The Score: RIM Starts Year on Top, But Sinks Fast

The time last year, everyone from President Obama to business leaders was carrying a BlackBerry -- and anyone who wanted to be, well, anyone, had one. That was then, but a year's worth of iPhones and Android devices later...

The Score is a weekly column scoring controversial events in the mobile industry. For the holiday season, we decide if major players have been naughty or nice over the year -- and who's getting lumps of coal.

RIM Just Wants a Best-Seller For Christmas

The Setup: A year is a long time in the tech world, and it doesn't take long for a company to make a great fortune, or lose it. For RIM, which once ruled the smartphone world with its BlackBerry devices, all was good in 2010. But 2011 was not a good year for RIM, and after a series of mishaps, the future isn't looking so rosy anymore, putting pressure on its new line of devices to reclaim people's attention.

In February, Apple, RIM and Android phones were running a tied race in the global smartphone market. Hard to believe after all the recent bad news, right? Researchers Nielsen put RIM and its competitors at an even one-third or so of the market each. However, Android gained ground because Google let just about anyone put the OS in their phones, and Verizon was about to get the iPhone. RIM: 1,025 candy canes .

Playing off the success of its smartphones, RIM announced the PlayBook, which said it was going to beef up with Android apps, video games, and just about anything anyone would want to have to compete against that extra-thin iPad 2. We know now what happened, but back in March, the world was excited about a PlayBook coming from the BlackBerry people. RIM: 500 candy canes .

Coasting on news of the PlayBook and coming off the Christmas season, RIM posted high first-quarter results. However, Apple and Google started chewing away at RIM's profits, and the company switched to lower-end phones, because as we all know, you can make more money from selling cheaper stuff.
RIM: 700 lumps of coal.

And then, the tables turned. Where people used to love their BlackBerries, J.D. Power said Apple was tops in customer satisfaction and BlackBerry was last. In other words, people like touch screens but not keypads. They also like their apps, iTunes and snazzy design -- and the newest gadgets. RIM: 650 lumps of coal.

Looking to compete, RIM came out with a touchscreen version of its BlackBerry Bold. Ever heard of too little, too late? Nifty phone, but people were starting to make the switch to the iPhone and Android's line. The business world was happy, but everyone else? Not so much. RIM: 550 lumps of coal.

By the middle of the year, people were starting to consider the once-top BlackBerry as just an old-fashioned phone, and the stockholders weren't happy. The company was sued because of its aging product line and investors felt lied to instead of coddled. And when you don't wine and dine an investor, they'll take their money and play somewhere else. RIM: 550 lumps of coal.

BlackBerry's main selling tool was its in-system messaging system, BBM. But Apple came out with its own iMessage client, so you no longer needed to have a BlackBerry to send secure messages and chatter all day. RIM: 500 lumps of coal.

In act of desperation, RIM starts pressuring carriers to sell their new phones "no matter what," even though their new phones weren't hitting the spot. And carriers, knowing where their money was coming from, went where the money was being made, which wasn't with RIM. RIM: 1,000 lumps of coal.

The first quarter was up; the second one was way down, sparking employee layoffs. There are now 2,000 fewer RIM workers than there were at this time last year. Boo. RIM: 850 lumps of coal.

RIM stops developing plans for its PlayBook 2. After all, why have a PlayBook 2 when the first one failed so dismally to the iPad 2? RIM: 550 lumps of coal.

RIM's CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis are given six months to show they know what they're doing. Those six months are almost up at this point, and Balsillie and Lazaridis, who probably had a very merry Christmas last year, are likely wondering if they'll still be around next Christmas. RIM: 1,000 lumps of coal.

BlackBerry's once-vaunted messaging service starts getting a bad name. U.K. lawmakers begin blaming the company for the London riots, and the phones are used for the Arab Spring uprisings. Seems one man's privacy is another man's revolt tool. RIM: 800 lumps of coal.

BlackBerry users start suffering widespread outages in e-mail and connections. It wasn't so good for RIM, when BlackBerry users started jumping ship in hopes of finding phones that actually worked. And offering business people a copy of Sims 3 doesn't really appease them for missing out on business dealings. RIM: 800 lumps of coal.

RIM's products, though, continue to draw users worldwide, especially in emerging markets. And since there's a whole wide world out there beyond the U.S. and Canada, maybe they'll be number-one again, somewhere else. RIM: 500 candy canes .

The Score: Candy Canes: 2,025; Lumps of Coal: 8,066

What it means: Research In Motion has been in one of the more rapid declines of the year. It committed the sin of pride, which is easy to do when you're on top and even the president of the U.S. won't put down his BlackBerry.

However, people would be foolish to count this Canadian giant out. They're getting ready to release a whole new line of smartphones in 2012, which may be the phones that solve the problems people have with Android phones that are full of malware and iPhones that can't hold a charge.

RIM has also never lost its enterprise niche, and its Mobile Fusion program will work with IT departments to bring BlackBerry security to iPhones and Android devices, showing that the company knows where its bread and butter is. But the company needs to move fast in order to regain its former luster, and questions remain if the behemoth is agile enough to adapt to a rapidly changing market.

The Score: RIM Starts Year on Top, But Sinks Fast originally appeared at Mobiledia on Fri Dec 02, 2011 5:38 pm.

]]>