Project on Blackberry

Product Management

Abstract
Just five years ago, BlackBerry was virtually synonymous with smartphones. It was well on its
way to becoming a generic trademark, like Xerox or Band-Aid, which would seemingly forever be
associated with its entire sector. For many, the Blackberry was a must-have gadget, a wireless handheld computer that can send e-mail and make phone calls!
Five years down the lane, Blackberry is feared to join the ranks of Sony Walkman or Polaroid Instant
Camera.
According to research firm IDC, BlackBerry has a 4.8% share of the global smartphone market,
compared to 11.5% in 2011. Android and Apple together now account for 85% of the market.

RIM (Research-in-motion), maker of Blackberry, whose shares listed on NASDAQ have

fallen over 80% over the past two years, is now looking for a fresh lease of life with the
launch of new handsets running on its new operating system BB10.

1. Product Innovation & Product Features

Research In Motion (RIM) is a technology company and leader in wireless and smartphone
innovation. It revolutionised the Mobile market with the introduction of Blackberry product line and
solutions targeted towards modern day enterprises.
In 1992, Research In Motion (RIM) introduced a two-way pager as their first product. Since then,
RIM has released numerous devices, none more popular than their Blackberry product line. The
Blackberry line boasted all-in-one capabilities. Partnered with voice and data transmissions, it became
the mobile device that could do it all. However, existing mobile device companies are still in direct
competition and RIM will need to continue developing their technology to win dominance in the
Smartphone market.
The traditional buyer profile of a Blackberry is business individuals of medium to big enterprises. Its
relatively fast communication abilities appealed greatly to those in business situations where e-mails
dominated. This is not true of current day Blackberry. They are trying to reposition themselves as a
product that everybody should have. Its recent global expansion suggests that the Blackberry is
making itself a commonplace to a different segmentation as well as existing customers. It is available
in 135 different countries, over 350 mobile carriers. There is now a Blackberry product available for
different price points.
Blackberry has built a strong platform for future product innovation. They have a trusted name. The
need of the hour is to introduce cutting edge technology and products to compete with todays
iPhones and S3s and regain the losing market share.

Product Family
The BlackBerry family includes
1.
2.
3.
4.

Smartphones
BlackBerry Playbook (professional-grade tablet)
Business Package Services
Software offerings (apps)

Blackberry Smartphones
Blackberry Smartphones start from Rs. 10,000 approx. for the basic model BB Curve and goes up to
Rs. 1.3 lakhs for the ultra-premium BB Porsche.
All the blackberry models support Wi-Fi technology, 3G network and has GPS enabled. All models
have in-built camera and QWERTY keyboard (or virtual keyboard) for typing.
Blackberry Playbook Tablet
Blackberry Playbook for Business is positioned as the tablet for business use comprising of software
to support most of the business requirements for emails, reporting, messaging, analysis and
presentation. App world offers many business apps for Playbook such as SAP Dashboards, Adobe
Connect, Citrix Receiver etc.
Business Suits and Software
Blackberry Mobile Fusion -> for businesses of any size or specialty looking for a single interface to
manage BlackBerry smartphones and tablets, and devices that use the iOS and Android operating
systems
BlackBerry Enterprise Server -> for large businesses requiring high level of IT control. It supports all
major email exchange servers such as Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus etc.
Blackberry business solutions are used by many corporations across world and enterprises consist of
its major smartphone customers. Only recently RIM tried to target young audience with its basic
smartphone models, but rivals Samsung and Nokia has much better offering and variety in this range
for this target.
Software Offerings - Apps
o
o
o
o

BlackBerry App World (3rd party apps)

BlackBerry Travel
BlackBerry Protect
BlackBerry Maps

RIMs decline due to lack of Product Innovation

For marketers, RIM is an example of a company that rose thanks to great product, and is now
imploding thanks to the absence thereof. RIMs problem is not one of bad ads, or a weak brand. The
problem is lack of new devices and assisting features (such as apps) that consumers would prefer over
competitors.
-

Lack of incremental innovation e.g. no device compared to the iPhone/Samsung S3

Lack of execution capability e.g. restrictive and featureless apps

RIM is betting high on the feature rich, soon-to-be launched Blackberry 10 smartphones. But the
trouble for RIM, of course, is that the iPhone 5 is in stores since Sept. 21 while the much delayed
BlackBerry 10 still doesn't have an official arrival date. RIM promised it for early 2013.

By then, Apple is unlikely to be the only competitor to spoil some of RIM's BlackBerry 10 surprises.
Windows Phone 8, which may upstage some of the new BlackBerry's software features, is out
already. And the world of phones using Google's Android operating system marches relentlessly on.
The decline of the once-prominent company continues. Research firm IDC reported this week that
phones using the BlackBerry operating system, which once defined and dominated the smartphone
category, accounted for only 4.8% of shipments during the second quarter of this year, down from
11.5% during the same period a year earlier.

Product Innovations
Research In Motion (RIM) makers of Blackberry, will be introducing Blackberry 10 smartphones in
January 2013, which is after more than a year gap of new products from BB. In an apparent bid to put
a strong device in front of its competitors and improve its market share in the developing countries,
Research In Motion (RIM), is actively concentrating on rolling out products that would endear it to its
customers.
It introduced another new product feature that would capture the numerous lovers of Blackberry
Messenger (BBM) in developing countries. It is BBM Voice. This exciting new feature is made
available on BBM version 7 and it will allow customers make free voice calls to their BBM customers
around the world over a Wi-Fi connection.
The pressure has never been greater for RIM to show it can still make a product that can stand up to
the blockbuster success of the iPhone 5 or the Galaxy S3. With HTC and Nokia's strong Windows
Phone 8 showings and many consumers wondering which phone to buy, RIM will need to muster all
the mojo it can to keep future smartphones and tablets on consumers' minds.

2. Branding Strategy
We first analyse the present status of Brand Blackberry to see if the branding has been effective and
sustainableBrand valuation using Young and Rubicam Model-

Differentiation - The Blackberry products were previously differentiated as it was the first to
come up with smart phones. It was the leader in the smart phone technology with its
application being directed towards the need of the corporates. However it was not able to
maintain its dominance as the smart phone consumer changed from just the corporates to just
anyone. The other players like Apple and Samsung responded to the needs of this broader
customer base. Suddenly the market was flooded with cooler and innovative smart phones.
Thus Blackberry lost its differentiation which had benefited in early years.
Relevance - With other mobile phone companies coming with smart phones having better
look and feel and also offering the features offered by Blackberry, suddenly Blackberry
started to lose its relevance. Even the corporates went for the cooler looking I phones.
Esteem - Esteem refers to the perceived quality and consumer perception. Blackberry has no
problem as such with its quality but with the increasing sales of the other smart phones its
market share started reducing. Suddenly the popularity bubble of Blackberry had burst. Even
the media was filled with news on the recent failure of Blackberry which further amplified the
negative branding of Blackberry. Thus the consumer perception of Blackberry got further
hampered.
Knowledge - Knowledge refers to the brand awareness and the understanding of its brand
identity. This has been one front on which Blackberry has an advantage. Blackberry has sold
more than 16 million of its phones and has a large base of brand loyal fans. However to make
sure that these loyal customers do not switch to other brands, it is highly recommended that
Blackberry responds to the changing needs of the customer and undertakes a rebranding
strategy.

Thus we can conclude that Blackberry should undertake a rebranding strategy to keep up with
the increased competition and the changing needs of the consumer.
Other factors supporting the need for rebranding of Blackberry

Changing consumer profile of smart phone customer- earlier only the corporates found use of
smart phones but now the teenagers and young adults have become the largest consumer
segment for the smart phones. Thus Blackberry need to alter and reposition its product to
meet the needs of this consumer segment.
Drop in sales due to the increased competition in the smart phone segment, Apple and
Samsung being the major competitors.
Decrease
in
the
Brand
Equity

According
to
a
recent
study
(http://www.marketingmag.ca/news/marketer-news/blackberry-takes-a-hit-in-brand-valuestudy-36138) the brand equity has been falling and its ranking has fallen from the 5th to 10th
among the top brands in Canada. Even its Global ranking has reduced as Blackberry has been
losing its brand equity.

Positionin
g

Congruenc
y

Branding
of
Blackberr
y

Personalit
y

Promise

Brand Positioning

Factors in Positioning

Customer need

Competitors
Positioning

Core
competency

Possible
positioning
for Smart
Phones
Superior
Gaming
and Fun

User
Friendly

Superior
Features

Superior
Design(Look
& feel)

Cloud based superior internet

options

Also the positioning of major competitors is

Apple Innovative Product (Superior Design, User Friendly)

Samsung Superior Features, Value for money

Based on the above data, we suggest the following positing for Blackberry Superior for Internet
Usage (Cloud friendly)

Brand Promise
Earlier Brand Promise- Ground breaking wireless technology
Suggested Brand Promise- As we see the earlier brand promise of Blackberry is focused on the need
of businesses. However Blackberry needs to realize that the major target segment in not the
businesses but the Youth populations therefore we suggest the following brand promise- Ground
breaking features to maximize user experience

Brand Personality
Earlier

Professional
Sophisticated
Competent
Responsible

Innovative
Cool
Competent

Suggested-

(So as to connect with the different target customers which is composed of Young adults,
professionals, teens)

Brand Congruency
Blackberry needs to ensure that it uses the different channels of communication effectively, these
channels include TV advertisements, Print Ads, BTL, Website and Social Media. However it must
assure that the communication through these various medium are in congruence with the branding
strategy.

Target Market
The Blackberry is a phone targeted towards a particular segment of the market. This target market is
defined by the following demographics:
Age: Anyone above 18. Business executives today are not necessarily above 30 or 40 as it used to be
the case a couple of decades ago. Today the Blackberry is a very useful device for managers and
business executives to keep in touch on the go and manage their business affairs. Nowadays, these
business executives are generally young. However, the older adults may also be targeted for this
device.
Sex: Executives are nowadays not limited to any particular gender. The modern business world has an
equal number of male and female executives who would require a Blackberry. Hence, the marketing
strategy should be geared towards appealing to both genders.
Profession: It is targeted towards business users and executives to give them a freehand in managing
their business affairs.
Income Level: Generally, the income level that would be targeted for the Blackberry would be above
the Rs 10, 00,000 mark per year. This is due in part by the fact that executives and business workers
earning hefty salaries would be more likely to invest in such business supportive tools and gadgets
than other lower paid managers.
Educational Level: people who want to manage their affairs up to the minute, or connect with other
executives would need the primary users of a Blackberry. Thus, generally this segment of the
population would be highly, if not fairly, educated. We would expect this segment of people to be
college graduates and would definitely expect a large proportion of them to be holder of a Masters
degree
The demographics of the current Blackberry target market is composed of mid to upper class buyers
aged 30-55 in the professional, executive and industrial segments. The mainstream consumer market
is a target for acquiring new customers where RIM will penetrate this segment by incorporating
changes in consumer expectations. RIM can offer smartphone products with additional multimedia
components to suit consumers interactive lifestyle.
To continue long-term growth, RIM can target the next generational cohort, Tweens, who are adept
to technology, social media and have considerable influence on their parents consumer behavior

Customer Profile
Young Professionals: People in age group 20-30 who are tech savvy, social media enthusiast and
either studying in college or just entered into software or sales and marketing job. Students in college
required blackberry to check mails sent by faculties and administrative department in continuous
basis. People in sales job require blackberry services when they are in field interacting with customers
to share instant information with the boss. For software professionals it is required because they can
check any urgent client mail even if they are travelling or they are on leave.
Middle Age Professionals : People in age group 30-55 who are mid-level executives or senior
executives in the company. They require blackberry services to manage their day to day business
affairs. They are always in need of getting instant information so that they dont lose out on any new
client or customer. They need to be up to date with what is happening in the market to deal with
competition effectively.
People in this age group who are entrepreneurs or having their in house business also use blackberry
services to manage their business affairs and connect with customers.

3. Blackberry Promotional Strategy

RIM was the pioneer among the Smartphone segment until Apple and Android ate away its market.
Though RIM had weathered the storm initially but since 2008 it seems to be disappearing from the
cell phone arena. RIM has tried a number of times to revive blackberry but has failed to do so. Let us
take a look at how Blackberry signed its own death certificate via its promotional strategies.
The first Blackberry to hit the stores was RIM 850 in 1999. It was targeted towards the working
professionals by tapping on the growing Email market. Blackberry was on every professionals musthaves list. People were so addicted to their blackberrys that various spoofs like the blackberry
helmet were being made. It was also mentioned in the television serial The Seinfeld.

The biggest mistake made by RIM was dismissing I Phone as just another market entry. At that time
blackberry was busy promoting BB Pearl in which touch screen was absent.
To compete with I-Phone, Blackberry Storm and BB Bold were introduced in a big way via their TV
advertisements. Though they promised success as predicted by initial sales numbers but it failed to
keep the customers captivated.

In 2010, both Apple and Blackberry collaborated with the well known band U2 to endorse their
products, but based on customer recall, almost everyone remembers the U2 I-Pod ad, but only a few
are aware of the U2 BlackBerry ad.
Barack Obamas official declaration of being a blackberry addict took the brand to newer heights as it
got associated with a trusted personality. Blackberry returned the favor by designing a custom made
blackberry for the president.

Love what you do

Aim of the advertisement was to broaden the brands appeal beyond the email obsessed professionals.
It featured Blackberry users enjoying outside work and positioned it as a consumer product rather than
just a business tool. Will I Am endorsed this campaign; every Blackberry phone had this default
video for a very long time. 80% of its new subscribers came from non-business users. Sales increased
37% from the same period last year, but its gross margin slipped from 51% to 44%.

The Blackberry Boys

In 2010, Blackberry Boys were introduced in India to convey that Smartphone is no longer the
device just for the corporate world and that their services were now available in mainstream. This
advertisement was meant to attract the social networking addicted youth. Vodafone increased its share
of BlackBerry users by 96%, nearly double its 50% target and within the first four months of the
campaign it signed up nearly 154,000 additional subscribers (of which 35,000 were pre-paid). Its postpaid customer base grew 74% from 160,000 pre-campaign to 279,000 post-campaign. Also the latest
addition of Blackberry messenger was a huge hit amongst the youngsters.

Recently in March12, Blackberry is trying to recreate the same effect by bringing back The
Blackberry Boys, this focusing on their prepaid services. But they failed to recreate the magic.

Action starts Here

In August12 blackberry launched a new 360 campaign around the concept Action starts here. The
campaign showcases BlackBerry as an enabler of action and its strengths as a brand that supports
individuals to get things done. It sends out the message that BlackBerry is for those who want more
than just a smartphone. It is for people of action who put more into life to get more out of it. From
print advertisements to retail elements, digital campaign, social engagement and a unique TV
commercial, the message they aimed to send across was that BlackBerry is a brand for the person of
action.

On facebook, Action Campaign was designed where it asked fans if there was something that they
would like to change about their world, then what would it be. An app was developed, where fans had
to take a pledge and share it with their friends and thus get a chance to win a blackberry device. More
than 17,000 pledges were taken, 519 actions were completed by 151 people. The fan base increased as
shown in the below graph made by Unmetric.

The TV advertisements and related campaign videos posted by fans went viral on Youtube.

Wake Up. Be Bold.

This has been reported as one of the most desperate guerilla marketing attempt ever made by
Blackberry or any brand for that matter. It started with a group of protesters disembarking from a bus
(Labeled- Wake Up) outside of Apples Sydney store with signs that read Wake Up.
RIM launched the campaign with a manifesto at wakeupbebold.com. The words of the manifesto
have been broken down, analyzed and criticized by a number of customers, bloggers and even digital
magazine editors.
The campaign wanted to state that Blackberry is the phone for all the people who mean business and
are bold enough to make it happen. The lyrics somehow point out that Blackberry is not for everyone
thus limiting their own target audience.

Though the Wake Up campaign TV advertisements received a positive feedback but they failed to
break the I-Phone and Samsung fad. The campaign was also taken up on social media websites with
the launch of #TeamBlackBerry campaign on Twitter featuring cartoon superhero kids The Bold
Team.

The last ray of hope left for Blackberry and RIM is the Blackberry 10. But to make it successful, they
need to revamp their communication strategy throughout.

4. ORGANISATION DESIGN OR STRUCTURE FOR RIM

Any organizations configuration consists of the structures, processes and relationships through which
the organization operates.
There are several types of structures present and for RIM multi-divisional structure, which it adopted,
is best suited.
A multidivisional structure is built up of separate divisions on the basis of products, services or
geographical areas. In the case of RIM there several products:
BlackBerry tablets
BlackBerry smartphones
BlackBerry accessories
BlackBerry 7 OS
BlackBerry 6 OS
BlackBerry App World
BlackBerry Messenger
On the basis of which the divisions have been created.
In this type of structure divisionalisation often comes with a solution to the problem of diversity. Each
division is required to respond to the specific requirements of its product using its own functional
departments as per their specific strategy.
The multidivisional structure may comes up with some problems along with the advantages discussed
below.

Advantages
It is flexible. Even investing or adding or disinvesting all become quite easier in this type of
structure.
It can be controlled by the performance of different divisions by the parent company i.e. RIM.
Each product division can have their own strategy.
Competencies are specialized in different divisions as per the requirements.

Disadvantages
The cost of setting up different centers goes up.
Most of the activities get duplicated like some of the processes of tablets and smart phones
are similar but they get duplicated due to the divisional structure followed by RIM.
Non cooperation may arise between the different divisions.

Service Division
RIM is committed to global sustainability by improving the economic, social and environmental
impacts of our day-to-day operations. RIM teams implement programs across the organization to
identify, execute and measure sustainable initiatives. So, along with the various product divisions
RIM also have a service division, which takes care about its various CSR activities.
The various CSR activities undertaken by the department are as such:

Corporate Governance
Corporate carbon footprints
Energy efficient buildings
New data center built to green standards
Green IT
Waste division
Paper recycling
Paper procurement

These organization design and CSR policies were suitable for the scenario they were in, as many of
their competitors have adopted similar structures and policies with very good success. Samsung is one
example of such a company. Hence it can be concluded that the reason for the failure of the
Blackberry strategy had to do with other features not associated with organizational design.

5. Competitive Analysis
There are basically two different types of companies that compete with BlackBerry, the first are the
ones that make the devices themselves. The biggest player in this market is now Nokia who build a
line of several different smart phones that have become very popular. Other competitors who build the
devices would include Samsung and LG. There are lots of companies who have tried to enter the
market to build the devices, mainly because this is the easy part. Far more difficulty is building the
operating system that runs it, companies that produce this are the other big competitor for BlackBerry.
Most of the companies that compete with BlackBerry for the construction of the actual smart phones
rely on operating systems that are made by somebody else, BlackBerry are one of the few that makes
their own operating system. This sector of the market has attracted some of the biggest companies in
the world. This would include Microsoft with their Windows Phone 7 and Google with their Android
operating system. It is really the competitors when it comes to the operating systems that has hurt the
sales for BlackBerry more than the smart phone makers themselves.
The biggest direct competitor for BlackBerry is the iPhone of Apple since they are the only
competitor who does the same as BlackBerry and makes the phone and the operating system

themselves. It is also Apple who have really hurt the sales for BlackBerry the most with their very
intensive marketing campaigns. There is considerable debate about who makes the better product but
there is really no debate about who has done a better job of marketing their product. When Apple
releases a new version of their iPhone there are huge lineups at the stores to get them, this just doesn't
happen when a new BlackBerry comes out.

In the chart below, comparison of smartphone unit sales from Q1 2011 to unit sales in Q1 2012 is
given. It demonstrates the large increase in total sales, as well as Apples increased share of those
sales. It also shows the converse for Nokias Symbian (which has been discontinued anyway) and
Research In Motions BlackBerry platform.

One more chart is given below showing smartphone market share for Q1 2011 and Q1 2012 as pie
charts.

The plummeting of Blackberry market share has certain reasons that can be more or less summed up
in the following points:

1. Flexibility trumps Restrictions

Call me Captain obvious, but clearly this was something Blackberry wasnt able to edify. There is a
wide population that believed that the Apple iPhone is somewhat restricted in how it operates.
Unfortunately, the Blackberry OS has overwhelmed even the iOS in this regard by being extremely
restrictive in its operations. Who likes being restricted? Nobody, ofcourse! However, RIM clearly
misses the target by limiting users to the extent that operating the Blackberry device becomes rather
annoying. Android, on the other hand, continued to prosper and proved to be much more flexible
rather than limiting the activities of users. As a result, Blackberry lost a considerable amount of
customers that simply refused to be tied down.
2. Increasing Carrier Support
Android and Apple have been ruling the smartphones industry for a long time now, and it clearly
shows in the sales reports over the past few years. With more and more Blackberry RIM customers
ditching the dinosaur OS that is Blackberry and switching to other smartphones. The consequence ?
carriers have continued to side with the more superior smartphones in Samsung, Apple iPhone, LG
and others. After all, carriers have been alert to the fact that an increasing number of Blackberry
customers is fleeing in sheer disappointment. The astonishingly high support for smartphones other
than Blackberry has, itself, been a telling impression on smartphone users and it has only convinced
them more to prefer everything but a Blackberry.
3. Being Just To The Contributors
Blackberry may very well have given smartphone users the impression that RIM has been a bit too
eager to get its hands on the cash. In the process of making good the losses that mount, Blackberry
seems to have compromised on compensating all those who are actually putting in heaps of hours into
the manufacturing of Blackberry phones. Underpaying contributors indirectly calls for a compromise
on standards as contributors may very well give up putting in the necessary effort that makes a device
that much more promising to use. This is another area where other smartphone manufacturers have
taken the lead and by getting their efforts worth they are able to keep their spirits high.
4. The Battle Of Market Share
It simply boils down to this- the fight for market share. Android and Apple have had the upper hand
in the smartphone industry of late. Samsung and Apple iPhone have been in the spotlight, more often
than not, when it comes to leading the market for smartphones. While Blackberry continued to
nosedive in the market, Samsung and Apple smartphones stamped authority over all the others with
enhancing shares every year. Sadly, Blackberry only achieved losses and nothing substantial. A horrid
slump to 1 percent of market share (acc. to a report in year 2012) for Blackberry simply sums up what
has been a nightmarish experience for Blackberry.

6. Sales and Distribution

The one-time leader in mobility and smartphones is trying to reverse its precipitous slide against
insurgent rivals Apple Inc., Google and Samsung Electronics Co. The product its betting will make
the difference: BlackBerry 10.BlackBerry 10 is the new operating system to power a fleet of slick
Blackberry smartphones designed to appeal to enterprise and government users, and thwart efforts by
Apple and other smartphone-makers to eat away at its remaining market share.Of critical importance
to BlackBerry is stopping the defection of government customers, who are beginning to migrate
toward the Apple iPhone platform as confidence wanes in RIMs viability and product quality.
BlackBerry 10, by many reports, is a worthy operating system that corrects many of the shortcomings
in legacy versions and provides the same performance and security for which the company is known.
If RIM fails to hit big with BlackBerry 10, its fate as a company could be sealed.RIM announced
plans to upgrade and migrate many of its existing customers to the new platform early in the new
year. Supporting the operating system and devices is a new BlackBerry server, an on-premises
controller that passes traffic and messaging to the devices.
A critical factor in RIMs revival is applications. The BlackBerry platform has been criticized for not
having the breadth of applications that Apple and Google support for their respective operating
systems. And users complain the BlackBerry form-factor, which retains the QWERTY keyboard and
small screen, isnt conducive to media-rich applications.RIM says BlackBerry 10 will have the
support of hundreds of applications out of the gate, which should assuage concerns of many enterprise
and hybrid-consumer users. The application issue isnt as great among government accounts, which
typically limit the number and type of apps used on their devices for security reasons.
Just how RIM will bring BlackBerry to market is unclear, but there are telltale signs it will engage a
broad channel.

It already has relationships with Tech Data Corp.s TD Mobility unit for enabling VAR sales
and integration of BlackBerry devices and equipment.
It will work with carriers on device sales and distribution.
And, if applications are that important, it will marshal the sales relationships of its application
developers and independent software vendors.

Given the gravity of RIMs situation, its a fair bet the Canadian company will ply any channel that
will retain existing or deliver new customers.
Sales of the iPhone outpacing BlackBerry sales has the following reasons:
1. Apples ecosystem of consumer products (Macs, iPad, Apple TV) and services (iTunes, iPhone
apps) make the iPhone a more attractive phone for many consumers compared to the BlackBerry.
2. End of AT&T exclusivity will give Apples iPhone wider distribution in the US (comparable to
BlackBerry distribution).
3. iPhone is making inroads with business customers that have traditionally preferred the BlackBerry.

History
Smartphone maker Research in Motion (RIM) had announced collaboration with Redington India to
establish a national retail distribution channels for their BlackBerry handsets in 2009. The strategic
business initiative was to help it more effectively to tap the fast growing mobile communications
market in India. As part of the retail distribution agreement with Redington India, BlackBerry
smartphones and service plans from supported carriers were initially be available in retail and modern
trade outlets across nine cities. This includes Mumbai, Delhi, NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore,
Kolkata, Pune and Ahmedabad. Redington intended to expand the retail footprint in a phased manner
and offer a wide range of BlackBerry smartphones beginning with the BlackBerry Pearl series, the
BlackBerry Curve series and the BlackBerry Bold smartphone.
Blackberrys strategy was also to strengthen distribution channels to increase foothold -RIM
opened the BlackBerry Premium Stores , what the brand believes are unique experience destination
stores, in Mumbai in august this year, in addition to stores in Delhi, Gurgaon and Bangalore. The
brand is all set to open similar stores in key metro cities in India in a phased manner in a bid to engage
consumers and catch up with the rising competition in the mobile category work. What is happening
is increasingly the market is moving towards Smartphones as people are upgrading from normal
feature handsets to Smartphones, so a whole lot of these people want to know the capability of these
handsets and how are they differentiated from the other phones, especially in terms of experience.
Now, all that is best demonstrated to the consumer in a live environment, where we can give the
consumer an experience and complete details about their Blackberry solution.
RIM has used the integrated communication mix for the BlackBerry Premium Stores. Print ads and
PR was further supported by digital engagement on our Facebook fan page. It also has interactive
mediums by which the products are showcased at these stores.
Regions working best for BlackBerry - It is present in 250 cities and over a period have seen
increased demand for BlackBerry Smartphones across all cities. The expertise lies in creating
Smartphones experience for everyones need and there is a clear differentiation between our entry
level (Curve series), high-end (Bold series) and mid-segment (Torch series) Smartphones. While tier
1 and 2 cities have adopted all three segments, we see the tier 3 cities adopting the entry level
Smartphones and there is an increased interest in the high end segment due to sheer aspirational value
of the brand BlackBerry.
Of late a lot of importance has been place on POP in retail - While we see trends like online
buying rising, somewhere the retail sector is developing quite a lot, throughout the country if you see
the development of high end malls and branded showrooms like DLF Emporio and Palladium; they all
are dedicated and aimed at delivering an experience. This trend is going to only grow.

7. BlackBerry 10
BlackBerry 10 (or BB10) is still under development and not yet a finished product. BB 10 sees the
implementation of a whole new user interface, with RIM doing away with the familiar BlackBerry
system we're all used to, in favour of something which resembles the likes of Android and iOS,
although with its own unique features.
With BlackBerry 10, RIM has merged home screens, widgets, app lists and a unified inbox into one
slick interface, offering up an easy-to-navigate user experience.
Lock screen
The lock screen shows notifications for alarms and unread messages on the left plus your upcoming
meetings as well as the date and time, with a button to launch the camera straight from the lock screen
to grab a quick snap.
You unlock the phone by sliding your thumb up the screen and from there slide from anywhere on
screen and the handset starts to draw in around where you slide so if you just want a quick peek at the
information in one area of the screen, you can just drag to show it and then let go with the device
remaining locked.
Home screen
The main home screen comprises of 'Active Frames', technically mini-applications, which give you an
overview of information from a particular app and launch the full version when tapped.
Users can select up to eight of these active frames, which arrange themselves in order of most recently
used, with the latest app appearing in the top left position.
A maximum of four frames are shown on the screen at any one time, and if you scroll down and you'll
be able to view the others the display in order of use allows you to jump quickly between your
recent applications.
RIM tell us that any application, even third party ones, will be able to appear as an 'Active Frame' on
the BB10 home screen, which is excellent news for anyone left frustrated by the limited widget
options on Android or live tiles on Windows Phone.
Interface
Swiping from right to left will take you to the app list, with 16 apps on the screen at any one time if
you have more than 16 apps additional pages are added and can be accessed by swiping the same way
again familiar territory for iOS and Android users.
At the bottom of both the home screen and app list you'll notice a shortcut bar, with quick links to the
phone, search and camera applications allowing you to quickly jump to these regularly used
features.
There's a pleasant fading animation as you flick between pages, and you'll see the previous page of
apps fade away to the side of the screen, to be replaced by the new page.

Notifications
The whole Flow concept really comes to life when you swipe up from the bottom of the screen this
minimises the current app/screen you're viewing and shows new notifications counts down the left
hand side, including new emails, BBMs, texts and social media messages.
If you continue the slide to the right, the unified 'Hub' application can be previewed allowing you to
'peek' at your messages.
Complete the slide and you'll open the hub fully, otherwise you'll be returned to the page you were
viewing before the little red light on your handset started to flash.
BlackBerry Hub
When we say all, we mean all, as the unified inbox, or the 'Hub' as RIM likes to refer to it as, can deal
with multiple email accounts, text messages, BBM, call history, third party messaging apps such as
Whats App and a whole host of social networks including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Personal and Work modes
Sweep down on the home screen or an app list page and you'll see Personal and Work buttons that let
you switch between the two BlackBerry Balance modes.
In Personal, you can install any apps you want, send any email, save any file and so on, working in a
partition that's encrypted for privacy but not locked down in any way.
If you use your BlackBerry for work though, you'll also have a Work partition that's also encrypted
but completely separate and can be locked down if that's what the company wants. Drag down on the
screen, pick Work mode and all your personal apps disappear so you can't accidentally copy a work
file into your personal cloud storage account. Your company can have complete control of this work
section, giving you as much, or as little freedom within this area as they see fit and everything in
Work mode is fully secured, with remote wipe available just it case your handset goes astray.
Cascades
Cascades, a new navigation system cooked up by RIM especially for BB10, allows for quick
multitasking from within applications.
Browser
The BlackBerry browser has also had a refresh for BB10, bringing it in line with the minimalist style
of current offerings on other devices, and the location of the URL bar at the bottom of the page is
reminiscent of Internet Explorer on Windows Phone.

Camera
Fire up the camera app, select 'Time Shift' mode and snap your subject and the app will then search
for faces in the image. Once a face is located in a photo, you can tap it and literally roll back time to
find the point at which your friend had their eyes open and the perfect grin. If there are multiple
people in your snap, you can individually adjust each person.

BB10 vs BB7

BB10 has better theoretical download speed: 168 Mb/s (HSPA+) v/s 7.2 Mb/s (HSDPA):
Around 23.5x better theoretical download speed; enjoy lightning fast downloads on
modern networks

BB10 supports Adobe Flash which is required for a lot of games and videos

Much higher resolution screen: 1260 x 768 (BB10) v/s 640 x 480 (BB7)

Much sharper screen: 355ppi (BB10) v/s 249ppi (BB7)

BB10 outputs video to TV via mini HDMI

Records much higher definition video: 1920 x 1080 (BB10) v/s 1280 x 720 (BB7)

BB10 will support NFC.

8. Conclusion
RIMs Blackberry faces a continuous loss of market share. Its time for RIM to get into the making of
operating systems comparable or exceeding the Androids & iOSs. Perhaps the biggest challenge
RIM faces is in winning over the developers who make apps, the individual pieces of software on a
phone. Apart from the look of the smartphones, RIM must make sure to have operating system and
software that have largest number of useful apps. Hopes are now pinned on the new product from
RIM i.e. BB10 to exceed the customer expectations positively and gain the lost market share.
Suggested Strategy for Blackberry to ensure their survival:

Aim high but promise less Rather than building the customer expectations and then letting
them die all together can harm the brand image. Thus, Blackberry should promise a decent
quality product and then if it performs beyond expectations, it will give bonus points to the
company and the product.
Always be on your feet Blackberry has lost a lot by not being in sync with the latest
technological changes. Short strategy-development periods and quick thinking can prove to
be a n asset to the organisation at this moment.
Strong R&D in order to use technological advances to its advantage, Blackberry needs to
set a world class R&D department with devoted, experienced and successful researchers.
Learn from competitors As Samsung does it, learn from Apple and then bring about a
product that promises more in lesser price. In order to beat competition, more important is to
understand and predict their strategy.
Simplify the communication strategy The promotional campaigns should be simple and
easy to remember. Also, a regular feedback mechanism should be started via company
website and social media sites.
Leverage the brand success Blackberry at one time was the leader in smartphones, use this
image to build an example and prove that blackberry can come out of these shambles and still
become the world leader.

References
1. http://www.statista.com/statistics/73662/quarterly-worldwide-smartphone-market-share-byoperating-system-since-2009/
2. http://bgr.com/2012/08/08/q2-2012-smartphone-market-share-idc/
3. http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/apple_claims_7.9_of_mobile_phone_market_in_q1
4. Blackberry takes a hit in brand value study , David Brown, marketingmag.ca
5. The BlackBerry Can Be Saved, by Stuart E. Jackson, HBR Blog Network
6. THE RIM DISASTER TIMELINE: BlackBerry's Collapse, As Told By Its Ads, Business
Insider