RIM reported quarterly results that were nothing short of abysmal: profit down 58.7 per cent; revenue down 10 per cent; BlackBerry sales almost 10 per cent short of analyst expectations; PlayBook tablet sales were less than 50 per cent of what analyst had expected.
Of course there are still Blackberry addicts out there, but their ranks are thinning. Here's a reality check: Ten years ago, how many people in your life wanted a Blackberry? Fast forward to today: a fair number might still carry corporate Blackberrys – but how many people you know would spend their own money on a Blackberry? Scratching your head? That makes two of us.
RIM is still the category leader in the corporate market, but even here, the company is in no position to rest on its laurels. How much longer can IT departments shove undesired devices into the hands of employees who would rather use an iPhones or Android?
Another reality check: how many people in your life have both a corporate Blackberry and a personal iPhone or Android? And how many companies you know that are opening the doors to mobile devices not of RIM's making?
RIM is touting its new generation of devices, collectively labeled BlackBerry 7 for their new operating system, as sure to be the next big thing in mobile devices. They better be right – RIM could be one product generation away from going the way of Palm.
For marketers, RIM is a textbook case of a company that rose thanks to great product, and is now imploding thanks to the absence thereof. RIM's problem is not one of bad ads, or a weak brand. It's the product, stupid. RIM has failed to deliver devices that people would choose over the competition.
And since marketing, to succeed, must extend into all aspects of the relationship between audience and product – then marketing deserves its share of the blame for the sorry state of RIM.
