BlackBerry Cool

You guys do have it right when you say these are interesting times for RIM. Right now they are heavily dependent on hardware sales but with the intros of new smart phones like HP Messenger, Treo, Nokia 9300, and Motorola Q, things are getting crowded. Blackberry still has the brand power but who knows in the next 1-2 years, especially when it comes to the fast pace changing world of high-tech.

RIM seems to try to being diversify it’s revenue with Blackberry Connect and so-called licensing deals but who knows. I think the best bet for RIM to stay competitive is to be bought out by one of the big manufacturing comapnies.

I find the situation very interesting in respect that on one hand RIm has to compete with Microsoft although their handsets leave a lot to be desired. And the mobile 5 platform has an already good app’s platform. But most handsets for MS do not have good phones.

However a lot of companies already use some RIM so probably would not be keen to move away to MS.

Handset wise RIM are being very clever on this they are support 3rd party handsets but with ONLY very basic Blackberry support this way they can still sell their own equipment.

I think RIM in the next 5 years may go like Palm in the past 5…

Palm used to mean hardware & software then it split to PalmSource software and (Handspring) PalmOne Hardware then they just recently merged again to Palm.

RIM is hardware + software… BBConnect, Enterprise server and solutions on 3rd party hardware like Moto & Nokia may become so profitable that there may be a split into RIM (hardware) and BlackBerry (software)… RIM hardware probably won’t be able to compete at that level forcing it back under the same umbrella.

I think that RIM is at a critical point that will determine where and how they play in the wireless email market in the future. Today, RIM is the dominate player in the game, however, now that they have proven the business model the big hardware manufacturers like Nokia, Motorola, HP, and Dell and the software developers like Good, Visto, and especially Microsoft, are taking dead aim on mobile email industry.

I think for Research in Motion to stay on top, they are going to do two things. First, RIM makes a lot of their money on hardware sales. Next-Generation BlackBerries will need to stay as secure as they are today, but begin to offer some of the additional features, such as Wi-Fi and removable memory, as these come standard on most of their competitor’s units.
Second, RIM has to do better with their BlackBerry Connect program. BlackBerry Connect has been around for a few years but hasn’t been massively adopted by third party hardware manufacturers, especially not in North America. BlackBerry Enterprise Server is where, in my opinion, Research in Motion needs to focus to maintain their market dominance. If the other hardware manufacturers are making devices that connect to a BES server, that is a win for RIM. When those third party devices don’t connect to BES, which is a loss for RIM in not one, but two categories… Hardware and Software.

I think that RIM is at a critical point that will determine where and how they play in the wireless email market in the future. Today, RIM is the dominate player in the game, however, now that they have proven the business model the big hardware manufacturers like Nokia, Motorola, HP, and Dell and the software developers like Good, Visto, and especially Microsoft, are taking dead aim on mobile email industry.

I think for Research in Motion to stay on top, they are going to do two things. First, RIM makes a lot of their money on hardware sales. Next-Generation BlackBerries will need to stay as secure as they are today, but begin to offer some of the additional features, such as Wi-Fi and removable memory, as these come standard on most of their competitor’s units.
Second, RIM has to do better with their BlackBerry Connect program. BlackBerry Connect has been around for a few years but hasn’t been massively adopted by third party hardware manufacturers, especially not in North America. BlackBerry Enterprise Server is where, in my opinion, Research in Motion needs to focus to maintain their market dominance. If the other hardware manufacturers are making devices that connect to a BES server, that is a win for RIM. When those third party devices don’t connect to BES, which is a loss for RIM in not one, but two categories… Hardware and Software.

RIM sits on the edge of a potentional market flood by Microsoft with the launch of their new push solution for Exchange. Microsoft’s solution provides a quick, simple and (most importantly) IT-budget friendly way of providing mobile email access.

The only way to combat Microsoft is to continue to offer something they don’t have. Stability, reliability and (once again, most importantly) security in both hardware and software is where RIM must continue to differentiate themselves.

The other way to secure market share going forward is to be first (and best) to market with new innovations.

Three words my friends: handheld-WiFi-VoIP.

Rim needs to come out with better devices that can do onboard gps navigation/ movies /camera in order to survive.

MS is coming out with exchange sp2, but how good will the mobile messaging be? It really doesn’t matter. When you have an operating system that does not close anything and just minimizes your in trouble to begin with.

Treo-> Crashes thrice a day
PPC-> Depending on what you do crashes 6 times a day

Blackberry-> hasn’t crashed since i got it three months ago.

As long as the devices are solid and easy to use for the executive, rim will be fine.

Pocket pc’s are to complex and troublesome for exec’s. trust me i have dealt with hundreds of them. Give them a jog dail over a stylus any day!

Now when google starts a wireless email soltution, RIM better watch out!

2006 will be a battleground year between RIM devices and all the Windows Mobile devices whose form factor’s all seem to resemble RIM. I think for RIM to survive they should continue to add key features to both their handsets and servers and only roll them out when they are ready.

Rushing to the market with features will win you press, but it doesn’t make the device any easier to use and support. RIM has been very consistent in their support and when they roll out a feature it works. If they continue this strategy I think they have a chance.

I’m just amazed and astounded that nobody has even brought up the idea of integrating an MP3 player into the Blackberry handheld! I understand that integrating a video player with all the advanced codecs could be a major pain to integrate, but you can buy tiny little memory-stick MP3 players for $30! I think that if RIM would keep everything it has going good going and just start off the multimedia support with the addition of a multimedia speaker, an internal player (even without removable memory, though that would be nice), and a headphone jack — then RIM would see a huge increase in sales just for that added feature! This, at least, has to be a part of RIM’s future.

Interesting to say the least. The best thing RIM has going for them is the reputaion of the Blackberry pieces. There are still some improvements that can be made (and the Intel partnership can help make some of them realities) which can make BB the only thing you need in your pocket. (I’m thing more power, memory, MP3 player, faster internet, streaming video, etc.)

Whatever else happens, that should be the cornerstone of the empire.

I would say that not having all the widgets such as MP3 Player and a Camera help make the BlackBerry’s more stable.

Because of the lawsuit with NTP in the US is gaining media/public attention and has negative effects for RIM/Blackberry, people are switching to other devices. The future does not look very good for RIM.