Blackberry belatedly re-focuses on business

Back in 2011 I posted on Blackberry's attempts to compete with the likes of the iPhone in the consumer smartphone market, suggesting that this move would fail. I said:

"Perhaps its time for Blackberry to remember and refresh what made it famous and where it has an edge over the iPhone, which is texting and email. Being a functional device that really delivers."

Well, news today confirms that Blackberry maker RIM has finally figured this out itself. New CEO Thorsten Heins said: "We plan to refocus on the enterprise business and capitalise on our leading position in this segment." This comes they announced, wait for it, a net loss for the three months to 3 March of $125m (£78m), versus profit of $934m a year ago. Ow.

Here's some learning from Blackberry's problems:

1. Forgetting what made you famous

Blackberry became famous in the business world for being part of the road warrior's armour. When travelling on a plane, as the aircraft landed you'd see the suits go for their holsters, whipping out their Blackbery's ready for battle.

But Blackberry wanted more than this. They wanted to be hip and cool like Apple. So they ran ads with cool dudes, and a campaign with a cool DJ showing using his Blackberry to create, share and record his music. Click below on the blog to watch the ad.

This sort of marketing lacks authenticity, looking like "your dad dancing at the disco", and so looses on two fronts:

- The people Blackberry are trying to recruit are unlikely to be turned on to the brand and buy

- The existing Blackberry business users will look at it and think, "what the hell is that?!"

2. All sizzle, no sausage

"Blackberry's biggest problem was relying on emotional sizzle to help it compete vs. Apple in smartphone, without having a decent product "sausage". As one article in Forune said:  "The BlackBerry is hopelessly lame as a media tool." This is why despite all the marketing effort, the RIM sold a meagre 5% of US smartphones in the past three months, versus Apple's43%.

3. Neglecting the core

The other killer problem with Blackberry's doomed attempt to go after the smarphone market was neglecting the core business of business. Where was the money and talent going last year? A lot of it was spent trying to compete with Apple. And then, to make things worse, Blackberry suffered from several days when their whole system went down. This "outage" undermined the very core of the brand's equity, which was "bullet-proof" reliability.

In conclusion, this story shows that brands are better off trying to remember and refresh what made them famous. When, like Blackberry, you forget your brand's strengths and try to be something you're not, it tends to end in tears.

Well, let's hope RIM might come back from the dead.... I bought shares last year at $25 after they had fell by a half, thinking that was the bottom. Today they're trading at $14!

 

Comments

[Lindy J.]

That's why we've got troubleshooters, programmers and app developers melbourne and all over the world to be able to address to this kind of issue and problem.

[Unlock Samsung Infuse]

You did the a great work writing and revealing the hidden beneficial features of RIM

[Louis Vuitton Canada]

Although much of the softness may come from the hair salon you have the desired effect providing some one youl be the case able to educate yourself regarding control going to be the softness all on your own as if you do.
http://www.louisvuittoncanadalv.ca

[Coach]

They are quite professional http://www.coachoutletonlineua.net Coach Outlet that the shattered Lebanese government was incapable of providing, and has evolved since then into a political force with two cabinet ministers and a dozen seats in Parliament. http://www.coachoutletonlinea0.org Coach Outlet“ in this, and this is something some Western donors are admitting that has a positive impression on some Western politicians,” said Stephan Rosiny, a research fellow at the http://www.coachoutleturla.com Coach Factory Oultet Institute of Middle East Studies at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies in Hamburg. http://www.coachfactoryoutletfa.net Coach Factory OutletThat in turn provides a rationale for the group’s charitable networks among Lebanese immigrants in Europe. “They may collect money for their institutions, but they aren’t http://www.coachoutletonlineab.com Coach Outlet operating publicly,” Mr. Rosiny said. “As long as they aren’t involved in politics and aren’t operating openly, they are tolerated.” http://www.coachoutleshome.com Coach Outlet Online Experts question how effectively European police officials are keeping track of the kind of serious, well-trained operatives capable of staging attacks versus counting up donors http://www.coachoutlet67.org Coach Factory Outlet. to funds for orphans of suicide bombers. “I don’t believe that they are able to monitor Hezbollah activities because Hezbollah is such a professional player,” said Guido http://www.coachfactoryoutletsc.org Coach Outlet Online Steinberg, an expert on terrorism with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. http://www.louisvuittonususa.net Louis Vuitton Bag “The supporters that march the streets with a Hezbollah flag are not a threat to national security,” Mr. Ritzmann said. “We’re more concerned with small groups — a car http://www.louisvuittonsoutletua.net Louis Vuitton Handbagdealer, a grocer, or whatever

[Poor]

I had a brief play with a BlackBerry PlayBook at Orlando airport this monring. Most of it wasn't functioning because there was no wifi connection, so it wasn't possible to try out the browser or any of the web-dependent apps.a0Of course, the 7 inch screen just looked stupidly small next to my iPad. A point of sale display nearby boastfully proclaimed Amateur Hour Is Over (presumably a sly dig at the iPad), but all I could think of when I picked up the device was how it felt like a Fisher Price toy. It felt too light and too plasticky. It just isn't a device that is in the same class as the iPad and I found it hard to take it seriously.a0My deep reservations about the form factor aside, the good news is that the QNX software is fast and fluid. It's far more responsive than Android on the Galaxy Tab and far more polished than Honeycomb on the Motorola Xoom. Seeing all your open applications running live in the card view is really quite cool, but I didn't get a chance to push the multitasking to the limit to see if performance would suffer in real world use.a0I hunted around for an app which would allow me to test the onscreen keyboard, eventually stumbling upon Word to Go (which looked pretty similar to the iPad version, I have to say).a0Unfortunately, that is where the similarity ended. Firing up the application and attempting to type in landscape mode was an exercise ina0frustration. Not only did the keyboard take up half of the already small screen, but the keyboard itself was only a three quarters of the width of an iPad's and each key about two thirds the height. Worse still, there was no autocorrect, resulting in a large number of typos, even in the few short sentences I managed to type.a0Switching to portrait mode, I was more successful. Thumb-typing is definitely the way to go on the Playbook it feels really, really comfortable when held that way. The lack of autocorrect is still a handicap, however, with the keyboard depending upon complete accuracy when typing so the typos persisted. It felt great, but it didn't work great. Moreover, can you imagine sitting in a business meeting with a Playbook held up in front of your face while taking notes?Overall, I think $499 is a steep price to pay for a device which is basically no more than a BlackBerry accessory. It may indeed find a market with some of the BlackBerry crowd, but the form factor alone severely limits its usefulness. My iPad has replaced a laptop for me; I couldn't imagine the Playbook doing the same.

[Fay]

This is a great inspiring article. I am pretty much pleased with your good work. You put really very helpful information. Keep it up.

[Kelly Brueggemann]

In a very competitive smart phone market, it is very important to be specific with your brand positioning. By doing so, you can design different features that would benefit your target market. It is a good move if Blackberry would focus on targeting a more business-oriented market. That would better fit their serious and professional brand image.

[blackberry unlock instructions]

Better late than never. If it plays its cards right, even this delayed move could turn out perfectly for blackberry.

[Brenda]

Also will the the white be available on sniprt?! Anyone having any information relating to this please answer because I have a upgrade coming up in 15 days and really want the white one!!

[gafas de sol armani]

Hola, Gracias mucho por el que su artículo me gustó mucho tu blog, tienen un buen día.

[Sophia]

Glad ur looking at the HTC EVO 3D to cuz that shit looks nice. But yeah what u think about the HTC EVO View 4G? N also I've never found a phone on spnirt to have the really good boxes. Its like they never seem to care about that. It makes no sense but yeah def wanna know what u think bout the HTC EVO View 4G. N ur def if not the best ur in the top 5 for ppl who do reviews. N the funny thing is UR Not getting paid n they r.

[Josh Blatchford]

I agree very much with what you have said.

I am marketing student and personally believe that RIM need to have a combined strategy of developing more consumer-orientated phones mixed with a business brand image.

I have researched and wrote about the topic in quite some detail if you would like to read my thoughts on my blog http://manifestedmarketing.com/2012/04/06/research-in-motion-how-branding-can-save-blackberry/