1. What Is Research In Motion’s Next Move?
Last BlackBerry World 2012 gave a glimmer of hope that Research In
Motion may finally be getting back in the game. After a year of
languishing at the bottom of the smartphone market barrel and seeing
more and more consumers give away used BlackBerrys for better
phones, the company’s BlackBerry 10 pointed to a possible resurgence.
RIM has also announced that the wireless streaming function that was
2. featured in Playbook OS 2.0 will also be available for the upcoming OS.
RIM CEO, Thorsten Heins has gone on record time and again saying that
the company has invested vast amounts of time, money, and manpower
to ensure that the their latest mobile operating system would be the
product to bring them back on top, and the BB 10 presentation definitely
showed that.
Fast forward just a month later, however, and Research In Motion is now
considering split-and-merger options just to try and keep itself afloat long
enough for a comeback. Apple’s recently concluded World Wide
Developers Convention was the cause of this, elevating the smartphone
playing field to a whole new level and promptly forcing even the most
stalwart Berry fan to finally give in and trade in BlackBerrys for iPhones.
RIM has more than enough cause for concern to resort to such drastic
measures, as they well should.
Ever since Apple’s entry into the smartphone market with their iPhone,
RIM’s market share has been spiraling downward with no change of
direction in sight. The company’s fiscal reports for the first quarter of this
year indicate a downturn by about $125 million, a far cry from the $934
million profit they posted in last year’s Q1; and even that number doesn’t
compare to the company’s sales figures when it was king for the better
part of the 2000s.
As it stands, RIM has a net worth of just $1.77 billion, a rather paltry sum for
a company this size. Consequently, software developers are driven to
focus instead on the better-faring iOS and Android operating systems.
Even Microsoft’s Windows Phone is getting more attention despite being
a relatively new comer and having a comparatively lower market share.
Such dismal statistics have led RIM into wanting to sell their
BlackBerrydivision. The frontrunners for this division acquisition are Amazon
and Facebook; and though both companies could benefit from the
merger, there are also other factors that they have to consider. Amazon
is an online retailer of books, movies, music and games along with used
electronics and in Amazon’s case, it isn’t really looking to sell BlackBerrys
(or whatever it is the company will call them) at a markup. Instead, it will
3. use the handset division as a channel for mobile commerce, which the
company is of course very good at. Problem is, they already have such a
system for the Android, and setting another one up on a vastly different
OS platform (the BB 10 is based on the QNX) may prove more trouble
than it’s worth.
Facebook, on the other hand, is actually looking to expand its ventures
by marketing its own brand of smartphones, and acquiring BlackBerry
would instantly position them as a serious player. However, the company
is facing its own share of financial downturns (though not as grave as
RIM’s), and holding off on the acquisition and the complications it could
bring just might be prudent for them at the moment.
Whatever may come of the company-splitting, it’s evident that Research
In Motion needs to make a move – and soon – if it hopes to make any
semblance of a comeback.
Again, sell broken laptop and BlackBerrys if you must; but the more
prudent action would be to see how all of RIM’s maneuvering will play
out with the release of the BlackBerry 10 and the Playbook OS 2.
Source: Technomatic
http://emdhie.blog.com/2012/08/13/what-is-research-in-motion%E2%80%99s-next-move/
