The ascent and collapse of BlackBerry

Makradar Technologies / by admin / December 19, 2019

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Climbing and BlackBerry collapse, part 1

RIM continued to steadily capture the sweetest segments of the mobile market. Their products do not just fall into the category of Premium - BlackBerry in the hands of the directors of major corporations, from top and middle management. BlackBerry ecosystem and firmly settled solely in the business. Ordinary users also love their device and use them with joy. This is a success? Definitely! They hit the jackpot. Can such a successful turn the head of the entire company and what it will turn back to her?

Dzhillenuoter Ray, Managing Director from 2007 to 2012:

My first night in Jakarta, I sit at the Ritz-Carlton (world class network "luxury" hotel - approx. ed.) and am in talks with our distributor. We are talking about a contract for the amount that I had never discussed before. But me only 24 years. If my memory serves me, I spent 180 nights at the Ritz in my first year of operation.

Vincent Washington:

I was on a team called «Fast 100". Our task was to prepare the operators due to the launch of the device. We flew all over the world - from Germany to Brazil and from there to Chile. Three years have passed like a flash. There was a meeting in which I could not refuse. All you need to say, "Hey, I'm taking BlackBerry!».
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Sean Fenton, office department, from 2002 to 2012:

You get a lot of invitations to parties and events. I could not often believe that sitting here in business class and fly in Peru, Mexico, and all of these places.

Vincent Washington:

I was a football player in Michigan. Some of my friends played in the NFL and engaged in coaching activities. They always turned to me and asked, "Hey, can you send me a BlackBerry?». And I thought: "Why not come to our business in the NFL?». In short, it ended the meeting with Roger Goodell (NFL commissioner - approx. Ed.). Symposium was organized, and I met with all 32 teams. 31 of them went on BlackBerry. Waived only been Cowboys. They wanted us to pay them for what they use BlackBerry.

Lydia Ferako, senior marketing manager in Latin America from 2005 to 2011:

During the product launch in Jamaica and Trinidad, we have launched a unique campaign with a disco. Visitors are applied temporary henna drawings represent codes to data of the person. With BlackBerry camera people can scan the codes and find out information about each other. The party continued, and instead of the typical scenario for a night club, "Hey, leave your number card?" Vacationers began to talk to each other "Hey, leave your PIN?».

Ray Dzhillenuoter:

At that time we were one of the top brands in the world. I'm incredibly happy with what was involved in such a good product. My mother especially proud of me. She was pleased to see me as an important person in the Philippine Journal of Town & Country.

Brendan Kenalti, client base manager from 2007 to 2010:

We had a big flash RIM Rocks concert prepati and auto party. Van Halen, Tragically Hip. There was really fun. I was in a group of customer loyalty, and people asked: "Do you support BlackBerry? Why do it? ".

The growth of BlackBerry turned Waterloo has a population of 550 thousand people in Canada's Silicon Valley. Currently, there are about 1,000 companies, and according to Communitech total they generate about $ 30 billion in revenue per year.

Tyler Lessard, vice president of worldwide connections and relations with developers from 2001 to 2011:

During the first few years one of the main forces of RIM has the ability to attract talent from the University of Waterloo, deservedly recognized school of engineering and computer science. At the same time, to attract talent from other regions were problematic.

Sean Fenton:

I'm from Mississauga, Ontario. Waterloo is located just an hour's drive from here. This is the place where you are unlikely to go for no apparent reason. Prior to employment in RIM I worked at Nortel's, and, frankly, refused the opportunity to work in the RIM 3 times before I got there. Once there, I looked back and said, "Wait, another product which makes such, does not exist?". Everything happened very quickly. The company did not have a surplus of bureaucracy and rules. Departing from Nortel's, it is a structural unit, here I saw opportunities for themselves.

Jamie Pepper, technical support representative, an analyst from 2003 to 2012:

There were people who were carried away by the exchange and went mad from thinking about how much money they can make. I do not know, maybe it's something Canadian, but most of us do not really worried about money. We were happy to open up the possibility of us.

Paul Dimond, sales manager of lines from 2004 to 2011:

Jim Balsillie always think big. You could ask him a question, but he would not respond to it specifically, and then to ask you, "I answered your question?". I said, "Well, not really." His thoughts were somewhere out there in the clouds. Each of us had his own purpose, and it should have been aware of. There was a feeling that you are actually behaving your business.

As soon as the BlackBerry's popularity grew, the company struggled to meet demand for its products and rapidly changing tastes of consumers.

Jess Boudreau:

For 4 years, our staff has grown from 2 million to about 12 thousand employees. I worked in Nortel's, and I know that such a large organization. And I began to notice that this company becomes similar to Nortel. Bureaucracy, mindless processes. Decisions from the top down.

Gary Mousseau:

I was at a town meeting and asked about research and development. And they just said, "Oh, the study - they are for those who simply do not want to really work." These words were like a slap in the face, they can be perceived in the style of "We here are not necessary research, let's just release all with bugs, and then make it perfect. Let's add another menu that does this or that. " Menu is growing before our eyes.

Andrew Lisik, project coordinator from 2007 to 2010:

It has become so much management. Everyone was leading a team, a manager, director, senior manager, and there is another director. As a result of all staff to the engineers had no more than 5-10%. For tech company is very bad.

Vincent Washington:

Lazaridis came to these meetings, like a scene from Pulp Fiction where Vincent Vega opened the case, and from it came a golden glow. All of us could not wait to see the light. However, by 2007, with every arrival of the glow becomes dull.

Brendan Kenalti:

Every fad marketing research, we shouted: "Hey! Everyone wants a candy bar! ". But the next model is called the BlackBerry Pearl Flip, and comes out in a clamshell format. The guys from the sales department frankly indignant: "What the hell? We asked you to larger screens, touch screens and more of these candy bars! ". But they answered: "Yes, but we've got here is this really cool technology to the joint. See how it works! ". Probably, they have warehouses are still clogged with those things.

Andrew Lisik:

Quality definitely suffered. While I was working on the return lines, and we had a lot of devices for no apparent reason for the return. These devices had no problems with the operation and software - they simply ceased to please people.

June 2007. The first iPhone breaks into stores. Lazaridis and Belsilli not yet aware of the threat, publicly crucify device from Apple, criticizing him for a short time and an unacceptable level of safety.

Tyler Lessard:

You've seen these products, which were released to the market Palm and Microsoft. There was a lot of devices that were given the nickname "Killer BlackBerry». But the company was confident, and we said, "That will not happen!". The same thing we thought and after the iPhone release.

Chris Kay:

I remember how I came to a meeting with a client and their technical director has been in the hands of iPhone. Most of the leadership of the company have been iPhone. For me, it means it's time to sound the alarm. Many representatives of the RIM senior management believed that the BlackBerry is safe, it is reliably stores the data of the company and It enables organizations to fully control the business, and the iPhone was perceived as a music player and a toy for consumers.

Paul Dimond:

Advertisers and operators have asked us why we do not advertise themselves. I remember it asking me, and the answer came down to a simple "We do not need it." The success of the RIM is essentially meant to be closer to the operators. I'm not sure that we all do something to attract consumers.

Vincent Washington:

There is one more thing that we missed. The same Justin Bieber wanted to promote us. He said: "Give me $ 200 thousand, 20 devices, and I will be an ambassador of your brand." We looked at it from a marketing point of view: Canadian guy, grew up here, young people like it. But we just picked up and thrown out with the idea for the door, adding: "This guy - a fleeting whim, he will not last long." Then I said, this guy can survive RIM's, but only laughed.

May 2008. The company produces a BlackBerry Bold 9000.