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Amateur hour really is over: http://blogs-images.forbes.com/marcwebertobias/files/2011/05/playbook_4_400.jpg http://blogs-images.forbes.com/marcwebertobias/fil

Amateur hour really is over: http://blogs-images.forbes.com/marcwebertobias/files/2011/05/playbook_4_400.jpg http://blogs-images.forbes.com/marcwebertobias/files/2011/05... Amateurs could not possibly lose a half a billion dollars competing head-on with a juggernaut and ignoring the obvious time and time again. UPDATE: Enough snark. Here’s my post-moretm: They drank their own kool-aid. Every single thing about it strikes me as the work of a team trying to sell to their management rather than to the market. Or, the work of a team that was only allowed to build what their management wanted to succeed rather than what the market would reward with success. Their advertising brags and boast of how awesome it is, but nobody who actually talks to customers would believe that this is true or believable. Management, on the other hand, might believe it is awesome if they were reading the ad copy while looking at some incomprehensible PowerPoint with fancy graphics. Their choice of technologies and features hits the sweet spot of what the company is prepared to fund rather than what customers are prepared to buy. The whole thing seems inward-facing, a little like certain start-ups that are buzzword compliant because that’s what VCs want to fund rather than because that’s what markets want to buy.

nextparadigms 15y ago
I agree on the drank their own Kool-aid thing. I have a friend at RIM and I've been trying to tell her RIM is in danger since 2009. But back then RIM was still breaking their own revenue records every quarter, but that was obviously a matter of inertia Internationally that they've got because of their years of popularity in US. But they should've seen that that advantage will only be temporary, unless they release some products that can really compete with the iPhone and Android phones. But they never did. Even in early 2010 (before their sales started crashing down) RIM was pretty much "worry-free" according to my friend working there. This was clearly a matter of vision and leadership failure.
jeremymcanally 15y ago
100% spot on (from the outside, at least). I think they were banking on their "huge market share" in mobile phones (that has since began sinking down) to get buy in. "Oh I have a Blackberry I should buy this thing." That's a good market to shoot for if there's a compelling reason for the customer to do that, but I didn't see a single feature that would really push someone to buy a Playbook over an iPad even as an existing RIM customer.
- function_seven 15y ago
  > but I didn't see a single feature that would really push someone to buy a Playbook over an iPad even as an existing RIM customer. It's even worse than that. The useless thing couldn't do email. You know, the one thing that made RIM a success in the first place? Yeah.
  - empire29 15y ago
    Could this have something to do w RIM management not wanting to canabalize it's already dwindling BB phone market? I've never used one but the ppl I know still clinging their BBs cite it's email capabilities as why they're sticking around. Tablets and phones don't seem to directly compete, but then again they're both mobile devices.
rbanffy 15y ago
There aren't many things more dangerous than surrounding oneself with yes-men. It's amazing people fall for it so frequently.
- raganwald 15y ago
  On a very serious note, what else do companies expect when they make “fitting in with our culture” a key part of the hiring and evaluation process?
  - rdouble 15y ago
    It usually means they want you to have the same views on what language to use, what platforms to use, what computers to use, whether or not you do "test driven development" and things like that. It can also mean they want you to be around the same age and have similar tastes in clothing, hobbies, political views and music.

nextparadigms 15y ago

I agree on the drank their own Kool-aid thing. I have a friend at RIM and I've been trying to tell her RIM is in danger since 2009. But back then RIM was still breaking their own revenue records every quarter, but that was obviously a matter of inertia Internationally that they've got because of their years of popularity in US. But they should've seen that that advantage will only be temporary, unless they release some products that can really compete with the iPhone and Android phones. But they never did. Even in early 2010 (before their sales started crashing down) RIM was pretty much "worry-free" according to my friend working there. This was clearly a matter of vision and leadership failure.

jeremymcanally 15y ago

100% spot on (from the outside, at least). I think they were banking on their "huge market share" in mobile phones (that has since began sinking down) to get buy in. "Oh I have a Blackberry I should buy this thing." That's a good market to shoot for if there's a compelling reason for the customer to do that, but I didn't see a single feature that would really push someone to buy a Playbook over an iPad even as an existing RIM customer.

function_seven 15y ago
> but I didn't see a single feature that would really push someone to buy a Playbook over an iPad even as an existing RIM customer. It's even worse than that. The useless thing couldn't do email. You know, the one thing that made RIM a success in the first place? Yeah.
- empire29 15y ago
  Could this have something to do w RIM management not wanting to canabalize it's already dwindling BB phone market? I've never used one but the ppl I know still clinging their BBs cite it's email capabilities as why they're sticking around. Tablets and phones don't seem to directly compete, but then again they're both mobile devices.

rbanffy 15y ago

There aren't many things more dangerous than surrounding oneself with yes-men. It's amazing people fall for it so frequently.

raganwald 15y ago
On a very serious note, what else do companies expect when they make “fitting in with our culture” a key part of the hiring and evaluation process?
- rdouble 15y ago
  It usually means they want you to have the same views on what language to use, what platforms to use, what computers to use, whether or not you do "test driven development" and things like that. It can also mean they want you to be around the same age and have similar tastes in clothing, hobbies, political views and music.