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This article predicted this a while back: http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2010/10/whats-really-wrong-with-blackberry-and.html http://mobileopportunity.blo

This article predicted this a while back: http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2010/10/whats-really-wrong-with-blackberry-and.html http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2010/10/whats-really-w... "RIM's real problems center around two big issues: its market is saturating, and it seems to have lost the ability to create great products. This is a classic problem that eventually faces most successful computer platforms. The danger is not that RIM is about to collapse, but that it'll drift into in a situation where it can't afford the investments needed to succeed in the future. It's very easy for a company to accidentally cross that line, and very hard to get back across it."

potatolicious 15y ago
> "and it seems to have lost the ability to create great products" I disagree with this part. RIM's products are just as good/bad as they've always been - the problem is that Apple came in and raised the bar across the board, and Google came in and did it some more. RIM is creating early-2000s product in a landscape that has been completely reshaped by iOS and Android.
- tensor 15y ago
  This has been true, but recently RIM has moved towards a system more similar to iOS and Android than their previous products. The Playbook is the first product in this new technology stack. I imagine that they are basing their future growth around other products based on this new stack. They are behind, but they may still catch up enough to do well. After all, if Apple has proven anything it's that execution matters a whole lot. More so even than features. Android is a good competitor to iOS only because they have both the features and execution down well enough. Apple may still have an edge in polish, but it's diminishing.
nextparadigms 15y ago
The problem is RIM still thinks it's making great products - the Blackberry phones. They think this because countries that have heard of the Blackberry brand for years, but not so much about "Android" or even iPhone, have started buying a lot of Blackberry phones lately. What RIM didn't realize is that this was happening because of their global inertia, not because their products are still very competitive with iPhones and high-end Android phones. After all, there are still a lot of people who keep buying high-end Nokia phones rather than iPhones or Android phones. It's all about inertia. They experience growth in new markets (for now - just a matter of time) but their core markets are fading away. This could blind them for years from seeing that they will be in trouble eventually, because overall they were still making a lot of money until more recently.
DenisM 15y ago
This guy is a rare writer, but he is always on the money.
afterburner 15y ago
"This is a classic problem that eventually faces most successful computer platforms" Most technology companies of any kind actually.

potatolicious 15y ago

> "and it seems to have lost the ability to create great products" I disagree with this part. RIM's products are just as good/bad as they've always been - the problem is that Apple came in and raised the bar across the board, and Google came in and did it some more. RIM is creating early-2000s product in a landscape that has been completely reshaped by iOS and Android.

tensor 15y ago
This has been true, but recently RIM has moved towards a system more similar to iOS and Android than their previous products. The Playbook is the first product in this new technology stack. I imagine that they are basing their future growth around other products based on this new stack. They are behind, but they may still catch up enough to do well. After all, if Apple has proven anything it's that execution matters a whole lot. More so even than features. Android is a good competitor to iOS only because they have both the features and execution down well enough. Apple may still have an edge in polish, but it's diminishing.

nextparadigms 15y ago

The problem is RIM still thinks it's making great products - the Blackberry phones. They think this because countries that have heard of the Blackberry brand for years, but not so much about "Android" or even iPhone, have started buying a lot of Blackberry phones lately. What RIM didn't realize is that this was happening because of their global inertia, not because their products are still very competitive with iPhones and high-end Android phones. After all, there are still a lot of people who keep buying high-end Nokia phones rather than iPhones or Android phones. It's all about inertia. They experience growth in new markets (for now - just a matter of time) but their core markets are fading away. This could blind them for years from seeing that they will be in trouble eventually, because overall they were still making a lot of money until more recently.

DenisM 15y ago

This guy is a rare writer, but he is always on the money.

afterburner 15y ago

"This is a classic problem that eventually faces most successful computer platforms" Most technology companies of any kind actually.