RIM collapse beginning?

[Ron2K]

After the announcement of disappointing BlackBerry sales last quarter, RIM shares started to plummet. Blogger Chris Nerney wonders if this isn't the beginning of the company's death spiral, with the exodus away from RIM's BlackBerry platform too far along to stop and the company too small to compete with huge rivals like Apple and Google.

Source

Given that the vast majority of the folks I have on Facebook own Blackberries, I'd say that this may be a bit far-fetched. But still definitely possible.

[rustypup]

apple and google serve different markets, (tech-addicted tjops with an eye for flash and bragging rights).. the day they adhere to the same cipher standards and i can brick them remotely is the day they become contenders...

[DeathStrike]

don't hate on the google lovers...

One day google will own your tv.... wait they already do own some people's tvs.

world domination by google is almost apon us... but remember. don't be evil.

[Siemens]

today a search engine tomorrow the Universe.

[Slimshaedy]

I can't see RIM going down. I'm posting this from my blackberry now,almost everyone I know owns a blackberry,after the launch of ther curve 8520 sales hit the roof because stockists of this phone couldn't keep up! There was a huge waiting list,and there's new blackberrys coming out all the time!
That's really a surprise

[DAE_JA_VOO]

I'm actually quite surprised it's taken this long. BB doesn't even feature in the smartphone market as far as I'm concerned. I played with a Torch a few days ago, and while it's certainly the best BB I've ever used, it's still nothing I'd ever consider.

Comparing this news to the number of BB users you know isn't a fair assessment either. BB is huge in SA because mobile data costs a lot of money here. For me to have the kind of connectivity BB users have, it would cost me a fortune in data costs. But if you could have essentially unlimited data on an iPhone or Android phone, would you still buy a BB? Probably not. If the iPhone or an Android phone was R100 a month (some are - Wildfire), and had unlimited data, that would be the phone all your friends had, not the 8520.

Like I said, though, the South African market is no bearing for BB's success. Generally, if your platform isn't succeeding in the US, it's not succeeding.

Seriously, it's about time.

[hamin_aus]

rimjob?

[Siemens]

Strong demand for smartphones gave a further boost to overall cellphone market volumes in January-March and made iPhone supplier Apple a rare winner on the market, research firms said on Friday.

IDC saw January-March market growth of 20 percent, helped also by strong gains by smaller vendors as the three largest phone makers - Nokia Oyj, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics - lost market share.

Apple's iPhone sales more than doubled from a year ago, buoyed by strong sales on Verizon Wireless and additional carrier deals elsewhere, with market share rising to 5 percent.

"The iPhone once again sold particularly well in developed economic regions of the world, such as North America and western Europe," IDC said.

Apple is now within striking distance of LG, which had a 6.6 percent market share in the quarter. Nokia's share dropped to 29 percent from 35 percent a year ago while Samsung slipped to 19 percent, IDC said.

Blackberry-maker Research In Motion benefited from the smartphone boom in the quarter, winning market share, but warned late on Thursday its quarterly sales would miss earlier forecasts.

The Canadian group is in a transition period as it revamps its product line and launches its first tablet computer.

Separately Strategy Analytics estimated handset shipments grew 17 percent from a year ago, driven by surging smartphone demand in mature regions and increasingly popular models with multiple SIM cards in emerging markets.

"The first quarter of 2011 was marked by supply-chain disruptions related to the Japan earthquake tragedy and by ongoing mild component constraints in areas such as touchscreens, memory and cameras," said Neil Mawston, analyst at Strategy Analytics.

Mawston said component shortages would continue for at least the next six to nine months, causing restricted volumes or rising input prices, but operational challenges from this would remain minor for most manufacturers.

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/articl ... 2011-05-02

[GreyWolf]

People I know personally who own Android phones: 3 (2 men, 1 woman)
People I know personally who own iPhones: 3 (2 men, 1 woman)
People I know personally who own BBs: 9 (7 women, 2 men)

The 1 woman who owns an iPhone lives in CT, she says she is the only one in her social circle that owns and iPhone, the rest have BBs.

I guess the SA market is completely the opposite to the states.

[DAE_JA_VOO]

I guess the SA market is completely the opposite to the states.

It is, unfortunately. It's the same in Canada too. I was there in December, and seriously, at least 80% of the phones I ever saw there were iPhones. I can't remember ever seeing a BB when I was there.

[rustypup]

so 80% of canadians are tech-addicted dimbulbs who can't spot a lame duck?...

i find that very hard to believe...

android/iphone are shoddy application delivery platforms first, semi-functional communications devices second...

BB does business really well... when that ends, then the pundits can start gabbing on about RIM's demise.. until then, it's all unfounded speculation and fanboism... ie. spam...

[GreyWolf]

android/iphone are shoddy application delivery platforms first, semi-functional communications devices second...

As much as I enjoy apple and google bashing, do you have any concrete proof of this?

[JollyJamma]

ZA is a tiny portion of the worlds cell market. It's 2nd in Africa behind Nigeria. RIM is popular here for the service, not the phone. Take the service away and they are badly made phones with no good features. Even Symbian is better than RIM at basics. RIM software is buggy, basic, badly designed and rigid in it's design. Symbian is now history but my Old Nokia 6220 could do what I needed and last 7 days plus it was stable.

My Wildfire and the 8520 are the same price cash yet the Wildfire is 100 times better at everything it just needs a decent data package to make it rock.

[rustypup]

do you have any concrete proof of this

anecdotal evidence is not submissible... but it is more than sufficient for my needs...

Take the service away and they are badly made phones with no good features.

please explain what "features" you would consider "good"?... encrypted mail delivery and push, docs-to-go... that's it... that's all you need... if you "need" to bombard friends and family with the minutiae of your daily struggles against the universe call them...

last 7 days plus it was stable.

battery life and OS complexity plague all "smart" phones... this is hardly surprising...

the Wildfire is 100 times better at everything

i'm sure you're going to clarify this...

[DAE_JA_VOO]

so 80% of canadians are tech-addicted dimbulbs who can't spot a lame duck?...

i find that very hard to believe...

Well find it as hard to believe as you like, that's what I saw when I was there. iPhones all over the place.

Now whether an iPhone user is a "tech-addicted dimbulbs who can't spot a lame duck?" or not is a matter of opinion. A statement like that is kind of ridiculous though.

[GreyWolf]

if you "need" to bombard friends and family with the minutiae of your daily struggles against the universe call them...

All the bb users I know, use their BBs for the above mentioned bombardment. Not a single one of them uses their BB for any sort of business.

[rustypup]

A statement like that is kind of ridiculous though.

i'm sure it is... until you evaluate the marketing and the fact that all the "smart"phone fabricators are gearing up to do battle in their application offerings...

sorry, but these units are designed and marketed to appeal to the same type of person who claims that switching a computer on is complicated... ie, tech-addicted dimbulbs...

finally, raving about gadgets is silly because they're short-lived and of no consequence... buying into the marketing hype and spreading it around is both silly and a little sad.. doesn't mean it's not effective, just that humanity really should know better by now...

Not a single one of them uses their BB for any sort of business.

you know a lot of 14yr old twilight fans?

[Stuart]

fanboism

Odd, because your post reeked of fanboism.

I have a BB Bold 9700 and an iPhone 4. Tbh, the free unlimited data on the BB is one of the least attractive issues for me. It's nice to use whenever I absolutely have to, but it's actually so slow to browse on BIS that it's painful. Since getting the iPhone I do all my mobile browsing on it. Not because it has a bigger screen or better resolution, but simply because a regular data package from Vodacom makes BIS reminiscent of the old 33k modem days.

The BB is very handy for push email. I realise that you can accomplish the same on any smart phone today, but if I used my iPhone for email the way I use my BB I'd be charging it twice a day. And that is precisely what will probably make me stick with BB at my next main contract upgrade. I can make and receive calls, send a receive text messages, communicate via email, and my BB lasts me three times longer than my iPhone. Granted, it lasts longer now because I don't do as much browsing on it as I used to before I got the iPhone, but even with the browsing battery life is far superior.

From that perspective, I would agree with rusty. If you want the shiniest gadget that can take over the world, so long as you have your charger on hand, then iOS/Android is the way to go. If you want a phone, with which you can send and receive text messages and emails, BB does it just as well, with plenty of extra battery life to boot.

Edit: I have no comment to offer on BES.

[RuadRauFlessa]

We use BB's for business purposes in our company... but we don't use BES as our mail server is not our own and as such you can't manage to create a user on it and thus you can't actually manage a device with it.... that in itself is a big fail from BB IMHO.... We got 120 phones from the same batch still sealed in their boxes from the production line... there were about 20 of them that actually had the same OS version on them. Another fail of note right there for you.... So we don't use them for mail as we can't get them registered on BES so push is kinda useless.... there is the point of the phone right out the door.... Oh and believe me you don't want to have to sit down and do application development for the BB... it is horrid to say the least.



Oh and stop fighting or I lock

[GreyWolf]

you know a lot of 14yr old twilight fans?

26+ year old twilight fans actually...

[DAE_JA_VOO]

sorry, but these units are designed and marketed to appeal to the same type of person who claims that switching a computer on is complicated... ie, tech-addicted dimbulbs...

Honestly, it feels like you have no idea what you're talking about.

My mom could be classified as one of these "don't know how to turn on a PC" types. Could she care less about iPhones (or any smartphone for that matter)? No.

The iPhone appeals to me, and I'm far from being one of those users. I love tech. I'm a tech enthusiast, for sure, but is it not possible to love tech AND know a thing or two about it?

finally, raving about gadgets is silly because they're short-lived and of no consequence... buying into the marketing hype and spreading it around is both silly and a little sad.. doesn't mean it's not effective, just that humanity really should know better by now...

So the effective "distance" to something's obsolescence defines whether or not it's worth talking about it?

Not much in this world is worth talking about if it's relevance relative to this moment in time is what define's it's worthiness.

Either that, or Engadget, Gizmodo, HuffPo, and pretty much every news publication and reader on the planet is wrong and you're right.

[Stuart]

Oh and stop fighting or I lock

You allow a BB user, an iPhone user and an Android user in the same room, and you expect civility?

[Stuart]

Either that, or Engadget, Gizmodo, HuffPo, and pretty much every news publication and reader on the planet is wrong and you're right.

Don't even throw that kind of challenge out to rusty. You know what he's going to say.

[rustypup]

lock it!...also, only a bad developer moans about a bad platform - everyone else sees and endless pool of money...

no fanboi me - just pointing out the inherent silliness behind the OP... i could happily get by without anything other than a phone... the rest is pointless feature-creep designed to reduce the battery to a whimpering pile of ash...

also, i'd love to avoid mail in my down time...

it feels like you have no idea what you're talking about.

evidently...

So the effective "distance" to something's obsolescence defines whether or not it's worth talking about it?

no. there is a world of difference between marketing hype and "worth talking about".

Engadget, Gizmodo, HuffPo, and pretty much every news publication and reader on the planet is wrong and you're right.

so you look to publications which rely on tech-hype and paid-for "editorials" to be an impartial news source? seriously?... do you look to politicians for truth? ...

[Stuart]

i could happily get by without anything other than a phone

And that is exactly the difference between you and most other PCF members. Most people here want more than a phone. They want to be able to do everything on the go. And for everyting, BB is not the best option. Heck, I read somewhere the other day (possibly even a thread here somewhere) that interest in app development for BB has fallen behind even Winmo 7 now. If people are willing to charge their phone every night as a trade off for being able to do whatever they want on it, then there is little chance that they will find a BB the best way to do that.

I know a good many people will BB's. The primary purposes for them are: phone calls, text messages / BBM, email, Facebook. If that's all you want (or less), BB FTW.