The iconic Blackberry was RIM’s flagship product which once dominated the entire Smartphone market. Heck, even I had 3! Blackberry was and still is a rock solid e-mail and messaging device. Who wouldn’t want that perfectly engineered QWERTY keyboard on their phone? But that’s about all it does very well, and that’s what has led RIM to the situation it’s in now.
With fierce competition from Android and iOS that are now being heavily used in organizations and even in the government sector, Blackberry really doesn’t have anything left to offer against the competition. Having said that, I think RIM’s only option at this point is to sell the handset division or license it to a competitor. Though that may be a shock to many, there’s 3 key indicators that this is most likely going to happen very soon.
1) No plan of any new handsets upcoming for Q2 or Q3 of 2012 and no new handsets released almost in the past year. Although it looks like RIM is funnelling all their resources in to Blackberry 10, they could at least release some new handsets in to the market to show consumers they’re still actively trying to win their business. Not many people signing up on a 3 year contract today will want a Blackberry that was released last year!?
2) Blackberry manufacturer Celestica announced they will stop production of Blackberry handhelds within the next three to six months. Keep in mind RIM was Celestica’s biggest client. Although Celestica isn’t RIM’s only manufacturer of handheld devices, it signals that there may be a low demand for new orders and that the low volume may no longer be cost efficient for manufacturers to produce.
3) Blackberry 10 delayed until Q1 2013. I wasn’t as shocked as everyone else when this was announced because lately RIM has had a history of software delays (Playbook 2.0?). I don’t understand why they are so hesitant to release Blackberry 10 to the general public when they already have released it to developers. Do they really need to do another 6 months of testing and improvements or are they just buying time to find a licensing partner to sell Blackberry 10 to?
RIM is now in the process of laying off 5000 workers. Although it will save the company 1 Billion dollars, it also signals that the company is now rapidly shrinking. In my personal opinion, investing in RIM is still a huge risk. Even if they spin off the handset business in to a licensing deal, they still don’t have a lot left to survive on.
Written By: Amardeep Juneja
