How BlackBerry Blew It 278
schnell writes "The Globe and Mail is running a fascinating in-depth report on how BlackBerry went from the world leader in smartphones to a company on the brink of collapse. It paints a picture of a company with deep engineering talent but hamstrung by arrogance, indecision, slowness to embrace change, and a lack of internal accountability. From the story: '"The problem wasn't that we stopped listening to customers," said one former RIM insider. "We believed we knew better what customers needed long term than they did."'"
Uhmm...BlewBerry? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Uhmm...BlewBerry? (Score:0, Funny)
Why not $200 blowberries or Zoidberg?
Re:Uhmm...BlewBerry? (Score:4, Funny)
So shouldn't they change brand to BlewBerry instead?
Too bad they weren't bought out by Microsoft. With Ballmer's lack of vision exceeded only by their own it could have been Ballmerberry.
comes pre-loaded with chair throwing app!
Re:Uhmm...BlewBerry? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:As Henry Ford said... (Score:5, Funny)
> I remember thinking -- how are you ever going to
> type a message without keys? Well...
Wait, wait, I know this one.
"Slowly, and with difficulty," amirite?
Re:"We believed we knew better what customers need (Score:4, Funny)
> Yeah, except Steve Jobs thought this too, and look where Apple is.
Difference is, Jobs was right. At least, enough of the time.
Re:As Henry Ford said... (Score:5, Funny)
I've had great link with Swype.
Sometimes you get the wiring wood but it works out in the end if your friends know you'd on your pigging.
Re:Uhmm...BlewBerry? (Score:4, Funny)
Late last year, Research In Motion Ltd. chief executive officer Thorsten Heins sat down with the board of directors at the companyâ(TM)s Waterloo, Ont., headquarters to review plans for the launch of a new phone designed to turn around the companyâ(TM)s fortunes.
So I guess this meeting became their.. Uhm... Waterloo [wikipedia.org] :-)
Grinds my gears (Score:3, Funny)
It paints a picture of a company with deep engineering talent but hamstrung by arrogance, indecision, slowness to embrace change, and a lack of internal accountability.
This honestly sounds like most companies that I have worked for. The one that really grinds my gears is the lack of internal accountability. I hate it when a mistake happens and fingers start pointing in every direction. Then the person it gets pinned on is the one poor sap that didn't CYA even though it was clearly not their fault. Or, if someone actually steps up to admit a mistake, corporate america views them as weak and unworthy of the company. I have never understood how people in business want to get lied to, they just don't want to know they are getting lied to.
3g is the FUTURE! Ah. There's yer problem (Score:4, Funny)
The article describes some effort put forth to encourage the cell companies to stick with 3G, that 4G was a lark. See, that right there shows that RIM had NO IDEA what their customers were doing, who were, by that point, already betting billions on Wimax or LTE.
You can't in any sort of right mind expect to go to a Verizon or ATT about to spend BILLIONS on a buildout and tell them your commodity phone -which doesn't need that super expensive network- is all they need. This is like telling somebody buying a fancy car that a little putt-putt motor is all they need. No. Stupid.
If that kind of thinking represents RIM's general mindset, then they wrote their own epitaph years ago and only now are they finally realizing it. Or maybe they're in denial. I don't hear anybody saying "Wow, we screwed up!" only that the MARKET wasn't smart enough to choose the right phone. WTF.
Look, Apple has long TOLD people what they wanted to buy and gotten away with it because Apple, love them or hate them, comes up with some innovative reasons to back up this idea that Apple knows best and we should all just be quiet and buy it. There's a reason for the Apple arrogance.
At no point in RIM's history have they ever stood at that level where they could tell anyone what they should buy. They've never had that kind of appeal. Close, maybe. But it was years ago. Not now. Not even close. The problem is they lived in a feedback loop where they told themselves how important they were until they forgot to actually talk to anyone who wasn't working there.
FWIW, I work for a Canadian company which has grown by buying up other companies much like RIM bought and flopped QNX. The very same problems have hit us, hard. Three or four platforms running in different directions, new hires needed all over and none to be had, piss-poor accounts that barely contribute but demand lots of attention for dead-end products, and we've bled talent like crazy only to replace them with college students and possibly illegals. These folks can't DO what's needed. They aren't fixing the backlogs. They just answer the phone when irate customers call up.
I fear we're going to implode much like RIM has. The similarities are really spooky.
Re:Uhmm...BlewBerry? (Score:1, Funny)
How they blew it? I thought they gave RIM jobs.