oh oh ...

The beginning of the end ...

here's an idea... get someone to write a Blackberry app that says randomly while they are working at blackberry to quote the late Steve jobs "This is Shit"... (if you have read the Steve Jobs book by Walter Isaacson you'll know what i mean )

the problem with blackberry is the fact that they are stuck in Quick sand... and anymove makes them sink further... so even a "lifeguard" (new CEO) throws a "life preserver" into the quick sand, it will also sink too... thus the "new CEO" needs to get a crane and pull "blackberry" out of the quicksand... (perhaps QNX is that crane...)
but will the crane be on solid ground?, or will it too be engulfed in the mire?...

so stop with the license BS... make the BLACKBERRY run 4 times longer, and i assume that their existing customers will be happy and they will be a slimmer happier company... otherwise slash and burn so that RIM can run on half the subscriber base that it has now...

RIM: "What should we do?!"

Financial Adviser: "Stick your head between your legs and kiss your a$$ goodbye. That'll be $1,000,000."

RIM continues to slide into irrelevance. There is no saving RIM. Horrible phones, horrible OS, and horrible management.

I seriously thought (and posted here I might add) that RIM would already be gone or have made the announcement that the were selling.

Remaining questions:
a) how long are they going to drag this out?
b) who's going to make the "Big Decision" and pull the plug? The banks, board, or Hein? "D"-all of the above?
c) by not being decisive re: "The Big Decision", are they actually gaining anything? Anything at all?

The writing was on the wall last year already. I think they needed to do something then, because they at least had the shadow of a doubt what was coming out of Redmond... yes Microsoft. Because it is MS that is the gorilla in the enterprise room, and that's the only place I see left for RIM's products. Consumer market is all tied up, and even MS knows it's gonna be long, long ride towards carving a piece of that pie. They can "wait" it out though, while RIM can only "wade" before slowly sinking into the vortex.

Its sad to see RIM as an entity fall, but they still have a LOT of valuable assets that can continue providing great value to people for years to come. Off the top of my head, they must have about 17,000 office chairs and desks, along with various computers, pens and office supplies, and bathroom supplies. They probably also own some of their own buildings, along with parking and high-end decorative shrubs and grasses.

"RIM is expected to decide whether to work with a band in the next few days"

They already worked with U2, who is bigger than them? I think bands might not be the way to go. Though that One Direction seem to be popular with the BBM tweens...

If executive management wants to save RIM, they need to stop making crap; it's just that simple.

More thoughtfully put, they need to pull a Steve Jobs and focus. That means eliminating products, cutting size, and bringing the scope of both the company and it's product design efforts in-line with what is manageable given its sales and trajectory. Then they need to focus what remains intensely on doing something substantively new and better than before.

People think this is a done deal, but it is not a foregone conclusion that they have to go down. Everyone thought Apple was done in the 90's - look at them now. MS is weak - they are a prime candidate to get picked off by RIM should any actual vision develop within the company.

The problem with RIM has been that the company's management has not effectively perceived, appreciated, or responded to change; they have been rigid and risk averse. As a result they tried to fight a new kind of battle with the same strategies and methods from the old war, and it isn't working for them. They need, right now, a bet the company move - a hail Mary pass. They are losing the company anyway, so fundamentally there is really no difference in the long term; they can fail through inaction, or take a chance and fail through a bold and decisive action that was miscalculated. Or, they can make that bold step and win. Taking the step, though, is the only direction that doesn't absolutely end with dissolution.

Unfortunately, what we see from them is some attempt to find a way of salvaging the greatest value for the shareholders in the event of the company's failure, not an attempt to innovate to success. They are behaving like a dying wildebeest trying to spell out to the vultures which parts are the best to nibble at... in order to stave off the end a little longer. Sad.