Once called the Warren Buffet of Canada, Stephen Jarislowsky, the sixth largest investor in RIM, has began to divest in the company and he’s leaving some very scathing criticism. First, he’s insisting that the roles of CEO and chairman of the board need to be separated. “You should not have these two people at both positions because they have worked together all their lives and they are basically the same person, from point of view of policy,” Jarislowsky, chairman of Jarislowsky Fraser Ltd..
Jarislowsky also criticized Jim Balsillie, saying he’s lost focus. “I believe he is taking his eye off the ball,” Jarislowsky said. “He’s gotten involved in all sorts of things outside the business.” Jarislowsky is probably talking about Balsillie’s attempts to bring an NHL franchise to Canada as well as his involvements in non-profit initiatives around Waterloo.
It’s a difficult time for RIM these days but things look good in the near future. The next year is going to be very trying but if they can make it out and really impress the market with a new generation of BlackBerrys, it’s possible that the share price will rise to its old glory days.
It really seems like apps sell devices these days. Whether or not it’s true from the retail side of things, it’s definitely true from a media perspective. Much of RIM’s chagrin is due to the perception that developers aren’t interested in the platform because a lot of the latest apps are choosing iPhone first in terms of what to develop for. RIM needs some bold moves to help make it big in the app economy and here are 5 things we’d like to see.
1. Give every new BlackBerry customer $10 for App World – We’ve experienced it countless times. You find someone with a BlackBerry and they go “oh, I didn’t know I could get apps on this.” One of the easy ways RIM could teach everyone about apps and get people hooked on App World, is to give every new customer a $10 gift certificate for App World. Once they spend $10 and get an understanding of the value, they’ll be hooked. Developers everywhere would benefit from this. Continue reading ’5 Ways RIM Can Improve the App Ecosystem’
The newswire is abuzz about recent firings or layoffs at RIM and generally giving the tired same response of “another nail in the coffin for RIM.” The truth of the matter is that it’s probably not that people considering the giant size of RIM globally, and in the end it’s for the best. Fresh blood will bring fresh ideas to the company and challenge the status quo. Rather than see this as the demise of the company, it should be seen as a positive move for the company to cycle out some underperforming fodder for some real innovative staff.
Generally, the company has lost its evangelists. Every single news source loves to put a negative spin on the news. For example: RIM is supporting other smartphone platforms on BES. Rather than understand that companies on BES are seeing a smattering of other devices on the network and a few iPhones isn’t a corporate takeover, media likes to say it’s the end of RIM. Hopefully these layoffs are happening in the marketing department because they’re clearly not doing a good job of convincing the tech writers and bloggers of the world.
The media is a real herd mentality these days. Maybe it always was.
One of Magmic’s best selling BlackBerry themes of all time just got a little sweeter. iBerry 4 is now $2 off its original price from now until June 21st, 2011.
Although I’ve always found it to be a little ironic that the best selling BlackBerry theme is an iPhone interface, iBerry 4 is actually a really great, fully functional, and beautifully designed theme. It features 16-20 fully customizable iPhone style icons and sleek Today items that can be displayed on your home screen. All of your icons appear neatly at the bottom of your home screen allowing you to scroll infinitely through them.
For only $2.99, iBerry is an awesome theme that will absolutely set your BlackBerry apart from the rest. Check it out at our Bplay store.
At BlackBerry World, RIM announced plans to make its Mobile Voice System (MVS) 5 with voice over WiFi calling available for more corporate phone systems. Recently, RIM announced that BlackBerry MVS 5 is now available in North America and the UK for Avaya phone systems.
The list of phone systems that work with BlackBerry MVS now includes:
The problem with saying “the first theme to…” is that there are so many themes out there and it’s hard to keep track of them all. We’re going to start the conversation with saying this is “possibly the first…” because we haven’t come across anything like this at BlackBerryCool. Pachacuti’s Gold is a BlackBerry theme with a fully integrated game.
The theme includes a hidden object game and you go through the various levels unlocking a new wallpaper with each level successfully completed. There are four levels and your goal is to find for yourself to find the long lost Inca gold of Pachacuti. Decipher the captain’s notes to find the items you need to progress through 4 treacherous levels. Overall, this theme is incredibly innovative and brings the customization of themes together with the fun of casual gaming.
UPDATE: It looks like Pachacuti’s Gold was taken off Bplay a couple days ago. It’s still a very innovative theme and hopefully they bring it back.
