Filed under: News | Mobile Phones
RIM's Fading Enterprise Empire
Too slow to survive?
Nov 5 2010, 7:59pm CDT | by Robert Evans
This isn't the last act for the BlackBerry, but it's awful hard to not see that day coming up on the horizon. Dell already moved to switch their 25,000 employees from RIM products to their own device, and now Reuters reports that a number of banks are beginning to look towards alternatives.
Bank of America and Citigroup are both looking at ways to make the iPhone secure enough to use. Now that Apple has pulled ahead of RIM in the US market, the once-mighty manufacturer is starting to look a bit like a wounded gazelle.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. are also testing the iPhone as a BlackBerry replacement, as are Procter & Gamble and General Electric. You don't have to look far to find predictions of doom for the once mighty enterprise smartphone. What the heck is going wrong?
For one thing, RIM was way behind the curve when it came time to adapt to full touchscreen devices. RIM's first few attempts to make direct competitors to the popular (and more social) iPhone and Android devices have been disastrous. BlackBerry OS is only now starting to look like something other than a relic from the past.
Any company that goes with RIM knows they are locking themselves in to an app store that barely breaks 10,000. Meanwhile, the iOS App Store has over 300,000 applications. Android may have some security issues, but the wider selection of enticing phones and the ability to multitask with (on the whole) more powerful devices makes it a worthwhile trade for many. Meanwhile, iOS is easy-to-use, popular and growing more secure every day.
The PlayBook is a good step, but RIM has yet to actually put hardware on the table. Even if it sells well, the PlayBook will still be one more example of RIM reacting rather than innovating. Honestly, it all boils down to this: if RIM wants to stay at the top of the pile, they need to prove they deserve to be there. And that means bringing something new to the table, rather than waiting to see what Apple and Google do next.
Updates
Tech giants struggle to put a price on the future
Source: The Telegraph
While Facebook shares were sliding sharply on New York's Nasdaq exchange, Lynch, the UK engineer who pocketed $800m selling software company Autonomy to US computer giant Hewlett-Packard last August, was discovering that ...
Full article at: The Telegraph
More like this 52 minutes ago
A 100% Certain Way to Lose Millions
Source: AOL News
Recent IPOs like Pandora might gather a lot of investor attention, but the truth is that they're playing second fiddle to an even larger revolution in technology. To better prepare investors for this new revolution, The Motley ...
Full article at: AOL News
More like this 1 hour ago
EU exports Argentina import row to WTO
Source: China Post
BRUSSELS -- The European Union launched a challenge at the World Trade Organization Friday against Argentine import restrictions, escalating a trade war triggered when Buenos Aires seized Spanish oil assets. “Argentina's import ...
Full article at: China Post
More like this 1 hour ago
where to buy
Don't miss ...
Robert Evans
The excitement about new smartphones, tablets and anything mobile drive
Robert to unearth the latest rumors and developments in this fast
moving space. He adopted 4G as soon as it become available and knows
where the mobile market is going.
Robert can be contacted directly at robert@i4u.com.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Latest stories
If you are bored tonight you can watch the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 online now.
Airbags could go off unexpectedly in some models
- Visit our Homepage for the Latest Rumors, News and Shopping Tips
Featured hubs
Best Ads & Deals features the best deals from Weekly Ads and Online Sources. Check out the best deals available today in-stores and online on Best Ads & Deals.