Well some of these ideas have merit but here is my take on the subject.
No. 1: Make Like Google, Streamline Management
Having two CEOs seems like a bad idea much of the time. It didn't seem like a liability when they were growing like a weed. Now they will be fighting for survival against two huge rivals and they can afford no further management slip-ups or shakeups. RIM needs to poach some dude from Google or Apple as their CEO and come in for the fight of their lives.
No. 2: Open Up Its Secure Servers
This might be a good idea if it wouldn't cannibalize their handset market share even further. I mean if I could get Blackberry email service with an Android style phone then why would I have a Blackberry at all? If they do go away from handset sales and turn themselves into a server software company by offering a Microsoft Exchange-like email server (that is as good or better then MSFT) then this would be a great idea.
No. 3: Get With Social -- Cultivate Developer Community
Oh man this should be written on every cubicle at RIM headquarters. Their app store is absolutely worthless. I downloaded an NFL app that actually crashed my Blackberry and forced me to take out the battery to reset it. I even had trouble uninstalling that POS. There is no reason for this kind of thing to happen in this day and age.
RIM is now competing with Apps that are leaving the world of tech and entering pop culture. Angry Birds started as an IPhone App and it is now taking the world by storm. I even hear of an Angry Birds TV shows and movie in the works. I mean IPhone and Android Apps are being talked about on Jimmy Fallon seemingly every night. I can't even tell you a Blackberry app off the top of my head and I have owned one for 2 years.
Plus their Blackberry store is a joke that seems to take forever to load and crashes repeatedly. Maybe there is an update floating around somewhere but there is really no compelling reason to download it because there is nothing in the store that is worth checking out.
No. 4: Drill Down Abroad
I guess this all boils down to smash Nokia in the markets that they had once dominated. I guess this is possible if they come out with a dirt cheap Blackberry that is superior to anything that Nokia is putting out. Then if this thing takes off and people use Blackberry messenger instead of texting maybe they have something. Basically RIM would be selling a glorified Internet keyboard and not an actual smart phone. If they are forced to take this route they will join Nokia on the bottom of the handset barrel.
My Takeaway:
I think you can stick a fork in RIM they are done. The stock price will continue to bleed out until Microsoft picks them up for pennies on the dollar. Then you will see MSFT ditch the Blackberry software and just tighten the interface with Exchange and put Windows 7 mobile on Blackberry handsets.
Knowing Microsoft they will then screw up and lock out any user with an older Blackberry and force them to upgrade to the newest models. This will allow a mass exodus to Android and IPhone handsets and MSFT will be holding a big pile of fail. They will then vainly try to ramp up the App store and offer 25,000 Apps (most of them somehow related to Office or Xbox Live) while IPhone and Android will offer 2 million Apps each or something similar.
MSFT will then quietly write off the acquisition and the Blackberry will join the Walkman as a product that was widely popular that had a competitor that come out with something even better. Then the company flails around and tries to protect their lead. Then they try to keep their product on life support. Then finally their product simply disappears.
I mean this trend seems to happen over and over in the tech world. It happened with the RAZR by Motorola, Guitar Hero and Rock Band, then the Nintendo Wii, and now the Blackberry. What a cutthroat world consumer tech is. You basically go from King to "whatever happened to..." in a few short years.
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