RIM’s 2007 WTF moment
This is something that we all suspected perhaps intuitively knew — the results have been that spectacular. Research in Motion has gone from the dominant market force to an after thought in about three years and the carnage isn’t over yet.
Electronista is reporting unattributed comments from a former Research in Motion employee. In a nutshell, the company didn’t believe that iPhone could do what it did and still offer decent battery life.
RIM back in 2007 is described as “utterly shocked” and “in denial.”
Fast forward three years and RIM has been humbled, their market share less than half what it was. Moreover, instead of facing a single powerful competitor — Apple: i.e. a single, integrated vertical — the Canadian smartphone maker must also contend with the Android juggernaut, which has come to dominate the OEM space, which was something RIM once shared with Microsoft, the other big loser in the iPhone revolution.
Whereas RIM’s market share doesn’t look like it will rebound any time soon, their bravado has returned with a vengeance. Their unsubstantiable claims about PlayBook tablet being the most prominent example, which they claim is orders of magnitude more advanced than the iPad.
And, we’ve heard that kind of smack talk before.
That said, although there’s still time to pull their fat from the fire, it’s hard to feel confident about their chances…
What’s your take?
via AppleInsider
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December 28th, 2010
Here’s my take:
Of course RIM is in a fight – Apple, MSFT, Google etc all want a run at the great market for mobile devices. So, there’s no surprise.
What is surprising is that RIM knocked out a number of companies in the field and managed to do so under the noses of Apple, MSFT, etc – they all had their own “WTF?” moments in the early half of this decade. Apple was humbled into deciding to forego finishing work on the Pad device and instead focus on fighting to create a new device for the mobile phone market. Google entered with a market-flooding OS, whereby Google earns ad revenues.MSFT sat stunned, it seems –
so, all this means is that competition works, folks. RIM is working on resetting their product-market focus, Apple and Google are big shots, MFST struggles on, etc…
Your words employ a little too much hyperbole – “humbled”? That was Apple when Bill Gates’ ugly mug was prominently displayed behind Job’s on-stage body at the time when MSFT hefted some much-needed cash into Apple -Apple was on the ropes, then.That was humbling. So would Steve Job’s mug smiling behind Mr. Lazaridis on a big screen atthe CES 2011.
However, consider: RIM just made almost one billion dollars profit last quarter and out-sold Apple. So, though I fully expect Apple to surpass RIM next quarter, and I fully expect the N. American market to become so saturated that growth will stagnate for upper-end devices, RIM can be expected to do rather well in the near future in spite of “Palm” comparisons and other over-reaching claims to the contrary from analysts who have been wrong for the last six quarters.