really don't like IPhone but BB took too long to come out with the 9900.
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post #8 of 89
1/24/12 at 1:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dragon8 View Post

I think BB will be sold during this year or file Ch 11 or the equilvalent. I switched from BB to Iphone earlier this year and really don't like IPhone but BB took too long to come out with the 9900.

My guess is someone will buy them out. I am sure they have some intellectual property that will have some value.
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post #9 of 89
1/25/12 at 4:17pm
Yeah, they're done. They'll either get bought or shrink to a fraction of their size and have to declare bankruptcy. No real third option.

RIM was basically a company with one good idea competing in one of the fiercest, most innovation heavy industries on the planet, led by a couple of guys who thought they were on Steve Jobs' level.

The writing was on the wall for RIM years ago.
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post #10 of 89
1/25/12 at 4:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord-Barrington View Post

Yeah, they're done. They'll either get bought or shrink to a fraction of their size and have to declare bankruptcy. No real third option.
RIM was basically a company with one good idea competing in one of the fiercest, most innovation heavy industries on the planet, led by a couple of guys who thought they were on Steve Martin's level.
The writing was on the wall for RIM years ago.

FTFY!
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post #11 of 89
1/25/12 at 4:27pm
I switched from a Blackberry to a Motorola Atrix (Android) back in October and there is no way I would ever return.

RIM thought that business users would be so wedded to their Blackberry's that they would also use them for their personal lives, but they got destroyed by the juggernaut of iPhones and Android operating systems that not only allow you to get your e-mail, but do so much more.

Blackberry is well on it's way to being one of those - "Hey, remember when people used to have one of those" type of products.
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post #12 of 89
1/26/12 at 11:44pm
My blackberry is sitting next to my PDA, Pager and FiloFax now.

They never got that for the mass market a phone has to be more than a tool, it has to engage. There is nothing in a BB that works nearly as well as an iOS or Android product.
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post #13 of 89
1/27/12 at 1:55am
Stick a fork in it, it's more dead than the dodo. There is no comparative advantage it has over the other smartphones now save... bb messenger/push email? shog[1].gif
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post #14 of 89
1/27/12 at 5:02pm
I'm amazed RIM even lasted as long as it did. They never tried to attract the best talent (they mainly recruited from University of Waterloo which, while not a bad school, isn't exactly Stanford/Berkeley) and were shockingly uninnovative for an industry where you basically innovate or die. Many industries have a "best in class" organization with many others trying to follow them, but RIM wasn't even on the same playing field after awhile.
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post #15 of 89
1/27/12 at 5:16pm
yeah i totally agree - blackberry s are going to be a relic from the past.

IT is now a consumer market, Blackberry for many years was succssful as it relied on businessmen/women and enterprises to use these as they created a sae managed environment, but now you have BYO (bring your own) devices flooding the market, previously the CEO only wanted to use a blackberry to use there corporate emails on, but now you have C-level exec bringing in androids/ios devices which they have gone out and bought for themselves and being managed by mobile device management systems (similar to bes server)

Blackberry devices unfortunately are not cool - what a fail that blackberry playbook was.
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