Don’t Count RIM Out

By Thea Neuman (Google)

RIM’s condition has been going downhill. Though its workplace has been a hive of activity from last few months, but unfortunately nothing significant has been gained so far.

It has been 3 months since Thorsten Heins (RIM’s new CEO and President) unveiled RIM’s upcoming BB 10 OS in Orlando. In these 3 months, RIM got positive reviews from developers, but something did play spoilsport in between. The spoilsport was the news of delay of BB 10 models. Well, this is really a strange thing that first a company arouses interest in developers and general public and when people start showing their eagerness in getting their hands on the new platform, it comes up with an unexpected announcement that the release of BB 10 platform has been postponed. This announcement naturally did upset millions of Blackberry fans. And it wasn’t just the fans who were disappointed; RIM received many lashes from critics as well.

Negative reports that began generating after this delaying up decision further added fuel to the flames by portraying RIM’s gloomy situation and started focusing on RIM’s darker side, like declining market share, declining investor’s faith, and service interruptions, etc.

RIM has been feeling helpless because such negative reports are being generated by leading tech-sites. It is U.S. media that is particularly contributing maximum in letting this Ontario-based company down.

Amidst numerous turmoil and reports describing depressing situation of RIM, there lies a ray of sunshine and that is the South African market. According to statistical figures, RIM’s 63% revenue is generated through regions that are outside of U.K., Canada and U.S.

So it is an obvious thing that RIM has other markets apart from U.S., and its marketing teams and should focus on the South African market. Arthur Goldstuck, the MD of World Wide Worx believes that in SA, the number of Blackberry devices comes close to 4.5 million. Vodacom disclosed that there are about 2.4 million Blackberries in SA running on their network.

Surprisingly, Android and iPhones are lagging behind Blackberries in terms of number of devices which are being used by SA users. Alexandra Zagury ,RIM’s newly appointed MD for South Africa and Southern Africa, is optimistic about RIM’s progress in SA.

Besides offering BB handsets, RIM is into wide array of services. Among leading 300 companies, about 80% are running BES (blackberry enterprise solution).

The surveys that we read everyday are limited to U.S., U.K., and Canada. They don’t show the larger picture. Many people get misguided by the statistical figures and they think that company’s situation is same everywhere. RIM might not be on top in United States, but people from other countries still rely on Blackberries.

RIM is chalking out new plans to unveil economical BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service) plans in association with operators. At this point of time, it is more important to sustain its loyal 78 million users rather than focusing on attracting new users. Understating this fact, RIM might launch a global loyalty program.

RIM is enthusiastic about worldwide developer’s response and its successful BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour. The credit certainly goes to Alec Saunders, RIM’s VP of Developer Relations and Ecosystem Development.

Though the situation may look like that it is all about taking a chance on, but being one of the leading companies of yesteryears, RIM still does possess some impeccable strengths. All it requires is an effective strategy along with bit of confidence boost-up and aggressive marketing strategies, and soon pieces will begin to fall into place.