Blackberry Swot
BlackBerry - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
By Larry Hatch
When Research In Motion Ltd. brought the BlackBerry to the market, much of the way business used to be done is now anything but the same old, same old. Also, with its acceptance into business came its acceptance into the general population, but with that came the growth of many competitors looking to take some of the market share from the company. The objective of this paper is to do a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis for this product, based on openly available information, to see where the product stands today, and where it may look to move tomorrow.
Prior to 2002 the BlackBerry was simply a two-way pager with a thumb keyboard attached to it. With the introduction of the 5000 and 6000 series BlackBerry, the abilities began to expand with the introduction of Java and the ability to transmit email. With the 7000 series came the integration of a full color screen, making web browsing a more enhanced experience. Followed by the introduction of the 7100 series, this is where the company began to market to the general consumer rather than just the business professional. Then, with the 8000 series, the market for the general consumer was cemented with the addition of features such as Wi-Fi capabilities, built in cameras, and memory expansion options. With today 's 9000 series phones RIM has expanded the Blackberries capabilities with the addition of full HTML support for web pages, the ability to receive RSS feeds, and many enhanced online social networking capabilities (Vercillo, n.d.). With this history of innovation behind it, a SWOT analysis of this product may help us to see what the future holds in store.
Due to the innovative history of the BlackBerry up to this point, it 's strengths have helped to keep it in the American consumers consciousness, with 37% of the US market for smartphones as compared to its next closest competitor Windows Mobile at 26%
By Larry Hatch
When Research In Motion Ltd. brought the BlackBerry to the market, much of the way business used to be done is now anything but the same old, same old. Also, with its acceptance into business came its acceptance into the general population, but with that came the growth of many competitors looking to take some of the market share from the company. The objective of this paper is to do a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis for this product, based on openly available information, to see where the product stands today, and where it may look to move tomorrow.
Prior to 2002 the BlackBerry was simply a two-way pager with a thumb keyboard attached to it. With the introduction of the 5000 and 6000 series BlackBerry, the abilities began to expand with the introduction of Java and the ability to transmit email. With the 7000 series came the integration of a full color screen, making web browsing a more enhanced experience. Followed by the introduction of the 7100 series, this is where the company began to market to the general consumer rather than just the business professional. Then, with the 8000 series, the market for the general consumer was cemented with the addition of features such as Wi-Fi capabilities, built in cameras, and memory expansion options. With today 's 9000 series phones RIM has expanded the Blackberries capabilities with the addition of full HTML support for web pages, the ability to receive RSS feeds, and many enhanced online social networking capabilities (Vercillo, n.d.). With this history of innovation behind it, a SWOT analysis of this product may help us to see what the future holds in store.
Due to the innovative history of the BlackBerry up to this point, it 's strengths have helped to keep it in the American consumers consciousness, with 37% of the US market for smartphones as compared to its next closest competitor Windows Mobile at 26%
References: Blackberry outage exposes weakness for RIM. (2007). Retrieved July 23, 2009, from: http://www.blackberryblast.com/articles/2007/4/2007419-Blackberry-outage-exposes-weakness.html Chan, J. (2009). 5 BlackBerry alternatives. Retrieved July 23, 2009, from the CNET Asia website: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39050603,62043605,00.htm Gardner, W.D. (2008). $5.5 Million BlackBerry Fund Invests In Future Mobile Harvest. Retrieved July 23, 2009, from The Information Week website: http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/blackberry/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211800070 Hansberry, E. (2009). Blackberry Leads Enterprise Market Share Numbers. Retrieved July 23, 2009, from The Information Week website: http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/05/blackberry_lead.html;jsessionid=OMCM3LMSQCI3IQSNDLRSKH0CJUNN2JVN Morisy, M. (2008). As iPhone passes BlackBerry market share, RIM prepares to counterpunch. Retrieved July 23, 2009, from: http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid40_gci1338352,00.html Vecillo, K. (n.d.). History of Major Blackberry Models from RIM. Retrieved July 23, 2009, from: http://hubpages.com/hub/History-of-Major-Blackberry-Models-from-RIM