RIM Not Dead Yet

RIM might be able to save itself by pivoting to a new business model. But first it has to decide what its business really is. Like many people (okay, a few — it was a holiday), I spent the weekend pondering the future of Canada’s Research in Motion, or RIM, maker of that once-ubiquitous Canadian icon, the BlackBerry smartphone. The embattled company had once again delivered some bad news to the market, and its stock fell once again to a range that was unthinkable two years ago.

RIM might be able to save itself by pivoting to a new business model. But first it has to decide what its business really is.

Like many people (okay, a few — it was a holiday), I spent the weekend pondering the future of Canada’s Research in Motion, or RIM, maker of that once-ubiquitous Canadian icon, the BlackBerry smartphone. The embattled company had once again delivered some bad news to the market, and its stock fell once again to a range that was unthinkable two years ago.

Was RIM going to die, many were asking? It already is dying, many more were saying.

RIM invented mobile commuting, although it was really an email server, with some extras. Six years ago, everybody I knew had a BlackBerry. You’d see them standing on corners all over downtown staring into their hand or furiously typing in some doorway. These people were connected, baby. They were somebody and the BlackBerry let everybody know that.

Now they all carry iPhones or Android clones. And so do all the hip people down in the creative sectors of downtown. And so does just about every 20-something in existence. And so, apparently, would many other people if given the chance.

Last week’s events may just make that more of a likelihood. The denial by new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins that the company was in a “death spiral.” I would think by now Mr. Heins would know better than to answer a reporter’s leading question by repeating the questioner’s killer, headline-seeking, phraseology — just had more people predicting RIM’s demise.

Heins says RIM is simply changing to a better platform. I tend to agree with him. But then I own a BlackBerry … and a PlayBook tablet … even though people laugh at me. They both have their problems, and sometimes I’m jealous of all the new devices released every day. But I’m not that fickle I try to avoid bright shiny object syndrome whenever possible. Besides, every device I’ve seen has some problems — the iPhone won’t even let you change the battery.

So, I’m taking the high road on this one. I think RIM’s doing an IBM (or even an Apple) — plunging into near oblivion before it finds a new business model and rises phoenix-like from the ashes of the ferociously competitive smartphone market. At least, I hope it is.

To me, RIM’s future lies in its core strength: great and secure business data platforms, which the world is increasingly going to need as data tsunamis threaten to engulf us all.

With its technology, RIM is perfectly placed to become the data traffic manager for the world, which might be far more useful and lucrative, albeit not as exciting and newsworthy, and it certainly won’t add to the hubris of having created the mobile phone market.

Let’s go way back to basic business instruction: What’s your Unique Selling Proposition? RIM had one — its phones were secure — but when flashy devices came around, nobody cared.

So, like all companies whose markets shift, maybe it’s time for a new one. If you’re seen as dull, why compete with flash. Be dull, but do it where it matters. And be really, really good at it.