With recent announcements of half a billion dollars in losses, cutting more jobs, and the delay of the BlackBerry 10 platform, RIM faces even more troubling times than before. Their market cap went down $2 billion in just 24 hours, 19% to be exact, but is RIM really failing?
In 1997, Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy, they were down, but not completely out. A generous investment from Microsoft saw them grow to become the largest consumer electronics company in the world. Can RIM do the same?
The iMac saved Apple, more innovative products contributed afterwards, but it was the iMac, one simple product that changed their position and their future. Sadly, it’s not that easy anymore for a product to change the world. It would have to be something completely different and completely new.
Having seen some of the prototypes inside RIM, I can definitely say that they are onto something, but will it be enough, and will it be in time? Recently RIM announced that the rollout of the new BlackBerry 10 OS would be delayed by as much as six months. The reason; unexpected delays. The truth; the first London devices wouldn’t sell well with the release of the next iPhone and Windows Phone 8 devices.
RIM has a plan however, one device to save the company. A device very similar to what has been seen and rumored in the past, just much, much better. RIM has over $2 billion in cash and liquid assets and are restructuring to cut costs, just to invest it all in the London and Nevada; their future.
Looking at the past can help save the future, and although Apple and RIM are very different, they are very similar too.
