It’s really hard to believe how
Reasearch In Motion (RIM) once touted as the fastest growing mobile company,
today finds itself in the pits! On June 7, RIM announced to the world that it
will officialy discontinue its 16GB tablet ‘Playbook’. The Playbook is
inarguably the worst performing RIM product ever. It was such a big disaster
that even selling it for free was a difficult task. Earlier this year in
January, RIM had announced a change in its leadership, whereby, the Co-CEOs
Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie stepped down and were replaced by another
insider, Thorsten Heins. RIM’s share price has fallen by 90% from its 2008
highs and it is expected to post an operating loss in the three months ending
June. What could have led to the slide in fortunes of such a great company? Let’s
explore the reasons behind RIM’s fall.
RIM’s rise as the fastest growing
mobile company was astonishing. In just a few years it became the dominant
player in the industry. RIM was the weapon of choice for the political and
enterprise class. CIO’s all over loved RIM’s devices. No one could have
predicted that RIM’s fortunes could change so soon. From being the dominant
player to being in apposition where questions are being asked about its future,
RIM has traveled this downward journey in a very short span of time!
One major reason was the denial
mode in which RIM’s top executives lived. RIM failed to understand the
potential of Apple’s Iphone and Google Android based smartphones. To RIM these
were pure consumer phones. However, things started to change for RIM as the
corporate employees who had bought these expensive smartphones began bringing
their devices to office. Many IT managers were comfortable with the idea of
employees bringing in their own devices. Given the times of recession, this was
also a cost effective way. The entire ‘Bring your own device’ (BYOD) trend has
been capturing enterprises has meant that corporates are now much more
comfortable in letting employees carry their own devices to work. This changing
trend hurt RIM badly, as both Iphone and Android smartphones were slowly
becoming the choice of consumers and eventually also finding their way into
enterprises which has the main market of RIM’s Blackberry devices.
Another factor where RIM lagged
was development of new products. In the five years since Iphone was released,
RIM still hasn’t found a viable competitor to it! Its attempt to enter the
tablet market also fell flat on its face. Whenever asked about its response to
Iphone and Android phones, RIM has always talked about Blackberry 10. However,
the Blackberry 10 operating system project has been delayed for too long now,
and devices based on it will not be available in market until the end of this
year.
Iphones and Android devices took
over the market because they appealed to everyday users and not just the
enterprise customers. Both Apple and Google launched their online app stores
which allowed customers to download all the apps they needed from a single
place. RIM was very late in launching its own app store. A major reason why
enterprises loved the Blackberry was because of its security features. However,
IT managers soon realized that similar security features could be obtained from
third party vendors. The employees wanted to bring their expensive and snazzy devices
to the office, corporates had to relent.
Thorsten Heins, Research In Motion CEO
When Thorsten Heins took over as
CEO, he tried to downplay RIM’s troubles saying that the company will stick to
doing what it was doing. However, seeing the way RIM’s sales have been falling
he now seems to have changed his views. He is ready to adopt strict cost
cutting measures, job cuts, as well as strategic shifts. On 30thMay
RIM announced that it is hiring bankers J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital for
strategic advice. Critics are commenting that this move is an indication that
RIM is ready to put itself on the block, or maybe some parts of it might
eventually be sold. Even if they stick to their beloved Blackberry 10 project
and do come out with devices based on this OS, it is really hard to see how
things could turn around for RIM from here. Well, for all we know Research In
Motion might not even exist in another year or so!