Research in Motion-Essay
RESEARCH IN MOTION
Why was BlackBerry so successful in North America during the 2000s?
First to introduce push email
One phone with a lot of features
Very secure
Dint have much competition
US govt and big multinationals accepted quickly
Meant for the corporate world
Slowly shifted focus from the corporates to consumers also.
What difficulty did RIM face as it became bigger?
Competition increased
Apple iphone changed the meaning of smartphones
Scarcity of physical space
Reducing market shares
Scarcity of engineers
What options for foreign entry mode RIM had? Which option has RIM pursued?
What are the pros and cons of entering into emerging markets?
How would you evaluate RIM’s strategy for emerging markets?
(e.g. control issues, relationships with the host government, timing of entry, competition with foreign/local firms, etc.)
Product/ Market focus
• Award winning handhelds
• North America, EMEA
• Aggressive move to “prosumer”
Core activities
• R&D, engineering
• Local innovation (Waterloo, Canada)
• Patents and IP
Goals
• Expand customer base
• Expand global reach of BlackBerry platform
• Extend technology leadership
Introduction and reason for popularity in the 2000s.
RIM was a world leader in mobile communications market. It was founded in 1984 by a 23yr old University of Waterloo student Mike Lazaridis. RIM designed, manufactured and marketed the very popular line of Blackberry products that had reached 14million subscribers worldwide
in 2008 and had just over $6 billion in revenue. In early 2008, RIM was one of Canada’s largest companies with a market capitalization of $69.4 billion.
The Blackberry wireless platform and line of handhelds could integrate email, phone, IM, SMS, internet, music, camera, video and a variety of services in one wireless solution that was dubbed “ always on, always connected”.
Originally built for busy professionals, BB had made a considerable headway in the consumer
Why was BlackBerry so successful in North America during the 2000s?
First to introduce push email
One phone with a lot of features
Very secure
Dint have much competition
US govt and big multinationals accepted quickly
Meant for the corporate world
Slowly shifted focus from the corporates to consumers also.
What difficulty did RIM face as it became bigger?
Competition increased
Apple iphone changed the meaning of smartphones
Scarcity of physical space
Reducing market shares
Scarcity of engineers
What options for foreign entry mode RIM had? Which option has RIM pursued?
What are the pros and cons of entering into emerging markets?
How would you evaluate RIM’s strategy for emerging markets?
(e.g. control issues, relationships with the host government, timing of entry, competition with foreign/local firms, etc.)
Product/ Market focus
• Award winning handhelds
• North America, EMEA
• Aggressive move to “prosumer”
Core activities
• R&D, engineering
• Local innovation (Waterloo, Canada)
• Patents and IP
Goals
• Expand customer base
• Expand global reach of BlackBerry platform
• Extend technology leadership
Introduction and reason for popularity in the 2000s.
RIM was a world leader in mobile communications market. It was founded in 1984 by a 23yr old University of Waterloo student Mike Lazaridis. RIM designed, manufactured and marketed the very popular line of Blackberry products that had reached 14million subscribers worldwide
in 2008 and had just over $6 billion in revenue. In early 2008, RIM was one of Canada’s largest companies with a market capitalization of $69.4 billion.
The Blackberry wireless platform and line of handhelds could integrate email, phone, IM, SMS, internet, music, camera, video and a variety of services in one wireless solution that was dubbed “ always on, always connected”.
Originally built for busy professionals, BB had made a considerable headway in the consumer