RIM Says Smartphone Delay is Not Detrimental

By Thea Neuman (Google)

The way Thorsten Heins has been handling the entire Blackberry issue, he may soon be a dead man walking. Though Heins never minced his words nor made exaggerated claims about upcoming BB 10 models, but everyone has started questioning the decision of delaying much-talked-about BB 10 phones. If Heins is confident about Blackberry 10, then what is that which is stopping him from unveiling new smartphones right now?

Recently, RIM’s new marketing head, Frank Boulben stated that delaying Blackberry 10 next-gen models will provide additional time to retailers in gearing up for sales preparation. In Boulben’s opinion, if BB 10 models are quality oriented, a little bit delay wouldn’t make much difference. At the end of the day, it’s all about quality.

But the million dollar question is whether Boulben’s opinion sounds reasonable to everyone or not, including anxious investors who are waiting for RIM to get back to its former sound growth track, those excited BB fans who are waiting for new models with bated breath, those critics who are lashing out at Heins’ imprudent strategic decisions, and RIM’s own employees who are now skeptical about Heins’ leadership skills and their jobs.

During a telephonic conversation with Reuters which took place on the occasion of RIM’s annual general meeting, Boulben justified delaying Blackberry 10 models by saying that it will provide sufficient time to carriers to prepare well in advance for launching BB 10 models. It has been just a little time when an opinion editorial was published by Heins which mentioned that new BB 10 will be a notch above the other contemporary mobile phones, and that new radical BB 10 models are very well capable of placing RIM on leading position again.

While debunking those reports which are predicting RIM’s collapse, he stated that a change shouldn’t be mistaken for an end. Instead, it should be considered as a fresh beginning. We do agree with a belief that ‘each fresh crisis is an opportunity in disguise’ but it becomes difficult to ignore some apparent flaws and mistakes. For instance, recent service interruptions, laying off almost about 5000 employees, recently unveiled Playbook tablet sans ingrained email, 9 year low stock slump, and pitiable fiscal quarter results. It seems that all these things were not enough and to worsen an already bad situation, RIM announced that it is delaying up the launch of BB 10 models.

Boulben further mentioned, in order to ensure that new Blackberry 10 models thrive in the intense competitive market, RIM would make the most of social networking media so that loyal fans are constantly updated from time to time.

It seems that Boulben understands the importance of word of mouth publicity, which has emerged as one of the biggest marketing weapon in today’s world. The confidence of Boulben comes from the fact that when a new product is of superior quality then there is nothing that can stop consumers from taking interest in it. When Heins and chiefs of other divisions of RIM sound so optimistic and confident about BB 10 handsets, who knows, BB 10 smartphones may really turn out to be the light years ahead.