BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion needs to remake itself, pumping new blood into aging corporate thinking by spinning-off its handset and network divisions, one analyst reasons.
“RIM’s end-to-end solution was conceived when data devices and networks were nascent — but times have changed,” RBC Capital analyst Mike Abramsky told investors Tuesday. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company “like its handsets, needs modernization.”
The split-up would let RIM support Android and Windows phones and tablets, along with current BlackBerry owners, a market that is six-times larger than now with around 400 million handsets, Abramsky posits. The handset market “has shifted from hardware to software, from network needs to consumer experience,” the analyst writes.
What about QNX, RIM’s planned successor to the BlackBerry OS, expected to appear sometime in 2012? “Although QNX appears strong, if QNX doesn’t work, or further mis-execution undermines RIM’s turnaround, then RIM will be left without a ‘plan B,’ he adds.
Splitting RIM into two segments “may accelerate organizational change and help reinvigorate RIM’s culture and promote new blood,” Abramsky reasons, noting how the iPhone was launched in 2007, but QNX won’t appear until 2012.
Before the idea is dismissed, such a spin-off revival tactic has been done before. Motorola, which was the hot handset maker with its RAZR back in 2006, fell into a slump with a number of forgettable devices. The company which went on to spin-off its handset and networking divisions, is now known for the popular Droid.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
17 responses to “Analyst: RIM Should Spin-Off BlackBerry, Promote ‘New Blood’”
RIM just needs to…
… get bought out by Google or something… :\
So rather than trying to re-create their own end-to-end solution and compete like the iPhone, or Pre. They should become a hardware vendor and join the masses trying to differentiate in a cluttered Android licensee market? I’m pretty sure that’s what people said about Apple…
Google has enough resources as it is. These major companies need to grow a pair and stop being sell-outs. We NEED competition, otherwise we end up like our cellphone providers, buying each other out until only 2 or 3 are left.
But plenty of android OEMs are making phone at a loss. I don’t think RIM needs to lose any more money than it already is.
This is cult of mac. why in the world is there an article about RIM on here? Or is this Cult of RIM? ;)
Solution for RIM? Release a Blackberry App for iOS and Android.
Corporations right now are stuck with either choosing Blackberry phones or compromising their security. The users, however, love their iPhones and ‘droids.
So, give them what they want. Self-contained Blackberry app, with email, calendar, address book, and BBM. (Very similar to the GFE solution Good Technology is making, just not as expensive.) You get to keep everything encrypted, secure, and safe. (And separate from your personal stuff – a huge benefit if you’ve ever had corporate wipe all your data when leaving a job.)
That way RIM can still make phones, and hopefully cool ones with QNX. And, they can keep selling licenses to BES and delivering secure email, which is what the enterprise wants. Users get their work stuff in one place and their personal stuff in one place.
Solution for RIM? Release a Blackberry App for iOS and Android.
Corporations right now are stuck with either choosing Blackberry phones or compromising their security. The users, however, love their iPhones and ‘droids.
So, give them what they want. Self-contained Blackberry app, with email, calendar, address book, and BBM. (Very similar to the GFE solution Good Technology is making, just not as expensive.) You get to keep everything encrypted, secure, and safe. (And separate from your personal stuff – a huge benefit if you’ve ever had corporate wipe all your data when leaving a job.)
That way RIM can still make phones, and hopefully cool ones with QNX. And, they can keep selling licenses to BES and delivering secure email, which is what the enterprise wants. Users get their work stuff in one place and their personal stuff in one place.
In Knowing Your Value: Women, Money and Getting What You’re Worth, Mika Brzezinski borrows from her experiences as co-host of a morning talk show and interviews a wide range of professional women such as director Nora Ephron, Facebook’s Cheap Jordan Shoes Sandberg, and broadcaster Joy Behar about their experiences in moving up in their careers. Knowing Your Value also blends personal stories with the latest research about women in the workplace. The end result is a brutally honest and Jordan shoes cheap witty exploration of the roadblocks and pitfalls that are unique to women. Brzezinsky provides an in-depth look at how professional women achieve recognition and financial success in an unbalanced workforce that often overlooks their worth Michael Jordan Shoes.
In Knowing Your Value: Women, Money and Getting What You’re Worth, Mika Brzezinski borrows from her experiences as co-host of a morning talk show and interviews a wide range of professional women such as director Nora Ephron, Facebook’s Cheap Jordan Shoes Sandberg, and broadcaster Joy Behar about their experiences in moving up in their careers. Knowing Your Value also blends personal stories with the latest research about women in the workplace. The end result is a brutally honest and Jordan shoes cheap witty exploration of the roadblocks and pitfalls that are unique to women. Brzezinsky provides an in-depth look at how professional women achieve recognition and financial success in an unbalanced workforce that often overlooks their worth Michael Jordan Shoes.
The usual idea is that you would use NFC to set up the link between the two devices and then do an automatic hand over to a different protocol for doing the actual transfer of data – eg Bluetooth,iphone 5