Skip to main content

Blackberry: A dud by any other name


They might as well have called it The Strawberry or The Peach.
Did the eggheads at Research in Motion really believe that if they changed the name of the company and installed a new charismatic CEO (Yes, I am making a joke), they would somehow erase the public's memory of the last five years of ineptitude?
What a bunch of maroons.
I was quietly chortling to myself last night, watching the news, as the cameras panned over the buildings once proudly named RIM. All that is left of that legacy is the shadowy letters above "Blackberry" remnants that the workers couldn't scrape off.
It's no wonder that RIM, er, Blackberry, stocks sank like a cellphone drunkenly and accidentally tossed in a swimming pool.
Blackberry had its RIM shot.
The boneheads who ran things, in a typically Canadian fashion, chose to believe their own press clippings. They had one good idea and a lot of government backing and figured: why innovate? Instead the former CEO became preoccupied with building a monstrous home on Lake Ontario and, for tax purposes, called it a think tank.
Meanwhile, Apple had its brainiacs working 23 hours a day on innovation and application because it understood that consumer satisfaction was Job One.
Now RIM, er Blackberry, is trying to make a comeback at the bottom on the ninth with the other team up nine runs.
Unfortunately, there is no crying in baseball, and there is no doddling in high technology.
Snooze you lose.
And boy did RIM lose.
I worked long enough in marketing to know that if you can't keep your promises, if you stall, obfuscate, lie, cheat, and then bring to market a dud product too late, then you're toast.
I still remember the Betamax versus VHS fiasco.
I was an early adapter back then and all my techie friends swore by Betamax.
So I bought one, against the advice of all my normally cautious consumer friends.
Sony had a better product by far -- no one disputes that. It had brand recognition but it was too expensive. In the end, it didn't have game.
As a result, like thousands of others, was stuck with a half dozen Betamax movies and thousands of hours of taped television.
Ever since that episode, I bought products that I knew would be sticking around for a while.
I never buy first generation, I always wait for the roll out.
And so I never did have a Blackberry.
I bought an iPhone 3 two  years after Apple launched it.
Last week, I bought an Android.
I could have waited for the Blackberry, but I didn't.
I don't believe in the product.
Blackberry had its chance and blew it.
It's a dud by any other name.










 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ashley Simpson: Don't Let Her Die in Vain

  Six years ago, I was combing through my Facebook and I saw post from my cousin Julie Major. Her brother and his wife were frantically looking for their daughter Ashley who just days before had Facetimed her mom saying she was planning to return to her home in Niagara. Ashley never made it home. She was murdered in cold blood in her home in Salmon Arm then buried in a nearby field. It would be five and a half years before her body was located, and her boyfriend was charged with second degree murder.  Today, Ashley's urn has a sacred spot in her parents' home, and Derek Favell is in jail awaiting trial by judge and jury. The trial is expected to go into next year sometime. This has been an agonizing journey for Ashley's friends and family. The pain has never stopped, and the wounds are broken open every time the family has to sit through a series of pre-trial proceedings. Fortunately, this ordeal will end but the pain will never wane for the people, including me, who have b...

Ashley Simpson: A Father Remembers

I have asked Ashley Simpson's family and friends to give us a glimpse into the life she lived before going missing nearly a month ago. Here is how her father John remembers his sweet girl. Ashley was a treat when she came into this world, a smashing 9lbs 8 ounces with a  head full of hair and nails that needed to be clipped. She has made many friends in her journey of life and continues to make them as we speak. She has made this world a better place by her love of mankind and this place we call Earth; unfortunately this life she has lived hasn't been the best for her. She has suffered through unbearable pain and suffering through her menstrual cycles. She has cysts on her ovaries that make those 10 days a living hell. She had one of her ovaries removed when she was just 14; the other they won't take out till she is 40 or older. Years of hell for my Ashley. I so feel her pain every month but she doesn't quit, doesn't give in.   That'...

What Bell isn't telling you about Fibe TV

Update: This week, we switched back to Rogers after spending far too long using Bell's crappy television service. For those with Bell, read and weep. For those considering Bell, think twice even if you hate Rogers. RS I've always been an early technology adapter. I had a Betamax. That tells you everything (if you're over 50 at least). My first computer was a "Portable". It weighed 40 pounds and I had to lug it around town on a gurney. I've been through probably 15 computers in my lifetime. Apple is the best. It's also too expensive so I have a piece of shit HP, the one I'm writing this blog on. I've had cable, internet and now Netflix. American Netflix . That's how far ahead of the curve I am. I get all the newspapers for free. How? I disabled my cookies so they can't track me when I'm on the newspaper sites. Even the New York Times hasn't cottoned on to that trick. Hahaha. That will be a fifty buck consulting fee. Bein...