What happened to Research In Motion and where are they going?
I want to start this off by saying I have nothing but love for RIM the company. Probably my favorite tech corporation in the world, they’ve created an incredibly unique product that practically replaces the need for drugs for most people. What’s even more fascinating, however, is how RIM (to the pleasant surprise of a lot of us early users) has managed to take a corporate-focused product and service and blow down doors in the consumer world. From the BlackBerry 7100, the first consumer-oriented device, to the eye-catching BlackBerry Tour (it’s business through and through, yet it will be an incredibly popular consumer phone on Verizon and Sprint), it’s clear that RIM has done everything right to this day.
So, what’s the problem you’re asking? They have probably the best back-end infrastructure for mobile communication on the planet, awesome phones that can go head-to-head with high-end smartphones, consumer marketing, a huge consumer fanbase, and practically every businessman (or woman) has one on their hip. One word is where RIM fails so miserably it isn’t even imaginable: software.
You have to look at the big picture here… for what RIM is working with (an incredibly miserable Java OS with so much security and encryption and smoke-blowing APIs) they’ve hit the jackpot. Their OS architecture is fantastic, their use of security is what makes them so trustworthy. But, as each handset release comes closer and closer, people start to see the bigger picture. And that’s the fact that RIM’s OS is more than antiquated, it’s borderline laughable. But it works, you’re thinking, so what’s wrong? I’ve been saying this for years, but it wasn’t designed to do anything the BlackBerry does now. Imagine scotch taping car parts to a 200hp engine and see how far that gets you. Obviously, it’s just a viciously rough metaphor, but we believe a correct one.
There’s so many limitations to RIM’s OS, and even RIM’s data network that it offsets all the wonderful things they’ve managed to accomplish. Remember when people were so excited over leaked shots of OS 4.6 and I said somewhere it was just a theme? Well, was I wrong? Oh, look! OS 5.0! What changed? 99% nothing. Some functionality is added here and there, but the mobile phone landscape has changed so drastically in the last two years, that RIM, admittedly known to planning “three years out” looks to be unable to see the proper direction to head.
You can throw $1,000,000,000 at developers but you won’t get any if your OS, tools, and documentation are so bad, and that’s really in the end a lot of what I’m getting at. I was laying in bed at around 3AM early one morning recently, looking through the iPhone App Store and I came across EA’s Tiger Woods Golf. $6.99, why not? Wait, it’s 150MB? Wow, it must be good. I clicked purchase and literally 4 minutes later, Tiger Woods was installed and up on my screen. Granted I was on a high-speed Wi-Fi connection, but it made me realize more than ever that RIM has the most uphill battle of their lifetimes. When a BlackBerry application over 500k is considered “large”, something’s wrong. When TweetGenius is one of the first BlackBerry applications to do fun, unique things like transparent overlays, consistent shortcuts, and a straight forward UI, something is wrong.
The reason why this is so frustrating to me and I’m guessing many is because RIM literally almost has it all. They’ve got it! They are 90% there but that last 10% has become the most important. If you take Apple for example, and see their shortcomings, and then what they’ve done to fix them, it’s remarkable. It’s a completely different DNA than RIM’s but it’s working. In two years Apple has practically matched Research In Motion in almost every consumer area while having the most advanced mobile operating system with the most advanced mobile SDK on the planet. If Apple can do this in just two years and RIM has stood still, no one thinks that’s a problem?
The reason RIM works is because it’s the entire package, if you will. Hardware, software, infrastructure, corporate integration, security, etc. People want simplicity, ease of use, but more than ever they want more than they need. Stupider people are smarter and expect more, smarter people are stupider and expect more. RIM delivers the same tired package in new hardware and people are starting to catch on. App World? Seriously? From every single developer I’ve spoke to, it’s a non-starter. It basically doesn’t exist to them in terms of a sales channel — it’s practically like 1% if that.
What consumers don’t do is look forward. They look at what’s put in front of them. It’s the exact opposite for the manufacturer and thus why it’s so difficult. Look back two or three years and the Bold and Storm might seem incredibly innovative, consumer-focused, and sure to be hot sellers. And they were and are, but look ahead three years and tell me point blank you have confidence that RIM knows how to steer this ship. I don’t, and that’s being incredibly honest. It’s not me being negative, it’s objectively looking at the landscape and evaluating things. I want RIM to succeed, I want RIM to make kick ass products. I’m just frustrated that RIM is going through hardware like it’s nobody’s business yet fails to deliver on the things that everyone wants. Screw business people, screw consumers, everyone wants a WebKit-based browser. It’s inexcusable RIM doesn’t get it. It’s inexcusable that people put up with a 2003 operating system with so many limitations and restrictions it would make Ahmadinejad jealous. I don’t think RIM is going anywhere, they as a company are incredibly successful, but once they start to lose the consumer market which they worked so hard to get, it’s a downward shift.
Here’s a list of RIM’s models followed by Apple’s in the last 3 years:
RIM: 8110, 8120, 8130, 8800, 8820, 8830, 8300, 8310, 8320, 8330, 8220, 8230, 8900, 9000, 9500, 9530, 9630.
Apple: iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS.
There’s a good and bad part with knowing things in advance. For instance, people might hold off on purchasing a new BlackBerry if they know a newer and better one is being released in a couple months, and this hurts a company’s current product cycle. On the other hand, if someone on Verizon sees a Tour being released two months from now, they might rethink jumping ship or switching to a different device on Verizon. And the cycle continues. Looking at RIM’s upcoming products for the next 6-12 months is simply a rehash of current limitations and shortcoming in smaller and sexier packages. The BlackBerry 9020? It’s a Bold in a smaller, sexier package. Nothing else is different. The BlackBerry Storm 2? It’s the same device with maybe improved screen tech. The BlackBerry Magnum? As hot as a hybrid touch screen/QWERTY device would be, it’s still a BlackBerry that can’t pull up a webpage to save its life or play a real game or have any sort of desktop-class application running.
These things won’t change, the core OS hasn’t changed, and RIM has had no reason to change it. Why mess with success, right? Well, if you happen to be Research In Motion, you might have to start changing things up or newer and better operating systems like the iPhone, webOS, and Android are going to eat their lunch and their applications, too.
I’m fortunate enough to be able to have every phone I want on every carrier and that gives a person an incredible amount of clarity when picking the superior products. I use an iPhone 3GS and a BlackBerry Bold everyday, both on AT&T. But to tell you the truth, in the past when people ask me what device would I choose if I had to only pick one, it would hurt my brain. There was just no way to choose. But unfortunately or fortunately, that decision has become clearer and clearer. I don’t think I’ll ever give up my BlackBerry, I’m pretty sure you’ll always find one on my hip in an OEM RIM leather holster, (yes, holsters are cool as shit) but when me of all people starts truly questioning how a company as successful and brilliant as RIM is going to keep up with the next 2-3 years, you’ve got a big, big issue.
I’ll close by saying that the market is still wide open and this doesn’t mean RIM is or ever will go anywhere. It’s just something to keep an eye on and see how the best to ever do it will react to competitors’ advances, innovations, and of course, their software.
I sometimes wonder if we try to make BBs into something they are not. Remember, BBs were made for professional work. Its the reason RIM has been so successful, because they cater to the business professional. Iphone and other like devices are in a different market. Yes, BB has tried to dabble in that multimedia market, but stll it caters to the business user. My organization uses a blackberry enterpise server and our BB are stripped to the bare minimum and our employees still love using te devices. Imagine an iphone stripped of its multimedia capabilities. If you had to rely on the iphone’s performance and functionality without the bells and whistles, I think there will be a lot of frustrated people out there. I like the iphone and I like many of the other innovative devices out there, but these smartphones are made for different reasons. Everyone seems to be so down on the innovation of RIM, however, the BB curve was the top selling smartphone last year and for the first quarter this year. Also, BB makes three of the top five selling smartphones. That to me says a lot about how great of a product RIM has turned out. Like I said before, I think we should be happy that we own superior devices for those who have BBs and be patient. As far as I know, RIM is still making phones and they are getting better all the time. I believe the Bold and Storm were huge steps in the right direction. I know that the Storm has been under fire, but it shows me that RIM is trying and they are set to release the Storm 2 this year along with other cool devices. Also we have the 5.0 OS update to look forward to. The App store is consistently growing and more and more websites are becoming BB friendly. These are all great things that we should be looking forward to. I will leave all the posters with this, if you want an iphone or any other device, why complain about the BB? You should get another device. Those of us who appreciate BBs know better.
I have been a bb user for years, and got sick with watching them bring out handset after handset while still leaving so much of their software in the dark ages.
I got an iPhone 3GS three weeks ago and couldn’t be happier.
This is a very good piece and reflects some of what I’ve been thinking recently as my VZW NE2 is about here. I have a Pearl and was going to go straight for the Tour, but then I saw the 3GS.
I have played with several iPhones and there’s no doubt the OS and the usability are great. However, I don’t think the iPhone can yet compete with RIM on ease of use and reliability when it comes to data communications. The ability to send and receive email in real time from multiple accounts, as well as get things like Facebook updates and MSN Messenger chats in real time, make the BB crucial.
I have decided that despite the Tour’s basic OS, I can’t do without the real time data. So it will be the Tour for me, as well as an iPod Touch.. the best of both worlds.
Great article that sums up all my concern of the last month of sticking to the BB Storm while everybody is switching to Android and Apple.
I would so much like to love the device and the platform but have to admit that despite running the latest 4.7.0.151 on my Storm the device still by far lacks the sexyness of the HTC Magic and iPhone 3GS.
In contrast to all the negative implications of this thread I am still kind of optimistic about what’s ahead for BB lovers: For BB OS 5.0, there will be a seperate softtware kernel per device. I hope the touchscreen devices like the Storm 2 are going to be much friendlier to use and really designed to be used by fingers, have a quick browser and full-blown multimedia features. They didn’t hire the UI-experts from apple for nothing and RIM is surely reading all of these posts.
What they can read here is that they underdeliver on a great performing system architecture that people actually would love to follow in the future. My BBs so far gave me such a productivy advantage both professionally and privately that I simply don’t wanna jump on the iPhone-religious bandwagon ending up trapped in the way too expensive Apple ecosystem that is only fun if you have everything from Apple and non-compatible to so many things I already have in place.
RIM needs to watch closely what gave Palm such a rebound, although I’m sure that Palm is going to drain due to lacking economies of scale.
In the end, RIM has got the market power to conquer the consumer domain – be it by external software like with the quite promissing Unsynced player that does a way better job than the BB media software.
I give RIM some more months. I truely expect the Storm 2 to be great in terms of hardware and new 5.x software, recovering some of the lost reputation with the embarassing first Storm software…damn RIM really must know how much they disappointed their hardcore-fans with that crap. Secondly, I hope that the European developer community makes App World fly, since it’s not even opened yet over there.
BB fans, it’ll be thrilling to see if the market leader will be able to get back into the game…
This rant echoes what a lot of people inside RIM have been saying for a while now. While the BB ushered in the era of the internet-connected smartphone, a lot of what made the early blackberries possible over the early slow-as-shit telco controlled mobile networks is actively holding it back in the days of unlimited data plans.
I hope RIM reads the comments everyone has submitted. I really like my Bold. But give me a break… Memory leaks, a browser that apparently better than before yet light years away from what it should be for the internet.
The email could sure use a lift by going with IMAP. Things should be easier to do like copying your bookmarks from you PC without having to email yourself a list of them and going to each site to save them. If you can manage contacts bookmarks should be a piece of cake.
Another one is opening up WMV files while in your reading a message.
I for one was not against touch screen technology but I think it still has some way to go. I like the BB keyboards and the ball mouse.
I picked the BB for it’s reputation as being a reliable phone and for email notifications when I am away from the office.
However if things don’t improve in a reasonable amount of time, I can see myself falling to the darkside of apple.
Also RIM needs to remember that all other previous BB users should not be left behind. Open the architecture of the OS to work with Media Cards to help take the load off of the small space for applications. Loading them in memory is one thing but really does it have to store the apps there? Why not use the Media Cards.
That is all I have to say. If RIM snoozes they will lose.
So much for those who thought this article was a waste of time. There has been a huge response to this topic. I would like to respond to some of the comments made by other posters (which are very informed by the way – I’m impressed). Someone made a comment that they currently use a BlackBerry Bold and have become bored with it. Hmmm, I wondering what it is that they would like it to do to entertain them? It plays music, movies, television,ebooks, and has game-playing capability. There is also a web browser. BBs keep you connected to everyone via voice, text, IM,facebook, myspace, etc. If that doesn’t entertain you then I’m not sure if you are capable of being entertained. Furthermore, what did you do before smartphones where available to keep your mind occupied. Secondly, I would like to answer to all of those who believe that the BB browser is garbage. Come on, it may not be Safari or Opera 9.5, but it is a decent browser and no one near the bottom of the barrel. Actually, if you compared the Bold’s browser to any other non-touchscreen smartphone, I would bet you will adopt a slightly different perspective. Also, I have read from previous posters that BBs are slow. Compared to what devices. I would like to know what these speedy smartphones are. None of the WM smartphones are faster. Symbian, don’t think so. Maybe the iphone and Pre, but nothing else. And back again to the lack of innovation. This is a tricky thing. BlackBerry is the leader in smartphones, people swear by them. It has become the standard in the business world today. Ladies and gentlemen, this makes it extremely difficult for RIM to want to make wholesale changes to their devices, software, and system. To uproot the very things that have made you number 1 is not smart in the business world. I don’t believe they have become complacent. I think that RIM’s direction is to improve on the things that they do best. As far as I can tell, they have done that. Let’s remember, they did come out with the Storm which showed great innovation, won awards for the innovation. But what happened? They were attacked for deviating from the established format. People scoffed at RIM for having the audacity to create a touchscreen device. They were told to stick to what they know best. I remember reading a review that called the Storm the anti-Blackberry that no one should bother buying. They tried to be innovative – didn’t work. Now we are asking them to do it again? Doesn’t make sense. There are so many smartphones out there that accommodate different tastes. Let’s leave RIM to their devices. If you don’t like their products, guess what, you don’t have to buy them. BlackBerry’s have long been “what you see is what you get” everyone knows what they are all about. Why buy one and complain about the things that you want it to have? Don’t buy it in the first place. Moreover, read some of the iphone sites. Iphone users are coming to BlackBerry in droves. Their complaints have the same tone. So what does that tell you?
This is totally true. Look at Palm. They were nearly dead until the WebOS release (and we’ll see how they net out). They really didn’t change anything. Using a Treo, I was shocked how much it reminded me of the original Palm Pilots from so long ago, just with phone functions.
Incremental changes aren’t enough once you have big disruptions like the iPhone. Then again, we’ll see if Apple creates another huge breakthrough in the mobile market or simply continues to make their products slightly better.
@Dwayn Great perspective on the Storm – I guess its the grass is greener syndrome. The Blackberry Bold is one of the best devices to ever hit the scene. So is the iPhone. There’s room for two (or four)
Oh, and one more thing. If RIM doesn’t release a desktop manager for Mac’s soon, I will lose my mind. They should’ve bridged that gap ages ago…
If they at least fix the web browser, and enabled every possible plug-in to that browser, they would’ve made a major improvement to the platform.
I love my apps on the iPhone, but I might be able to do without them for the superior BB email IF the web browser worked. Cause that’s where I spend 80% of my time when not on emails.
I have an 8330 on Sprint. My biggest gripes:
1. Lack of a comprehensive paper manual, properly organized and thoroughly indexed; if not printed out, at least a downloadable copy one can print oneself. The help on my 8330 is a bad joke: the organization is completely quirky, and finding something quickly is nearly impossible, IF in fact it’s even in the help at all.
2. Many inconsistencies from application to application. Menu choices could be better organized.
3. Not only does every program have it’s own odd way of working, but there’s no predicting where a particular command might be, nor are there any charts showing organization. RIM could do worse than to take a look at Mac OS X and the very consistent standards Apple tries to get software developers to adhere to. Makes most basic menu choices instinctive across most applications.
4. Way too little memory and seemingly no way to physically increase it. A slot for an additional memory chip would be heaven.
5. Very few keyboard commands available, and those are often a great secret. Why not have them, and why not show them on the pop-up menus next to each command’s text? It took me months to discover just the T (go to top of page) and B (go to the bottom of the page) in the RIM-provided browser. Why not a menu choice “Show Keyboard Shortcuts” leading to a pop-up list of all of the shortcuts for the particular application?
6. I work on a Mac computer. It’s incomprehensible that RIM hopes to compete successfully with the iPHone, but doesn’t have a means of safely backing up Mac user’s precious contacts, calendar, and email at the very least. Folk’s at RIM: The very badly designed PocketMac is horrible. MissingSync is also clumsy to the point of my not being willing to risk it destroying my information. And apparently neither RIM nor the program’s designers seem to understand that SYNC is not equivalent to BACKUP. Being one-way only, any half-way decent backup program has near-zero likelihood of damaging your irreplaceable data (provided you can examine it at the time of the backup, not just when you’ve hace a meltdown and learn the backup(s) were flawed. But sync’s two-way transfer has far greater potential to either erase the data on both the device and the Mac, or else duplicate entries – even duplicate all entries on both the device and the Mac, or perhaps scramble one or both. Argh. One would think the first thing you’d do if you wanted business users especially to use a BB in preference to an iPhone is provide from the start a means of SAFELY backing up to one’s Mac. I’ve been asking for such software for over three years (my first BB was an older model, which died. Even though I had carefully and regularly taken it to a Sprint dealer so they could back it up to a PC in case of a meltdown, and when the time came, the dealer’s backup was partially corrupted and I lost 500 contacts (out of 1800) because I only learned of the problem when they did the restore from their PC.
While I suppose that early on RIM discounted the importance of the Mac to their clientele, since they focused on business customers, who were 95% Windows users. However, when they began to compete head-on with the iPhone, how could they ever HOPE to do so without the software to backup the BB to a Mac? Talk about blind spots!
There are things I love about the BB. I use the Telenav GPS navigation virtually every day, even on familiar routes, because it not only gives me directions, but also warns of traffic jams and provides (often) useful alternate routes. And I spend a significant amount of time daily reading news from the NY Times and other news sources via the browser and Google News. And besides Google News and Google Gmail, here’s a few very useful apps:
*Beyond411 Search (Find businesses, etc. by GPS or named location)
*vlingo (fantastically accurate dictation/transcription application)
*Pandora (music the way you like it)
*Google Mobile App (including search by voice)
*VNC+ (access AND OPERATE my Mac from my BB screen wherever I am at the moment (quite clumsy on tiny BB screen, but it WORKS, and in a pinch is worth its weight in diamonds)
*Poynt – Find businesses, people, or movies using GPS.
*iHeartRadio – live AM and FM stations, organized by cities
*Slacker – similar to Pandora, but not personalized.
*RadioBee – similar to iHeartRadio, but organized by genre
*TheFastPages – amazing classified directory
*SitOrSquat – this inelegantly named app finds nearest public restrooms using GPS. A one-trick pony, but a must for those who drive a lot.
Quotes from the movie Armageddon:
“Russian components, American components, they’re all made in Taiwan!”
For those who said “buy American”, the iPhone is made in China. So are you going to return your iPhone?
I just tried an HTC Magic today and it is very cool. This may be a dumb question, but could RIM not use Android and keep the Blackberry experience?
Excellent article….
Trying to browse the web on my Bold is horrendous.
@BGR
Thank you for your very insightful review,I was under the impression that one could utilize Java based Opera as a Browser, also that you could read/write MS Word, read PDF and that lastly Flash is in the pipes.
I was seriously contemplating my first RIM, the Tour on Sprint,unless the above listed functions/options are wrong.
I would very much appreciate a clarification.
Thank You
@BGR
Thank you for your very insightful review.
I was under the impression that one could utilize Java based Opera as a Browser, also that you could read/write MS Word, read PDF and that lastly, Flash is in the pipes.
I was seriously contemplating my first RIM, the Tour on Sprint,unless the above listed functions/options are wrong.
I would very much appreciate a clarification.
Thank You
Could not have said it better. Well put “article”!
As you hinted in closing, I don’t think RIM will go anywhere but they may just let go enough market share that others will also thrive enough to question their dominance. Of course, some would argue that’s happened already. I leave that to be cemented in 2010… a long time coming.
^^^
Funny how former haters come back from beyond when they’re hurting for stats and attention.
Which shows that you know nothing about the iPhone 3GS or the 3.0 software.
A real eye opening article. I have been a long time BB user. I have used other phones along the way (Smartphones and non-Smartphones). I should have changed when I realized that my 8120 was no different from the previous 8100 when I purchased it 14 months ago. I will be keeping a close eye on what phones come to market next March and making my decision. My next device will be either Windows Mobile, SideKick, or the LG enV3.
Simply put RIM is not a software company, its a pager company. Its pathetic to see they have 100MB limited on application memory size and it leaks slowly every time you use an application is beyond me. As soon as you have 3 months of email, sms and mms plus loads of calendar and task events in your system, you are going to see your BB reset automatically all the time.
To say this is a robust business tool??? Those who defend RIM as they know what they are doing because RIM don’t want to mess around with success? The OS isn’t broken and don’t fix it?
The well they launch so many models is because they can’t figure a better way to improve their software, and thats the only way to increase revenue. 3 years ago, they still can play this game, as the rest of the competition comes in, wait they start to lose their momentum in earnings, jump ship.
I use BB since their pager days…. I use my iPhone and believe me, RIM’s survival now is only about their keyboard and business hype… they will die soon and I slowly switch over to something else.
I, a fellow RIM junkie do agree with this post! I have my orignal “Berry”! I was upset when my 8800 series was discontinued….now I’m stuck with my CURVE…..Did someone say “MAGNUM”….BLACKBERRY NATION fOR EVER!…I hope….(:-D
Boy Genius is absolutely on target. I have been cursing my Curve 8330 (on Sprint) which is constantly running out of memory despite dumping any unused apps, but the only major difference between it and the Tour is that at least the Tour has about four times as much memory. Another huge frustration has been the lack of a simple, SAFE backup solution to backup to a Mac (I don’t do Windows).
Why don’t I get an iPhone? While in many ways the iPhone is gorgeous and elegant, it’s missing too many features/capabilities that came with my Curve: strongly business-oriented contacts/calendar/email, a real keyboard (I hate the touch-screen keyboard), true GPS and pretty fine voice navigation which I use several times a day on the Curve, and a general versatility that is, again, more business oriented. I called RIM last week to ask about when a real Mac backup software (not SYNC, which can and often does completely mess up both the handheld AND the computer) would be available – it’s been promised for two years now – and I pointed out that RIM’s execs may think they’ve got a lock on the business market, but that as I saw it, they’ve got somewhere between one and two years to get the software end of it together, or Apple will run the BlackBerry right off the road.
Give me an iPhone that will let ME choose my phone company, with real GPS and navigation capabilities, a software standard that doesn’t have all the inconsistencies (from application to application and even within the basic OS itself) and other inexplicable weirdnesses that make figuring out/remembering how to accomplish something often a nightmare, a real keyboard (not a touchscreen one), but with touchscreen for certain screen shortcuts (rotation, scrolling), ample and consistent keyboard shortcuts, and above all, real and reliable software to back up my data to my Mac and I will – as much as I have gotten to like my BlackBerry – be gone in a heartbeat. Frankly, I’ll be surprised if they pull it off. In the meanwhile, I use my Curve, but I keep my eye on Apple.
It’s worth noting that Apple itself nearly died when it made a zillion models and stuck to OS 9, which had lots of old hands on board, but couldn’t compete with Windows. When Steve Jobs returned, he brought the underpinnings of OS X (Unix et al) and a renewed commitment to few models, simplicity of operation that borders on clairvoyance, and an elegant simplicity of design – both visually and technically.
Hey, RIM: the clock is ticking. Get this part together! I’ll be cheering you on.
for sure!
RIM definitely needs to improve their OS in the next year!
and RIM needs to include optical trackpads and Wi-Fi in ALL of their future smartphones.
Only then, they will succeed in being the top dog in smartphone business.