The ascent and collapse of BlackBerry

Climbing and BlackBerry collapse, part 1

Climbing and BlackBerry collapse, part 2

Can there be a future for the company, even if the guide is no longer believes in its success?

Kevin Michaluk, founder of the news site CrackBerry.com:

iPhone 3G and Bold 9000 came at the same time, and then, in his article, I just ripped to shreds Bold. He was completely unusable browser. BlackBerry is actually released flawed products.

Ray Dzhillenuoter:

If the BlackBerry and is serious about going to the consumers, they would be needed fundamental changes in the way their products are conceived, they were created as developed as they are advertised and how sold. Yes, some of this has been done, but not sufficiently. They always give less than full. There was a time when everything was still possible to fix it, but when it became clear that the management did not pay attention to these issues, people like me left the company.

Kunal Gupta, CEO of Polar, the development of applications for the corporate sector for various platforms, including BlackBerry:

When in 2008 they launched a model of BlackBerry Storm, though all fell. We got an early prototype, and he slowed down. He could cause a crash or hang. With any previous BlackBerry you feel like a winner product, but not with this.

Jess Boudreau:

Mike Lazaridis cared only about the hardware. I do not think he was aware of the situation from the user. Start the calendar and try to execute it in some kind of manipulation in order to check whether the application will not fall? And if he did so with the cards? Not. With photo? Not. The company grew, and he was constantly distracted by other issues.

Since the second half of the 2000s Balsillie, Co-Executive Director, begins to increasingly distance itself from the daily affairs in the company. He opens a school of international relations and makes 3 attempts to buy the team in the NHL.

Thomas Homer-Dixon, a political science professor at the School of International Relations Balsillie:

I sailed with Jim (Balsillie) on an icebreaker in the Arctic in the summer of 2010 as part of week-long seminar on the problems in this part of the world. It was then that the most significant changes have occurred. Saudi Arabia, India and other countries said that RIM international cooperation was needed. At the end of each week on the ship could express their thoughts, and Balsillie spoke: "You know, I'm the son of an electrician from Peterborough. People who had the opportunity to participate in creating a $ 60 billion company like to refer to the past and talk about the wise decisions that they then received. I'll tell you a story about luck - an extraordinary success in the key moments of the past. " He spoke about the 6 points that RIM could fall. Good luck and acumen brought them to the right path. Then someone asked, "What do you think will happen now?". And he replied: "Well, it's hard to say. This is a fast growing market. Our share in this market may be reduced, but who knows? ". His words felt realism and fatalism. Jim realized that now he is a participant in a rare historical phenomenon. He could continue to move the case, but had to pull back to see how fate would have it all. He has already started to engage in the new "big things" in your life. It's a little discouraging for me. But I also thought, "This guy stands firmly on his feet. He was a member of the really interesting phenomenon in history, and now he's ready to move on. " He was fully aware of the seriousness of what is happening, and in his mind there was no doubt.

Jim Estill:

I left the board in 2010 Council. Council has grown to such a size that has become too "corporate". I'm a businessman. I have a start-up guy.

In April 2010, Apple introduces iPad, one of the most successful consumer products among existing ever. After a year out BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. His slogan was: "Children's time is over."

Alcala Nasser, the founder and managing partner of the company-developer applications Bnotions:

In the summer of 2004, I worked as a senior in computer studies and business at the University of Windsor. Then all received free hot lunches, sandwiches. It seemed that there were employment opportunities are limitless. As a result, I established my own company Bnotions. One of the first applications, we created in 2009, it was for the BlackBerry platform commissioned by Ernst & Young. In fact, we did not refuse from the BlackBerry until the end of 2010. But when I came PlayBook without email... it was the last nail in the coffin for RIM. We turned the application support for BlackBerry - people just stopped using it.

In January 2012, the market share and the price of shares of BlackBerry simply collapses. The company announced that Balsillie and Lazaridis are leaving their posts. CEO Thorsten Heins become, in the past led Siemens. He joined RIM in 2007 as director of production and sales.

Sam Hines also declined to be interviewed for the creation of the story.

Andrew McLeod:

It was obvious that Mike and Jim's care will be a big event. All that existed at the time, came from those two guys. They were an integral part of, literally sitting in our DNA. They were inseparable. However, coming to the place of human leader like SARS is part of our culture and who had worked in the firm, was perceived quite gently.

Ray Dzhillenuoter:

I am very concerned that the new CEO was appointed someone from the company. Even more I was worried that the error continues, the delay in the supply of products with bugs, poor marketing.

year 2013. Research In Motion is now called the name of its most successful product - BlackBerry. The role of the Creative Director takes on Alicia Case.

The light appears on the control of smartphones BlackBerry 10 operating system. According to Haynes updated product surpasses anything you might have seen before.

Kevin Michaluk:

BlackBerry 10 has become too different. They killed the trackpad. They killed the "Back" button. All motor memory, users have developed over the years with devices that went down the drain.

Andrew McLeod:

Now we are under attack, but it's part of the business cycle. I am encouraged by what we have in stock have a ton of assets - technology assets. We have a culture at the root of which there are innovations. And we in the industry, which is moving forward very quickly. If we were in the insurance or the rail industry, I would not be so optimistic, because the innovation cycles it took hundreds of years. We are in a space where everything is measured in months, maximum - for years. In the technical industry you can make certain steps and catch the wave of a new innovation cycle. It can quickly change the balance of power in the game.

In August 2013 PREM Vatsa, the head of Fairfax Financial Holdings, reported that the BlackBerry can be sold. September 23 Fairfax makes a public offering of BlackBerry purchase price of $ 9 per share. After that, the company will take a private status. BlackBerry itself bears a loss of $ 965 million per quarter and reports the dismissal of 4500 employees.

The company continues to lose money. Cash and short-term investments decreased by almost $ 500 million, amounting to a total of $ 2.3 billion.

In November expires Fairfax proposal for BlackBerry buyout for $ 4.7 billion. Hines is removed from the post of the head, and his place is taken by the former head of Sybase John Chen.

Dec. 2 amid speculation about the final output of the BlackBerry business, Chen is an open letter to the company's customers:

The sign "For Sale" charged to our company. We're here to stay. Reports of our death are greatly exaggerated.

Jeff Gedvey, currently Senior Marketing Manager for BlackBerry:

When you communicate with focus groups, talking with customers about brands in the field of high technology, you are faced with brands that generally do not come back. With BlackBerry's different. People have positive feelings for BlackBerry. If they do not manifest proximity to the brand, it is our belief in what we do, I would be greatly shaken. However, people still want to see the success of BlackBerry.

(via)