RIM implodes: announces layoffs, 500,000 PlayBooks shipped

[*LTD*]

Maybe we're all sick and tired of your bashing companies.

Do you feel hurt on their behalf?

I don't make the news. They do.



----------

Hubris Avoidance Rule #1: never bash someone having a bad day network-wise, because karma is a you-know-what.

It's a good bet that Apple's iCloud will also suffer a terrible glitch now and again.

That's just the nature of the network beast and Murphy's Law.

Under normal circumstances, this is totally forgivable. But in light of the events of the past year, RIM can't afford even so much as a barely perceptible blip on the radar anymore.

Apple can easily afford a glitch now and then. They've earned a pass here and there. Others don't have that luxury.

Lots of lame horses in the industry who have been mysteriously unable to evolve their business over the last few years. It's most amusing, because the answers to their troubles are so obvious, and it's so comical how they are unwilling/blind to implement them due to outmoded thinking, or bloated bureaucracy, or outright denial, fear, or sometimes a combination of all of the above.

 

[mrsir2009]

I wish they were able to keep up, because - at least in my opinion - they stand a better chance than a lot of other companies at staying competitive with Apple.

I've always liked that they have stuck to their distinct look, and not started mimicking the look everyone's going for nowadays. You can be a non-tech person, see a Blackberry, and know it's a Blackberry w/o having to see the logo. There are few tech companies out there right now that have done that, Apple being another one that has. They also have solid backend integration that has years of proven stability, which is also unusual.

I hope they can turn this slump around.

Yeah, the blackberry has the iconic wide screen with the physical QWERTY keyboard underneath. Correct me if I'm wrong, but blackberries have been around for longer than any other smartphone line

 

[maflynn]

It's a good bet that Apple's iCloud will also suffer a terrible glitch now and again.

Indeed, and given apple's track record it may not be if but when. I mean by that when apple rolled out MobileMe they had an awful time with emails and stability.

Still what LTD posted is valid insofar as that RIM is hemorrhaging users and their inability to provide a stable platform will only exacerbate the problem further.

 

[kdarling]

Apple can easily afford a glitch now and then. They've earned a pass here and there. Others don't have that luxury.

Then why didn't those Danger Sidekick servers get a pass from you? It was only once, and they didn't even ultimately lose any data.

What about those multiple times that Apple's and ATT's registration servers took days to process new phones? You'd think they'd have learned after the first time. Those weren't unavoidable glitches, but just cheap, poor planning.

Under normal circumstances, this is totally forgivable. But in light of the events of the past year, RIM can't afford even so much as a barely perceptible blip on the radar anymore.

Oh I agree that it doesn't help them one bit. Heck, their signing servers go down too much these days as well, which leaves developers around the world like me unable to test / deploy new versions at critical times.

I'm just saying, beating on them will come back to haunt you

Blackberry's rep is getting thin in spots, yes. However, it's still the only unhacked phone out there, its security is top notch, and it has true push which enables long battery life between charges. So governments and top businesses will continue to give it passes for now.

Also, as time goes on, more and more people and companies have had to deal with network problems of their own, so they tend to be sympathetic towards RIM. Sometimes you can do everything right and still get nailed.

 

[KingCrimson]

Given that RIM has never screwed anyone over, why are they getting such hate from Apple fanatics? Can anyone explain me this? I swear it's like the big bad bully taking pleasure from beating up the 90lb weakling. It's sickening.

 

[*LTD*]

Given that RIM has never screwed anyone over, why are they getting such hate from Apple fanatics? Can anyone explain me this? I swear it's like the big bad bully taking pleasure from beating up the 90lb weakling. It's sickening.

Why are you anthropomorphizing corporations? RIM isn't poor little Johnny in the schoolyard who had his lunch money stolen.

Commentary about RIM's visionless fumbles are in the news elsewhere. It's interesting to watch them slowly self-destruct.

Third straight day of Blackberry outage, by the way. Right on the heels of the iPhone 4S rollout.

 

[kdarling]

What RIM needs to start doing is to put out more status reports.

They've always played things the same way that Apple does when there's a problem, which is to stay as quiet as possible and hope nobody notices

The most important lesson in business is that as long as you keep people in the loop, and let them honestly know about delays, then they're okay with waiting. They'll grumble, but at least they can plan around it.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Why are you anthropomorphizing corporations? RIM isn't poor little Johnny in the schoolyard who had his lunch money stolen.

Commentary about RIM's visionless fumbles are in the news elsewhere. It's interesting to watch them slowly self-destruct.

Third straight day of Blackberry outage, by the way. Right on the heels of the iPhone 4S rollout.

Yeah it is bad rim has this happen to them but lets face some basic facts. Apple record is not much better hell in many ways it is worse because of the multiple failures it has had of simpilar system that uses it.
Hell I expect Apple to get system to have multiple and several ugly failures but of course you will give them a pass on that. Hell Apple I could see just deleting the backlog to clear it instead of what RIM is doing which is eatting a longer down time in delivering and clearing the data.

RIM announced that it was the fail safes that did not work correctly and now they are dealing with the back log of data built up so things were not loss just the back log go huge that is caused other areas to go down but all data is backed up.

 

[jav6454]

Indeed, and given apple's track record it may not be if but when. I mean by that when apple rolled out MobileMe they had an awful time with emails and stability.

Still what LTD posted is valid insofar as that RIM is hemorrhaging users and their inability to provide a stable platform will only exacerbate the problem further.

But that does not mean or imply that they are about to die or in a dire situation. All it means is that they have to get their $***** together before it does become dire.

RIM is still on time.

 

[KingCrimson]

Enterprise users still love RIM because of the email & those physical keyboards. Believe me, older people love their Blackberry and HATE using virtual keyboard.

 

[mrsir2009]

Enterprise users still love RIM because of the email & those physical keyboards. Believe me, older people love their Blackberry and HATE using virtual keyboard.

The Blackberry is a business man's (or woman's) best friend

 

[notjustjay]

Given that RIM has never screwed anyone over, why are they getting such hate from Apple fanatics? Can anyone explain me this? I swear it's like the big bad bully taking pleasure from beating up the 90lb weakling. It's sickening.

I find it especially disturbing because I work in a city where RIM and QNX have a significant presence, and as such a lot of my friends work there.

I work in an industry that is currently seeing a downturn and my own company has laid off hundreds of employees in the past year. Luckily, RIM had been on a hiring spree as they were working hard to get first the PlayBook to market, then the next logical step would be to get a series of QNX-powered BlackBerries out, much like Apple's iPhone and iPad share the same core OS.

Many of my friends who were let go from my company were able to get good jobs over at RIM/QNX. I myself was weeks away from being laid off before I found another position, and had I not been so lucky, I know I would have turned to RIM/QNX first.

These people are working hard, well paid and enjoying what they do. It's unfortunate that the media has recently characterized RIM as being clueless and incompetent. They're working on it as fast as they can...

As a result you have fanboys essentially saying "I hope they close up shop! I hope they all get laid off!" which makes me upset. You guys see a faceless company. I see friends working hard to support their families, pay the mortgages and put food on the table.

 

[KingCrimson]

I find it especially disturbing because I work in a city where RIM and QNX have a significant presence, and as such a lot of my friends work there.

I work in an industry that is currently seeing a downturn and my own company has laid off hundreds of employees in the past year. Luckily, RIM had been on a hiring spree as they were working hard to get first the PlayBook to market, then the next logical step would be to get a series of QNX-powered BlackBerries out, much like Apple's iPhone and iPad share the same core OS.

Many of my friends who were let go from my company were able to get good jobs over at RIM/QNX. I myself was weeks away from being laid off before I found another position, and had I not been so lucky, I know I would have turned to RIM/QNX first.

These people are working hard, well paid and enjoying what they do. It's unfortunate that the media has recently characterized RIM as being clueless and incompetent. They're working on it as fast as they can...

As a result you have fanboys essentially saying "I hope they close up shop! I hope they all get laid off!" which makes me upset. You guys see a faceless company. I see friends working hard to support their families, pay the mortgages and put food on the table.

What is this latest fetish in the media to label a company as "clueless" and "incompetent"? I swear there is no more objective reporting to be found anywhere except perhaps in local news about the dogcatcher. It's sickening. Certain sites like Endgadget/TechChrunch are totally in the bag for Apple.

 

[MacHamster68]

Didn't RIM have some Server meltdowns and the blackberry users cant send or receive emails or use the blackberry messenger ...in Europe Africa and the Middle East.

There was talk about Samsung is planning to buy RIM /QNX eventually ...
But there was also talk about HP's PSG because of webOS and Nokia among the potential aquisitions of Samsung..
I guess they could take over Rim fairly cheap now

 

[roadbloc]

Didn't RIM have some Server meltdowns and the blackberry users cant send or receive emails or use the blackberry messenger ...in Europe Africa and the Middle East.

Yes. It was on the news here yesterday. Aparently due to a core switch failure.

 

[MacHamster68]

What is this latest fetish in the media to label a company as "clueless" and "incompetent"? I swear there is no more objective reporting to be found anywhere except perhaps in local news about the dogcatcher. It's sickening. Certain sites like Endgadget/TechChrunch are totally in the bag for Apple.

ey i agree with you

it is not that easy to have a company and competing with the top players on the market , and a lot of sites reviews are biased towards Apple , if Apple has some problem on a devise its some small glitch , but if a other company has only a small gitch then its a desaster and a total fail

what a lot of people forget Apple was in the past in the same boat and nearly bankrupt by the mid 90's , ok most users of Apple products are not old enough to remember .
Generally speaking if a company starts to go down , the only ones to blame sit in the management

 

[decafjava]

Given that RIM has never screwed anyone over, why are they getting such hate from Apple fanatics? Can anyone explain me this? I swear it's like the big bad bully taking pleasure from beating up the 90lb weakling. It's sickening.

Well no hate from me, I an Apple (and ahem MS - for Win 7 and Office, and google) fan but no fanatic and I take no pleasure from this. I am not anthromorphising the company but as notjustjay posted am aware a lot of talented hardworking people work at RIM. Blackberrys were the first smartphone I knew about and at least a couple of friends as well a few colleagues with Blackberries and they are very solid and secure phones for communication. I always rather liked the form as well. Now I still prefer my iphone and having a touchscreen (still wish Apple had soemthing like swype but anyway) but then I don't write tons of long messages. I do hope they get their act together, competition is always good.

 

[*LTD*]

what a lot of people forget Apple was in the past in the same boat and nearly bankrupt by the mid 90's , ok most users of Apple products are not old enough to remember .
Generally speaking if a company starts to go down , the only ones to blame sit in the management

Does RIM have a Steve Jobs-type visionary to save them? Is there one out there that can actually get through Ballsilie and Lazaridis' monumental hubris and denial to convince them that massive, company-wide and product-wide change is needed, and needed NOW, before the result is a lame buyout?

The problem is that the wrong people are running RIM. They ware fantastic at evolving a particular business, but then . . . CHANGE happened. The leaner, meaner competition of the industry responded by reinventing their business. RIM has not, and given what we've heard from the CEOs they have no plans to do so anytime soon. There's a point of no return, when you have garnered enough bad press, bad faith, bad experiences, that even if you come up with a great product it will no longer matter (often because all you've done is caught up to whatever's already out there, but done it way too late.) It will get lost in the crushing effect of whatever the front-runners have already been doing to satisfy consumers.

RIM is operating in the most cutthroat, merciless consumer market in tech. This isn't even the same sort of market we saw in the late 90s when Steve Jobs returned. Apple had an easy time of it by comparison.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Give me an A
Give me a P
Give me a P
Give me an L
Give me an E

What's that spell? Apple! Apple! Rah rah rah!!

 

[*LTD*]

The sad saga continues

The last thing RIM needed was the iPhone 4S.

Not surprising, though.

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http://www.neowin.net/news/gazelle-sees-80-percent-increase-in-blackberry-trades

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20125295-248/gazelle-blackberry-trade-ins-at-all-time-high/

Gazelle sees 80 percent increase in BlackBerry trades

There's new evidence that owners of Blackberry phones are abandoning them for new products. News.com reports that Gazelle, which allows people to trade in their smartphones and gadgets for money, has seen a massive 80 percent increase in Blackberry phones being turned in to the service just in the past week.

While the company did indeed see a spike in Blackberry trades earlier in the month after users were unable to use the phone's online features for a few days, it looks like this bigger jump can be attributed to one thing; the launch of Apple's iPhone 4S. Gazelle's Chief Gadget Officer Anthony Scarsella said this activity is, "easily the highest volume of BlackBerry trades ever seen period."

This is not a good situation for Blackberry's owners Research in Motion which is already dealing with huge market share losses in the smartphone market thanks to previous sales of the iPhone and of Android-based devices. That, in combination with low sales of its Playbook tablet, is causing large drops in revenues.

RIM recently announced plans to launch a new operating system, BBX, that will be used in new smartphone products later this year. But it may be too little, too late for the company at this point. The rise of Android and the iPhone, along with Blackberry's recent online issues, may make the company the next Palm; a once popular smartphone organization that didn't move quickly enough to deal with changes in the market.

 

[RawBert]

Ouch! A half billion dollar hit - in one quarter - on just PlayBook? Damn.

Engadget
RIM Takes a $485 Million Hit on the PlayBook in Q3

Just how much is the PlayBook costing RIM? The BlackBerry-maker revealed that it will be taking a $485 million hit in the third fiscal quarter, thanks to the QNX-packing tablet. The charge reflects flagging sales on the PlayBook, which moved some 500,000 units in its first quarter, followed by 250,000 and 150,000 in the following two. In spite of such numbers, the Canadian smartphone manufacturer remains committed to the tablet, which has seen some healthy price drops in recent weeks, in hopes of staying competitive amongst new crop of budget tablets.

 

[Yumunum]

*sigh* I would've loved to see RIM release good phones. Good phones with their awesome keyboards. Instead they released bad phones with awesome keyboards.

Oh, and the Playbook. Stupid Playbook

 

[gkarris]

*sigh* I would've loved to see RIM release good phones. Good phones with their awesome keyboards. Instead they released bad phones with awesome keyboards.

Oh, and the Playbook. Stupid Playbook

RIM Keyboards are way, way, too small. Slide out keyboards on the Android Smartphones are tons better....

 

[srl7741]

Toronto Star Article:

Two drunken Research In Motion employees forced an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Beijing to make an unscheduled stop in Vancouver, disrupting travel plans of more than 300 people.

They were trying to get outa town after the numbers became public.

 

[Liquorpuki]

I knew the Playbook was dead when I saw the first commercial for it, which didn't tell you anything other than it could run Flash

The one feature RIM could've leveraged with the Playbook was its ability to integrate with RIM phones. RIM blew it by not developing this feature more, putting out phones nobody cared about, and letting their enterprise marketshare tank. They could've created a tablet that catered to enterprise and integrated into enterprise workflows that already relied on the Blackberry. Instead they named it the Playbook and rushed it to market.

They're going out like Palm.