Will BlackBerry get its groove back?
Remember when owning a BlackBerry was cool?
a few years ago, Research In Motion Ltd. smartphones were status symbols with unsurpassed cachet. In the fall of 2009, even as RIM struggled to weather the global economic downturn, it appeared as though the company was on the verge of a breakthrough with the BlackBerry brand.
At the time, RIM was in the midst of an expansion from a company that sold smartphones mainly to CEOs and MPs to one that also sold pink devices capable of accessing Facebook to soccer moms and teenagers.
Such Hollywood tastemakers as Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian all appeared to be on Team BlackBerry and even the most powerful man on Earth, newly elected United States President Barack Obama, talked up the importance of his BlackBerry.
Fast-forward two years and it’s startling to see just how far RIM’s brand star has fallen.
After a year in which RIM suffered product delays, declining market share and the largest round of layoffs in its history, collective confidence in the Waterloo, gucci outlet Ont.-based company has plunged. Add to that the disastrous launch of the BlackBerry PlayBook and it’s easy to see how the company’s image – not to mention its stock price – has taken a hit.
Despite the assurances from co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie that the company is on the verge of a turnaround, there are still those out there who believe RIM needs new leadership to regain its fading glory.
Apple Inc.’s iPhone and slick, touch-screen devices running Google Inc.’s Android now are the ones coveted by consumers hungry for the latest smartphone trend. In fact, RIM’s devices are increasingly viewed by trendsetters as stodgy, outof-date and inferior to the devices produced by their Silicon Valley rivals.
In the corporate world, RIM’s reputation for security and efficiency remains intact. BlackBerry smartphones are still the default device on Wall St., Bay St. and in the corridors of power in Washington and Ottawa. Celebrity BlackBerry sightings do still occur and the company’s international footprint continues to grow.
But RIM’s marketing efforts designed to broaden the company’s appeal with non-business users in North America have faced criticism from observers.
RIM’s push to grow beyond its business roots and to find a devoted following among non-enterprise users is key to the company’s long-term growth strategy. While that strategy appears to be working outside North America, in the United States, RIM’s missteps have hurt the BlackBerry brand. Perhaps irreparably.
All of which prompts the question: Can the BlackBerry brand get its groove back?
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