My Cellphone My Terms

Many will agree that RIM dominated the 2011 headlines with negative news after negative news. It seemed that the Canadian technology company could not catch a break in most news circles. As Canadians, we take pride in home-grown companies that are successful, but it is hard to ignore the evidence of 2011. Lets take a look at eight of those headlines.

• Unimpressive sales numbers for the much anticipated Blackberry Playbook. After boasting to the masses “you have seen the rest, now see the best”, the playbook failed to garner any traction. With a heavy price point, users gravitated to the Apple iPad . The only reason why the Playbook sold roughly 1 million units was because they drastically lowered their prices (Ask friends and family that bought the Playbook for $100)
• With disappointing Q1 2011 earnings, RIM announced in July that it would cut nearly 2000 jobs  around the globe. We all know this was directly tied to sagging revenues.
• With product launch delays, OS issues, unimpressive tablet numbers and more and more smartphone users migrating to the iPhone and Android based devices, RIM saw its market value fall from $50 million to just under $8 billion dollars.
• RIM also saw its share price drop from as high as $70 to a low $12.90. A drop of nearly 70% from its yearly high is staggering. If that doesn’t cause investor panic, then I don’t know what will. Despite having a tonne of cash in reserve, the share price is what dictates investor faith.
• And if keeping up with Android and iPhone wasn’t reason enough, Blackberry announced that the BB Smartphone 10 “London” would not launch until the end of 2012. Really? With interest in BB devices fading, the last thing you need is nothing to look forward to.
•  In early October, we saw world wide service blackouts that affected millions of users around the globe. Twitter and Facebook were littered with messages of outrage from users and non-users alike, strengthening a case for people to switch smartphone providers. For years, one of RIM’s biggest advantages over its smartphone competitors was its system of Network Operating Centres, which power the company’s wireless email system and provide a direct link between the company and the BlackBerry Enterprise Software tools that organizations can install inside their IT departments to connect and run individual BlackBerry devices. This, no doubt, caused anger across the board. A chain reaction of events that eventually caused a further decline in share price.
• Why does RIM need 2 CEO’s? This was a much debated topic this year, with all the negative news surrounding the company. Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazardis run the show and with the stock price in a downward spiral, many have questioned the need for both. Another issue of piling on?
•  And who can forget the two drunk and belligerent executives on an Air Canada flight departing Toronto for Beijing but being forced to land in Vancouver, inconveniencing 320 +passengers and crew alike.  Days after the incident, the two were fired. Would this story have been such a big deal if these two weren’t high paid senior executive with RIM? Probably not. Another example piling on?

So what can we expect in 2012? Hopefully, we can see a clear strategy as to where RIM wants to go. Hopefully, we can see steps that move in the direction of innovation and not desperation. I for one like competition with competitive products. I like to be challenged with hard choice of “Which smartphone should I go with?”. One thing is for certain, 2012 could potentially be a make or break year for RIM.

What do you expect from RIM in 2012? Add your commenst below