Kal Korff

RIMs BlackBerry Loses Two More Large Customers

by Kal K. Korff
Internationally Syndicated Copyright 2012 by Kal K. Korff - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Canadian based Research In Motion continues to struggle with retaining its customer base. In a series of new, twin blows to the company, both the U.S. Government based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and now the larger General Services Administration (GSA) have both announced that they will no longer be using RIMs products nor ofcially recommending them to be ofcial standards. While the loss of a large government contract the size of NOAA is bad enough, the loss of the GSAs business is likely to kill off RIMs entire product line throughout the rest of the U.S. government. The GSAs job is to set government standards and help recommend them to all federal agencies of which NOAA is just one of them. Replacing RIM will be Apples iOS product line of mobile devices, these include the iPhone, iPad 2 and iPod Touch. Until the decision was made not to purchase RIM products any longer, both agencies extensive used BlackBerry smartphones and even RIMs iPad competitor, the PlayBook. NOAA will ofcially terminate its use of the BlackBerry on May 12, 2012. After this date, the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 will replace RIMs offerings. NOAA has indicated that they will support Apples iOS version 5.x or greater only, not previous incarnations. Apple is expected to release the highly anticipated iPad 3 on March 7th along with an update of iOS, rumored to be version 5.1. If the industry talk about it is true, iOS 5.1 will also include FaceBook integration. Both FaceBook and Apple have been negotiating interoperability and integration among their respective platforms. Apples iOS already has Twitter embedded seamlessly.

RIM has been struggling with both its product line and protability for nearly four years now. Their decline began when Apple released its rst iPhone. While RIM initially ignored the iPhones debut, as did Nokia, Microsoft, Motorola, HTC, LG and Samsung, these companies have all since seen their market shares severely decline and have been scrambling to play catch up technologically. Last quarter, Apple sold over 37 million iPhones, taking back its sales crown from Samsung which it ceded for only one business quarter. Presently, more iPhones are sold, despite there being only three models, than Samsungs entire product line. Apples record breaking iPhone sales do not include some 16 million iPads and another 15 million iPod Touches, all of which run their iOS system. Apples iOS accounts for 78% of all revenue earned from downloadable mobile apps. In addition to being unable to compete against Apple, RIM has also been blindsided simultaneously by Google, whose open source mobile operating system, Android, has also surged to the top. The smartphone race is now a heated two horse affair, with Android and Apple driven phones dominating some 90% of all smartphone purchases. In an attempt to reverse their losses RIMs co-CEOs resigned last month. Their departure was because the company has seen its market share tumble to some 8% of the market, down from an all-time high of 40% before Apple and Google started competing against them. RIM hopes to return to protability next year, and plans to release several new products based on their new operating system dubbed OS 10 due to debut near the end of 2012. 1.0v1 January 27, 2012 Kal K. Korff is an officially accredited internationally known author, columnist and investigative journalist.

Copyright 2012 by Kal K. Korff - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this content may be reproduced in any form nor by any means without the express, written consent of Kal Korff. Fair use, does NOT apply. By reading this document, you willingly agree to be legally bound by its terms and conditions. Violators of this policy will have a felony DMCA Copyright infringement notice filed against them with law enforcement. First time offenders may be fined up to $500,000, imprisoned for five years, or both. For repeat offenders, the maximum penalty increases to a fine of $1,000,000, imprisonment for up to ten years, or both. This is a DMCA protected document, illegal copying and/or reproduction of its contents are tracked on the Internet and reported to law enforcement for felony prosecution.

Copyright 2012 by Kal K. Korff - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this content may be reproduced in any form nor by any means without the express, written consent of Kal Korff. Fair use, does NOT apply. By reading this document, you willingly agree to be legally bound by its terms and conditions. Violators of this policy will have a felony DMCA Copyright infringement notice filed against them with law enforcement. First time offenders may be fined up to $500,000, imprisoned for five years, or both. For repeat offenders, the maximum penalty increases to a fine of $1,000,000, imprisonment for up to ten years, or both. This is a DMCA protected document, illegal copying and/or reproduction of its contents are tracked on the Internet and reported to law enforcement for felony prosecution.