Research In Motion's developer and partner
conference gets underway April 30. Here's what RIM needs to show everyone to
silence the BlackBerry naysayers and doomspellers.
RIM's
annual BlackBerry World kicks off in Orlando Monday afternoon, and the company
is in a dramatically different position than it was a
year ago. In early May 2011, RIM had just launched the PlayBook, which met
with mixed reviews, and had yet to reveal its lineup of BlackBerry 7 devices.
Its position in the smartphone market was weakening, but hadn't yet bottomed
out. There was hope going into the year-ago conference that RIM could prove to
investors, the media, and customers/partners that good stuff was on the way.
Only, RIM dashed those hopes.
RIM's
former co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie took the stage and danced the
same dance and sang the same songs they'd been singing for years. It was
Microsoft's Steve Ballmer who stole the show when he made a cameo during the
keynote and (believe it or not) pitched
Windows Phone. The BlackBerry 7 handsets announced at BlackBerry World 2011
were once again rehashed former designs with slightly warmed-over
software--much to the dismay of attendees.
Now,
the story is different.
Lazaridis
and Balsillie are out, and Thorsten Heins has taken their place. With a new CEO
at the helm, the company has promised change. At BlackBerry World 2012, RIM needs to
show everyone that change is fully underway. Here's how it can do that:
1.
BlackBerry 10
RIM's
future success hinges on its forthcoming BlackBerry 10 platform. BlackBerry 10
is an amalgamation of BlackBerry 7 and PlayBook OS 2.0. RIM says this future
operating system will offer the enterprise savvy of BlackBerry 7 with the
intuitive and delightful user interface of the PlayBook. The platform and
handsets aren't supposed to launch until later in the year, but RIM absolutely
must show off a near-complete build of the BB10 software during BlackBerry
World. According to RIM, it will.
The
company plans to distribute prototype BlackBerry handsets with a preview of
BB10 on board to developer attendees at the event. This developer device (which
RIM has insisted is not what BB10 smartphones will look like) should give us a
decent idea of what we can expect from RIM's software engineers and BlackBerry
10 later this year.
RIM
needs to wow us with its new software.
2.
Better BlackBerry Smartphones
I don't
expect to see new smartphones from RIM at BlackBerry World next week, but RIM
can still provide attendees with an idea of what its designers are doing. One
of the main weaknesses with RIM's products is that they can't compete with
Apple's iPhone and Google's Android platforms when it comes to touch screens
and media consumption.
RIM has
said it will address this with future handsets, but it needs to show us a
roadmap. I also don't expect to see draft designs, but RIM has to commit to
several key features, including: 4G LTE; vastly improved cameras and video
cameras; seamless media syncing; compatibility with living room gear (TVs,
etc.); and much better (and bigger!) displays.
3.
Enterprise Focus
RIM CEO
Thorsten Heins promised the company would refocus
efforts on the enterprise, but he didn't provide specifics. At BlackBerry
World, RIM has to give us at least some detail. For example, what is its
strategy for winning back enterprise customers? Will it be based on new
services, new hardware, products that won't be available to consumers? How does
it plan to tackle the BYOD phenomenon? It needs more than Mobile
Fusion to turn its enterprise efforts around. Again, I don't expect to
see solidified products, but a roadmap would be helpful.
4.
Less PlayBook, More BlackBerry
RIM's
PlayBook tablet has not been a smashing success. In fact, the company had to
drop the price by as much as 60% to convince people to buy the darned thing.
Important though PlayBook OS 2.0 may be to RIM's future, the company needs to
demonstrate that it is once again taking its smartphone business seriously. RIM
can't continue to waste efforts developing for the PlayBook tablet while its
business lunch walks out the door.
5. Urgency
Customers
continue to flee from RIM's BlackBerrys. Instead, they opt for iPhones or
Androids. RIM needs to stop the bleeding before it has nothing left to bleed.
It needs to show investors, the media, and attendees that it is working as fast
as possible to make things right. Though it is in a fairly strong cash
position, the company can't rely on its savings account indefinitely.
BlackBerry
World is RIM's best (and possibly last) chance to prove that it can still be a
contender in the smartphone space.
Eric
Zeman
Business & Investment Opportunities
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