What should RIM do now?

We all know that RIM is severely lagging behind in the race it once led by a mile. Apple and Android have taken over as the new big brothers of the mobile phone industry. Its share prices have fallen massively.

Of course, there are many business directions RIM could take - even to the extent of selling the entire company off.

But say they wanted to fight on. Say they wanted to make one last gamble in terms of producing a product line which stands a chance. How do you think they ought to go about doing it?

I personally feel that following in Apple's footsteps is no longer enough (not that they can keep up anyway). There must be elements that RIM must retain from the iPhone's success story and others it must creatively redefine. What do you reckon these elements are?

asked Jun 21 '11 at 09:58

stjonks
116●5●6●9

One Answer:

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Wow, your right! Apple knocked RIM off their BlackBerry with iOS 5 having iMessenger, similar to BlackBerry Messenger. That was the last line of defense for RIM. I suppose RIM could venture into Operating Systems? Though it's unlikely, maybe it'll be a hit. If that is out of the question, what about an email client? Cross platform, Linux, Windows and Mac OS X! RIM's BlackBerry is well known for the way they push email, and I've been using both phones, iPhone and BlackBerry. BlackBerry wins in the email client on the phone, hands down, no questions! Now that you mentioned it, RIM is really in trouble. They could, re-invent the BlackBerry, more apps, fluid operating system, fix known issues.

Any other suggestion guys?

answered Jun 21 '11 at 10:25

AlphaMike
871●43●48●65

Yes I think that reinventing the entire OS is necessary here for Blackberry to survive. That means promoting innovation and making some bold moves - something that we can't really depend on either one of RIM's current CEOs for. Are there any main features anyone think ought to be included in a potential reinvented OS by RIM?

(Jun 21 '11 at 10:31) stjonks

The thing is, no one wants to develop for Blackberry. As far as I know, there's only maybe around 5000 apps on the BB app store, whereas, everyone wants to develop for iOS. There's over 500,000 apps on the Apple app store.

(Jun 21 '11 at 10:32) The Boss

Agreed. That's another problem Blackberry is facing. I do think that this is partly due to it being difficult to develop apps for the Blackberry as opposed to the Apple. Definitely something RIM should be desperately concerned with.

(Jun 21 '11 at 11:05) stjonks

Developers don't develop for the BlackBerry because there is only so much users. Surprisingly, BlackBerry is successful in Indonesia, almost every tom dick and harry has a BlackBerry there, and it's dirt cheap there too. I think redoing the OS to something more advance will give them back 'some' ground, but the way I see it, RIM has to step up their game.

(Jun 21 '11 at 22:46) AlphaMike

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