This is just about the STUPIDIST thing I have heard (at least lately). Why reinvent the wheel? Whats wrong with spotify and or pandora, or others? Rim would be better served in helping make apps like that work as well as possible. (Its already quite easy to use iTunes to move songs to a BB). In addition, Rim should be concentrating their efforts on bringing QNX to their BB's. Not to mention, moving QUICKLY to replace that terrible fixed focus camera in the 9900 series with a proper autofocus camera like the ones on their other phones. I wonder how many people are going to buy a 9900 not knowing it has a 1996 camera on it, instead of the quality cam they have on their other phones.
RiM is on its last legs as a business phone in North America, but BlackBerry is a very popular phone with teenagers in the rest of the world and is growing fast (you get free messaging without requiring an expensive dataplan) so adding a music service makes a lot of sense.
In the Global market BB is replacing Nokia phones. BB will peak this year or next and then it will be a disasterous and precipitous fall. If you think BB isn't in trouble globally, you are looking in the rear view mirror while the car drives over a cliff.
By the way, my hats off to HP. They timed it just right. With Google screwing its Android partners and Microsoft scratching Nokia's back, HP recognized it may be able to get something out of its investment while other companies still have high hopes to compete.
I haven't figured out what HP wants to do yet, but my hunch is that they want to partner with Apple for something (maybe cloud services) and they were willing to give up a dying PC unit to do it.
Don't forget Sgt. Preston of the Mounties, and his dog King.
... Or Nelson Eddy and Janette McDonald
Edit: I went to a Gordon Lightfoot concert in San Jose -- he sang Sundown... Over and over and over...
Last concert I ever attended...
King?... You mean my great imaginary dream dog, Yukon King??!... Ah - all those late afternoons back home from grade school, with my ear pressed to the speaker of our tabletop Philco radio on the kitchen counter ... "On, King! On you huskies!"
This is just about the STUPIDIST thing I have heard (at least lately). Why reinvent the wheel? Whats wrong with spotify and or pandora, or others? Rim would be better served in helping make apps like that work as well as possible. (Its already quite easy to use iTunes to move songs to a BB). In addition, Rim should be concentrating their efforts on bringing QNX to their BB's. Not to mention, moving QUICKLY to replace that terrible fixed focus camera in the 9900 series with a proper autofocus camera like the ones on their other phones. I wonder how many people are going to buy a 9900 not knowing it has a 1996 camera on it, instead of the quality cam they have on their other phones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton
Huh. You'd think RIM would be using its last few months on Earth maximizing its potential to become a favorable takeover target or at least take care of its core competencies. But instead, you get this act of...irrelevance? desperation?
Good luck with the new music service.
RIM is well and truly screwed. They have no idea what they are doing. They're next up on the chopping block. It's only a matter of time. If they were operating as a US company they'd be sold off and cut into little pieces by now.
"Running around like headless chooks*" is the best description for the mobile and tech industry right now.
In the Global market BB is replacing Nokia phones. BB will peak this year or next and then it will be a disasterous and precipitous fall. If you think BB isn't in trouble globally, you are looking in the rear view mirror while the car drives over a cliff.
By the way, my hats off to HP. They timed it just right. With Google screwing its Android partners and Microsoft scratching Nokia's back, HP recognized it may be able to get something out of its investment while other companies still have high hopes to compete.
I haven't figured out what HP wants to do yet, but my hunch is that they want to partner with Apple for something (maybe cloud services) and they were willing to give up a dying PC unit to do it.
I think that is prescient... Likely, we'll see a lot of iPad apps to access the HP/autonomy services.
You are probably right -- a major industry shakout is underway... Has been for a couple of years..
Kinda' sad tho...
I think what is sad is the obsession with growth for tech companies and sometimes, all companies in general. I have the old skool idea of you know, you have your blue chip stocks, then growth-oriented companies, industry-specific companies, startups, and so on.
Everything is so jumbled up now that it seems like every company has to keep growing at a massive pace to be considered "successful"... This cause a lot of unproductive turmoil, such as half-baked products and (co)CEOs that have no idea what it is they are doing.
At the same time you have things like Facebook being valued at 50 billion, banks laughing, well, all the way to the bank with bailouts, etc.
Dick, with your years of experience I'm sure for you it must seem like all hell is breaking loose in the US and global economy.
I'm "only" 32 so growing up I learnt the model of separation of the blue-chips, growth, industry niche players, small business, etc. And where R&D meant years, not months. But this is all nowadays highly complicated by government stimulus, lawsuits, shareholder expectations, mergers & acquisitions, racing products to market and in developing countries (including China!) loads of corruption.
I think what is sad is the obsession with growth for tech companies and sometimes, all companies in general. I have the old skool idea of you know, you have your blue chip stocks, then growth-oriented companies, industry-specific companies, startups, and so on.
Everything is so jumbled up now that it seems like every company has to keep growing at a massive pace to be considered "successful"... This cause a lot of unproductive turmoil, such as half-baked products and (co)CEOs that have no idea what it is they are doing.
At the same time you have things like Facebook being valued at 50 billion, banks laughing, well, all the way to the bank with bailouts, etc.
Dick, with your years of experience I'm sure for you it must seem like all hell is breaking loose in the US and global economy.
I'm "only" 32 so growing up I learnt the model of separation of the blue-chips, growth, industry niche players, small business, etc. And where R&D meant years, not months. But this is all nowadays highly complicated by government stimulus, lawsuits, shareholder expectations, mergers & acquisitions, racing products to market and in developing countries (including China!) loads of corruption.
Another great post.
Btw, off-topic: If anyone thinks that FB will be priced at only(!) $50B if/when they go public, they have another think coming. Insane, I know.
RIM, your phones are great... If the year was 2006!
It was your phones that made you what you are and you've done squat to stay competitive in that space. Don't even try to make 15 different models. Start with ONE. Make ONE really good phone that people will actually want.
AFTER you shore up your phone business, THEN try some other stuff like a music store, a tablet, an Apple TV killer... What ever blows your hair back. A music store, tablet or media hub will do nothing if you don't at least have ONE phone that people crave.
This company has been driven into the ground and has no direction or focus. Everyone realizes that RIM is pretty much finished. Everybody but RIM's Co-CEOs that is
I think what is sad is the obsession with growth for tech companies and sometimes, all companies in general. I have the old skool idea of you know, you have your blue chip stocks, then growth-oriented companies, industry-specific companies, startups, and so on.
Everything is so jumbled up now that it seems like every company has to keep growing at a massive pace to be considered "successful"... This cause a lot of unproductive turmoil, such as half-baked products and (co)CEOs that have no idea what it is they are doing.
At the same time you have things like Facebook being valued at 50 billion, banks laughing, well, all the way to the bank with bailouts, etc.
Dick, with your years of experience I'm sure for you it must seem like all hell is breaking loose in the US and global economy.
I'm "only" 32 so growing up I learnt the model of separation of the blue-chips, growth, industry niche players, small business, etc. And where R&D meant years, not months. But this is all nowadays highly complicated by government stimulus, lawsuits, shareholder expectations, mergers & acquisitions, racing products to market and in developing countries (including China!) loads of corruption.
I don't really know if the concept of "blue-chip" investments is valid anymore. In this day of instant news, financial manipulations, instant-gratification, instability... plus all the things you mentioned.
The most recent equity I purchased was DNKN - Dunkin Doughnuts -- We like their coffee, price seemed reasonable...
But, there seem to be cycles in investments too -- or as someone posted, a pendulum.
With government regulating and meddling -- it stifles everything!
We, at least American society, may be at a "let them eat cake" moment -- where our traditional leaders are out of touch, and have no idea what is going on. Even if they realized -- they wouldn't know what to do about it.
Or, maybe, there never were any "blue-chips" -- just a youthful faith that dissipates with experience.
At your age, your opportunity to change the world, or, at least "do it your way" lies ahead.
The only advice I can offer is: be wary and be true to your values.
streaming music by RIM? if that is true, it would be dumber than HP buying Palm. why don't they forget tablets and streaming music and just make one great phone. that would be a great start.
In the Global market BB is replacing Nokia phones. BB will peak this year or next and then it will be a disasterous and precipitous fall. If you think BB isn't in trouble globally, you are looking in the rear view mirror while the car drives over a cliff.
Apple and Android still have the problem of requiring very expensive data plans. The price of an even the latest iPhone pales into insignificance compared with the cost of a dataplan. BlackBerry Messenger does not require a data plan so is very popular with kids.
I do think RiM is in serious trouble, but they have also managed to find this new market in which to grow and this can help fund the changes the need to make to recover. There are two sides to RiM, the North American business smartphone side which is dying fast and the Rest of the World consumer messaging phone side which is growing fast. This makes it much harder to predict if RiM will ultimately fail or be able to turn it around.
Comments
This is cruel, but a valid question...
What products and services will RIMM need to discontinue or spin-off in order to survive?
Edit: the question should have been people, products and services
They'll just add another CEO.
RiM is on its last legs as a business phone in North America, but BlackBerry is a very popular phone with teenagers in the rest of the world and is growing fast (you get free messaging without requiring an expensive dataplan) so adding a music service makes a lot of sense.
In the Global market BB is replacing Nokia phones. BB will peak this year or next and then it will be a disasterous and precipitous fall. If you think BB isn't in trouble globally, you are looking in the rear view mirror while the car drives over a cliff.
By the way, my hats off to HP. They timed it just right. With Google screwing its Android partners and Microsoft scratching Nokia's back, HP recognized it may be able to get something out of its investment while other companies still have high hopes to compete.
I haven't figured out what HP wants to do yet, but my hunch is that they want to partner with Apple for something (maybe cloud services) and they were willing to give up a dying PC unit to do it.
Don't forget Sgt. Preston of the Mounties, and his dog King.
... Or Nelson Eddy and Janette McDonald
Edit: I went to a Gordon Lightfoot concert in San Jose -- he sang Sundown... Over and over and over...
Last concert I ever attended...
King?... You mean my great imaginary dream dog, Yukon King??!... Ah - all those late afternoons back home from grade school, with my ear pressed to the speaker of our tabletop Philco radio on the kitchen counter ... "On, King! On you huskies!"
This is just about the STUPIDIST thing I have heard (at least lately). Why reinvent the wheel? Whats wrong with spotify and or pandora, or others? Rim would be better served in helping make apps like that work as well as possible. (Its already quite easy to use iTunes to move songs to a BB). In addition, Rim should be concentrating their efforts on bringing QNX to their BB's. Not to mention, moving QUICKLY to replace that terrible fixed focus camera in the 9900 series with a proper autofocus camera like the ones on their other phones. I wonder how many people are going to buy a 9900 not knowing it has a 1996 camera on it, instead of the quality cam they have on their other phones.
Huh. You'd think RIM would be using its last few months on Earth maximizing its potential to become a favorable takeover target or at least take care of its core competencies. But instead, you get this act of...irrelevance? desperation?
Good luck with the new music service.
RIM is well and truly screwed. They have no idea what they are doing. They're next up on the chopping block. It's only a matter of time. If they were operating as a US company they'd be sold off and cut into little pieces by now.
"Running around like headless chooks*" is the best description for the mobile and tech industry right now.
*Australian for chicken
In the Global market BB is replacing Nokia phones. BB will peak this year or next and then it will be a disasterous and precipitous fall. If you think BB isn't in trouble globally, you are looking in the rear view mirror while the car drives over a cliff.
By the way, my hats off to HP. They timed it just right. With Google screwing its Android partners and Microsoft scratching Nokia's back, HP recognized it may be able to get something out of its investment while other companies still have high hopes to compete.
I haven't figured out what HP wants to do yet, but my hunch is that they want to partner with Apple for something (maybe cloud services) and they were willing to give up a dying PC unit to do it.
I think that is prescient... Likely, we'll see a lot of iPad apps to access the HP/autonomy services.
They'll just add another CEO.
This is cruel, but a valid question...
What products and services will RIMM need to discontinue or spin-off in order to survive?
Edit: the question should have been people, products and services
Everything? The ice cream is melting fast. Better give everyone a bite for a quarter before it's all on the floor.
Everything? The ice cream is melting fast. Better give everyone a bite for a quarter before it's all on the floor.
You are probably right -- a major industry shakout is underway... Has been for a couple of years..
Kinda' sad tho...
Don't forget Sgt. Preston of the Mounties, and his dog King.
... Or Nelson Eddy and Janette McDonald
Or Nickelback and Alanis Morissette. Oh wait, the Canadians already apologied for Nickelback!
Or Nickelback and Alanis Morissette. Oh wait, the Canadians already apologied for Nickelback!
Bieber. I demand a personal apology from every single Canadian for him.
You are probably right -- a major industry shakout is underway... Has been for a couple of years..
Kinda' sad tho...
I think what is sad is the obsession with growth for tech companies and sometimes, all companies in general. I have the old skool idea of you know, you have your blue chip stocks, then growth-oriented companies, industry-specific companies, startups, and so on.
Everything is so jumbled up now that it seems like every company has to keep growing at a massive pace to be considered "successful"... This cause a lot of unproductive turmoil, such as half-baked products and (co)CEOs that have no idea what it is they are doing.
At the same time you have things like Facebook being valued at 50 billion, banks laughing, well, all the way to the bank with bailouts, etc.
Dick, with your years of experience I'm sure for you it must seem like all hell is breaking loose in the US and global economy.
I'm "only" 32 so growing up I learnt the model of separation of the blue-chips, growth, industry niche players, small business, etc. And where R&D meant years, not months. But this is all nowadays highly complicated by government stimulus, lawsuits, shareholder expectations, mergers & acquisitions, racing products to market and in developing countries (including China!) loads of corruption.
my prediction - massive fail. Bankers don't listen to music.
+1...
I think what is sad is the obsession with growth for tech companies and sometimes, all companies in general. I have the old skool idea of you know, you have your blue chip stocks, then growth-oriented companies, industry-specific companies, startups, and so on.
Everything is so jumbled up now that it seems like every company has to keep growing at a massive pace to be considered "successful"... This cause a lot of unproductive turmoil, such as half-baked products and (co)CEOs that have no idea what it is they are doing.
At the same time you have things like Facebook being valued at 50 billion, banks laughing, well, all the way to the bank with bailouts, etc.
Dick, with your years of experience I'm sure for you it must seem like all hell is breaking loose in the US and global economy.
I'm "only" 32 so growing up I learnt the model of separation of the blue-chips, growth, industry niche players, small business, etc. And where R&D meant years, not months. But this is all nowadays highly complicated by government stimulus, lawsuits, shareholder expectations, mergers & acquisitions, racing products to market and in developing countries (including China!) loads of corruption.
Another great post.
Btw, off-topic: If anyone thinks that FB will be priced at only(!) $50B if/when they go public, they have another think coming. Insane, I know.
Another great post.
Btw, off-topic: If anyone thinks that FB will be priced at only(!) $50B if/when they go public, they have another think coming. Insane, I know.
Cheers
RIM, your phones are great... If the year was 2006!
It was your phones that made you what you are and you've done squat to stay competitive in that space. Don't even try to make 15 different models. Start with ONE. Make ONE really good phone that people will actually want.
AFTER you shore up your phone business, THEN try some other stuff like a music store, a tablet, an Apple TV killer... What ever blows your hair back. A music store, tablet or media hub will do nothing if you don't at least have ONE phone that people crave.
This company has been driven into the ground and has no direction or focus. Everyone realizes that RIM is pretty much finished. Everybody but RIM's Co-CEOs that is
I think what is sad is the obsession with growth for tech companies and sometimes, all companies in general. I have the old skool idea of you know, you have your blue chip stocks, then growth-oriented companies, industry-specific companies, startups, and so on.
Everything is so jumbled up now that it seems like every company has to keep growing at a massive pace to be considered "successful"... This cause a lot of unproductive turmoil, such as half-baked products and (co)CEOs that have no idea what it is they are doing.
At the same time you have things like Facebook being valued at 50 billion, banks laughing, well, all the way to the bank with bailouts, etc.
Dick, with your years of experience I'm sure for you it must seem like all hell is breaking loose in the US and global economy.
I'm "only" 32 so growing up I learnt the model of separation of the blue-chips, growth, industry niche players, small business, etc. And where R&D meant years, not months. But this is all nowadays highly complicated by government stimulus, lawsuits, shareholder expectations, mergers & acquisitions, racing products to market and in developing countries (including China!) loads of corruption.
I don't really know if the concept of "blue-chip" investments is valid anymore. In this day of instant news, financial manipulations, instant-gratification, instability... plus all the things you mentioned.
The most recent equity I purchased was DNKN - Dunkin Doughnuts -- We like their coffee, price seemed reasonable...
But, there seem to be cycles in investments too -- or as someone posted, a pendulum.
With government regulating and meddling -- it stifles everything!
We, at least American society, may be at a "let them eat cake" moment -- where our traditional leaders are out of touch, and have no idea what is going on. Even if they realized -- they wouldn't know what to do about it.
Or, maybe, there never were any "blue-chips" -- just a youthful faith that dissipates with experience.
At your age, your opportunity to change the world, or, at least "do it your way" lies ahead.
The only advice I can offer is: be wary and be true to your values.
In the Global market BB is replacing Nokia phones. BB will peak this year or next and then it will be a disasterous and precipitous fall. If you think BB isn't in trouble globally, you are looking in the rear view mirror while the car drives over a cliff.
Apple and Android still have the problem of requiring very expensive data plans. The price of an even the latest iPhone pales into insignificance compared with the cost of a dataplan. BlackBerry Messenger does not require a data plan so is very popular with kids.
I do think RiM is in serious trouble, but they have also managed to find this new market in which to grow and this can help fund the changes the need to make to recover. There are two sides to RiM, the North American business smartphone side which is dying fast and the Rest of the World consumer messaging phone side which is growing fast. This makes it much harder to predict if RiM will ultimately fail or be able to turn it around.