The Final BlackBerry World?
 

Fellow forum members. The RIM we have known (and loved?) for many years is a company in crisis. I'm not trolling. I wish it wasn't so but I really can't deny it anymore. The most recent article in the Wall Street Journal paints a bleak future. I expect RIM to be around for a while but in what form is questionable.

Through my job in mobility engineering for a major multinational company I have come to know many people at RIM over the last decade. I feel bad for them. I have been to every WES except one since 2004. I am going this year. I ask you, does anyone else think this is the final BlackBerry World?

My best regards to all and see you at the beer garden.

Re: The Final BlackBerry World?
 

Sadly this is what happens when the top management seats are filled with losers who have no concern except their own salary. RIM is not the only company with this issue.

Re: The Final BlackBerry World?
 

No, I think it's only going to get better after BB10 gets released. The news reports have been blown way out of proportion and full of false accusations.

Re: The Final BlackBerry World?
 

Which false accusations? That earnings were down 55%, that they shipped a paltry 500,000 PlayBooks or that they aren't going to be providing financial guidance anymore. Or that the book value of the company decreased from $29bn to $7.5bn in one year?

Re: The Final BlackBerry World?
 

I think they'll be able to bounce back provided they don't sink extremely low before that. I'm not sure, but I think this is the first major failure that RIM has had in years. If they fix the management issues, I'm sure they'll be able to bounce back.

Re: The Final BlackBerry World?
 

The numbers weren't good but every news article is saying they are giving up on consumers, blackberry is dead, rimmed needs to offer a trade in program because they halted support for consumers, etc.

Re: The Final BlackBerry World?
 

RIM has to do a major restructuring now and it is going to take time and cost a lot of money. The numbers were terrible. Perception becomes reality. RIM is not likely to gain back the consumers and business professionals who went to other devices. They have to strengthen their enterprise offerings (which is what they did do well with in the past) and stop trying to be all things to all people. And stop development of the tablet, as no one (except die hard fans) wants it. Out of our 3500 BB user internal customer base, not one person has ever mentioned BB 10 as some sort of great new OS. But they are going to the iPhone (and iPad) in droves.

I think the 9900 is the best BlackBerry I've ever used. I just hope it's not the last BlackBerry I use.

Re: The Final BlackBerry World?
 

Seriously? Have you been under a rock for the past few years?
Anybody else recall several outages around the world that caused people to rethink their personal mobile device strategy? I remember, and so do a lot of other people.
BlackBerry issues statement over downed services | ZDNet

Re: The Final BlackBerry World?
 

With everything going on now at rim...and even Heins sayaing he can't make any promises, i just don't see how RIM will last thru this year.

Re: The Final BlackBerry World?
 

If RIM fails, because all the data flows via their servers I would bet some of the carriers pick up the service to maintain their customers.

Re: The Final BlackBerry World?
 

What I like most about BBW is it's one of the only events that focuses on mobility in the enterprise space. Tech-Ed is all Microsoft / Exchange. None of the other MDM vendors have any sort of event so I guess you'd have to target some of the information security events. CES and World Mobile Conference are more consumer based.

I enjoy meeting other mobility professionals and talking shop. So while the focus next year will likely not be Blackberry it could morph into something more now that RIM is supporting iOS and Android. RIM should have some big annoucements so we'll see if it's time to move on or their new platform can deliver.