Blackberry 10: Get Back in the Game

It’s no secret that Research In Motion, the company that makes the Blackberry smartphone has been lagging behind Apple and Google lately. Blackberry used to be synonymous as “THE” smartphone, but with the rise of the iPhone and kick-ass Android devices, some users are defecting and that’s causing RIM to lose market share. Hopefully that loss will come to a halt with the release of the Blackberry 10 operating system. Announced today at the Blackberry World Conference, it looks promising. But will it be enough, and more importantly be released soon enough to stop the bleeding? In an article by Marguerite Reardon of CNET, she writes: “Indeed, RIM did not show off any actual devices here at the conference, the company’s annual pow-wow where customers, partners, fanboys, and press descend to hear what’s next from the handset maker. Instead the company showed off reference devices it’s calling BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha. It’s even been handing out these reference devices to developers to help seed the market ahead of the launch of new smartphones that actually run BlackBerry 10. RIM’s new CEO Thorsten Heins said he understands that the market is anxious to get its hands on BlackBerry 10 devices. But he said the company is taking its time to make sure it is getting the software and the hardware just right. He didn’t give any indication when the new devices will hit the market. But some rumors peg the launch as early as August of this year, while others say it could be October.” The market is beyond anxious Thorsten. We’ve been waiting for a Blackberry to compete with the like of the Jesus phone and Android devices for years. I have the new Bold, but can it “really” compete with the big boys? And that’s exactly what critics say is holding RIM back from being one of the major players in the market right now. Waiting too long. As Apple and Google continue to release new updates to the iPhone and cool new features/phones, respectively, Blackberry just keeps slipping further and further down the slippery slope. Reardon goes on to write:rnOne thing is clear — the longer that RIM waits to launch its device the more it risks losing even more market share to competitors, Apple and Android. In the past year, RIM has lost nearly half of its market share, according to Gartner. In the fourth quarter of 2010, the company had about 14 percent global market share. By the end of 2011, it had about 8.8 percent market share. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue told Reuters that RIM’s market share could go down to less than 5 percent. The problem that RIM faces as it tries to retrench and get its new software in order is that its competitors are not holding back. Google Android and Apple continue to pick up share from customers who are fleeing the tired and stale BlackBerry platform. A major worldwide outage in 2011 also didn’t help build confidence among loyal enterprise users, who are now looking to other platforms as more and more of their employees bring their own devices to work. rnBut Heins said that the company is on track to deliver the devices this year. And he said he doesn’t foresee any delays, something that has plagued the company in the past as it tried to launch new products. “We are on schedule with the launch,” he said. “And we are really close.” The article goes on to talk more in-depth about this conference and some of the positives and negatives, so take a gander. One thing is for certain, however… the clock is ticking. Let’s hop to it RIM. About SeedCornPPC: Seed Corn Advertising is an online Advertising Network based in Los Angeles, California committed to establishing new business development partnerships and to grow your search network and ours.Learn more about SeedCornPPC by visiting us at http://www.seedcornppc.com/