With the arrival of the Blackberry Z10 and the new OS10 operating system I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at the past few years and how exactly the handset giant managed to get itself into such dire straits. After all it really isn't that long ago that the Canadian based company was dominating the mobile handset industry.
For those that have been following the industry closely this has actually been one of the most interesting stories of the past few years. In the early 2000's RIM was truly an innovator, releasing some of the first devices that offered push email, voice, internet browsing as well as other applications all on one device. Over the past few years however the company has failed to innovate. Recent operating system updates prior to OS10 felt largely iterative, making minor user interface enhancements while offering little in the way of improved functionality or user experience. The mobile operating system was eventually overtaken by iOS and Android and continued to slowly bleed market share. Even most Blackberry fans admit that the Blackberry OS7 operating system revision was significantly behind the curve upon release to the public.
In 2011 the company had its worse ever service outage. Millions of blackberry users across the entire globe were left unable to send messages for days. Faithful Blackberry users were incredibly angered and many vowed to switch from their Blackberry handsets to more reliable devices. The company attempted to make amends by issuing an apology and offering free apps in Blackberry Appworld but it was not enough to appease the discontented masses.
The company stock price began to plummet, dropping from ranges $70 per share in early 2011 to under $7 by mid-2012. Investors were jumping ship to the point where the company was trading at below book value. This means that the total shares of the company (what the company was valued at by investors) was worth less that RIM's assets alone such as money in the bank, patents, properties etc.
Finally a change was made and in January of 2012 Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis stepped down as co-CEOs and Thorsten Heins - then Chief Operating Officer of Product and Sales was named as their replacement. This move was widely believed to be an attempt at revitalizing the ailing company's public image but many believed they did not go far enough and should have brought in a complete outsider with a blanks slate.
This brings us to present day where the company has just released their new Blackberry Z10 device running OS10 in an attempt to turn things around. The stock has rebounded slightly leading up to the product launch but the next few weeks should give us a good indication of whether the company is here to stay or if their efforts are too little too late.
For more information Blackberry check out Why Did Blackberry Fail?
Drop by my blog at: Nerds for more posts
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Gram
No comments:
Post a Comment