The Loop » BlackBerry

RIM says it’s ‘ready to compete’

Jim Dalrymple — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:22:28 +0000

Reuters:

Next-generation software for BlackBerry’s smartphones is “ready to compete”, Research In Motion’s new chief executive, Thorsten Heins, told more than 2,000 technical developers on Tuesday, expressing confidence in RIM’s long-term future.

I hate to tell you this, but that train left five years ago.

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RIM faithful

Jim Dalrymple — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:17:47 +0000

Alex Knight:

I have spoken friends of mine who have been long-time Blackberry fans, and they aren’t holding their breath for any miraculous event where the company will suddenly bounce back.

This is a key point. Not even RIM’s loyal followers believe there is a chance in hell the company can recover from its embarrassing missteps over the last few years. Even at its worst times, Apple’s core customers believed in the company.

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∞ 11 things RIM did right in 2011

Jim Dalrymple — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:28:38 +0000

Yeah, that was ambitious. I got nothing, sorry.

RIM faces legal challenge over ‘BBM’

Jim Dalrymple — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:04:18 +0000

Reuters:

Research In Motion, still smarting over having to change the name of its yet-to-come operating system, faces a similar trademark challenge to its popular instant-messaging service BlackBerry Messenger.

Because things are going so well for RIM, they just needed someone else to jump in the ring and clobber the shit out of them in

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BlackBerry 10 doesn’t have email, BBM

Jim Dalrymple — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:00:04 +0000

BGR:

In what is something of a serious allegation, our source told us that Mike Lazaridis was lying when he said the company’s new lineup was delayed for that reason. ”RIM is simply pushing this out as long as they can for one reason, they don’t have a working product yet,” we were told.

Of course RIM has denied what BGR’s source said. But then again, I don’t believe much of what RIM says these days.

They also said the PlayBook would deliver an amazing tablet experience. Amazingly bad.

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BlackBerry party fail

Jim Dalrymple — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 01:38:13 +0000

Apparently RIM organized a party in Sydney, Australia where BlackBerry users could share songs with their friends. Judging from the turnout, I guess they were too embarrassed to show up.

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RIM’s burning platform moment

Jim Dalrymple — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:30:04 +0000

Matt Hartley:

After much consideration, he concluded that his company’s only hope was to abandon its long-held strategy, to acknowledge its shortcomings and embark on a radical new strategy. He ditched the company’s sputtering software business. He put teams to work developing new devices and he cut a billion-dollar software deal with one of the most powerful technology companies on the planet.

Unfortunately for the shareholders of Research In Motion Ltd., the Canadian smartphone executive’s name was not Jim Balsillie or Mike Lazaridis. It was Stephen Elop, the Hamilton-born chief executive of Finnish mobile giant Nokia Corp.

I don’t think RIM can do it. They need to fire the co-CEOs and bring in someone with some imagination to clean house and get the company back on track.

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Why RIM needs to fire its co-CEOs

Peter Cohen — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:07:53 +0000

Tom Krazit for paidContent.org:

As they tried once again Thursday evening to urge financial analysts to look ahead to a brighter future while once again delaying the release of a crucial product, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis failed to give anyone a reason to think RIM will be a player in mobile during 2012 or to explain why they should still have their jobs.

We’re happy Balsillie and Lazaridis are around if just for the comic

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∞ RIM ships 150k PlayBooks

Jim Dalrymple — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:57:09 +0000

The numbers are in and they don’t look good. According to the company, they shipped 14.1 million BlackBerrys and 150,000 PlayBooks. Keep in mind, those are shipped numbers, not sold.

BlackBerry, Android users want an iPad

Jim Dalrymple — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:53:05 +0000

Elizabeth Woyke for Forbes:

This was particularly true of BlackBerry users. More than half (53%) of survey respondents who identified themselves as BlackBerry users said they would like an iPad if they were to buy a tablet. A much smaller percentage of BlackBerry owners opted for the other two most popular choices in the study: Amazon’s Kindle Fire (12%) or Samsung’s Galaxy Tab (11%).

Only 8.5% of BlackBerry users expressed preference for the BlackBerry PlayBook

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∞ RIM loses BBX trademark fight

Peter Cohen — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:12:53 +0000

Research In Motion (RIM), maker of BlackBerry smartphones and PlayBook tablets, has been prevented from using “BBX” to describe its next-generation BlackBerry operating system.

The word comes from a press release posted by BASIS International, a business software developer which filed a request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against RIM in U.S. Federal Court in Albuquerque, NM. BASIS sells products

RIM exec a suspect in BlackBerry sales stampede

Jim Dalrymple — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:41:20 +0000

Indonesian police named Research In Motion’s country director a suspect for negligence Monday after a BlackBerry promotion turned chaotic and left dozens injured and others knocked unconscious.

Andrew Cobham, president director for Research in Motion (RIM) in Indonesia, and British security consultant Terry Burkey were named as two of four suspects in the incident at a Jakarta mall and could face five years’ imprisonment.

Just when you think things can’t possibly get worse for RIM.

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∞ Thousands mob for BlackBerry deal in Indonesia

Peter Cohen — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:00:16 +0000

RIM’s newest BlackBerry phone created a riot in Indonesia when it went on sale.

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∞ Demand for iPhone 4S remains strong

Jim Dalrymple — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:28:06 +0000

WSJ:

Verizon Wireless customers may have to wait more than three weeks for the device, according to the carrier’s website. That compares with as much as 21 days at AT&T and up to 14 days at Sprint Nextel. While some tech blogs have suggested Apple’s manufacturing isn’t keeping pace, the carriers point to unexpectedly strong demand for the handset.

And the new BlackBerry sales are

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∞ BlackBerry 7 sales already slowing

Jim Dalrymple — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:00:20 +0000

BGR:

Sales of Research In Motion’s new BlackBerry 7 smartphones have slowed in recent weeks as competition from Apple’s iPhone 4S and Android phones heats up. In a note to investors on Friday, Canaccord Genuity analyst Mike Walkley noted that RIM’s new smartphones are not faring well ahead of the holidays. “Our recent checks indicate slowing sell-through trends for the new BlackBerry 7 smartphones the past couple weeks,” the analyst wrote. “Further, with the launch of the iPhone 4S, increasingly price competitive Android smartphones, improving Windows smartphones, and the launch of the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet, we anticipate increasing competition across all tiers of RIM’s products in C2012.”

Maybe if they gave away BlackBerrys at McDonald’s drive-thru.

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∞ RIM lost 1.8 million subscribers in three months

Jim Dalrymple — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:57:28 +0000

The Guardian:

RIM lost 1.8m subscribers in the US in the three months to September despite its new BlackBerry 7 phones going on sale in the final month, according to new data from comScore’s MobiLens survey of smartphone users.

That’s what happens when you release shit and you can’t keep your network

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∞ ∞ Purdue University gives BlackBerry the boot

Jim Dalrymple — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:01:11 +0000

Purdue University has continued to see a decline in BlackBerry devices using its BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) since Jan. 1, 2011, and, after Dec. 31, 2012, will no longer support Exchange synchronization with BlackBerry devices.

The combination of a 33-percent decrease in BES use, a subsequent increase in per-unit cost and a proliferation of the use of non-BlackBerry devices influenced the decision.

∞ The $2,000 Porsche designed BlackBerry

Jim Dalrymple — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:17:18 +0000

Everyone with bejeweled jeans will definitely have one of ∞ Permalink

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∞ Record high BlackBerry trade-ins after outage and iPhone 4S launch

Jim Dalrymple — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:44:53 +0000

Josh Lowensohn for CNET:

The metric follows an extended outage of Research In Motion’s e-mail and BlackBerry messaging services, which left users unable to communicate with one another or send and receive e-mails globally. To placate angry users, RIM offered users $100 in free “premium” applications. The spike also coincided with the release of Apple’s new iPhone 4S.

And the bad news just keeps coming for RIM.

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∞ RIM sued over BlackBerry outages

Jim Dalrymple — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 22:13:09 +0000

BGR.com: It specifically focuses on “RIM’s failure to take action to either directly compensate BlackBerry users or to indirectly compensate BlackBerry users by arranging for wireless service providers to refunds their customers and to take full responsibility for these damages.” … Continued

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