RIM never did shake its button-down image in attempts to expand into the consumer market dominated by Apple. Realizing its failure, the handset maker is ready to surrender to Apple in the consumer ring, and focus on its business roots… an arena which iPhone is also increasingly dominating.
“We no longer anticipate Research in Motion recovering to participate in the mainstream of smartphone industry growth,” Wunderlich Securities analyst Matthew Robison said. Instead, the company will have a role in “supplying business-oriented devices, both mid-range and high end, as well as cloud-based services via the BlackBerry Network,” the analyst adds.
What consumer customers RIM gained during the past two years will be lost, followed by an earning drop that eventually will recover on the wings of business users. Still, Robison cut his RIM target price to $46, down from $76.
Like the BlackBerry, RIM likely will see its PlayBook tablet sales mostly go to the business handset fans. “There is little indication that the PlayBook has registered with consumers outside the loyal BlackBerry installed base,” the analyst concludes.
We are seeing non-consumer handset makers realize competing in the consumer market is not so easy. Unlike businesses, which are fine with drab, unchanging hardware and services, consumers can be a fickle bunch – attracted by the sizzle, as well as the steak. RIM’s apparent concession of this market shows Apple’s strength in aiming product after product at the consumer sweet spot, hitting the bulls-eye time and time.
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.
19 responses to “RIM Surrenders Consumer Market to iPhone”
Ed, is RIM saying they are changing their strategy officially, of is it just this analyst speculating they will change there focus?
Cult of Mac is right. What a steaming pile.
More click bait.
Nowhere does RIM indicate they are surrendering anything. Its an “analysts” take on the situation.
Like the previoius commenter, I have to say that your headline makes it sound as if RIM has made some announcement or decision to discontinue their foray into the non-enterprise handset market. An analysts prediction does not an official business decision make…
This kind of junk makes CoM seem like some bizarre propaganda machine.
Speculation. They didn’t even bother to put a question mark at the end of the headline, which is how you usually weasel out of a headline that’s really speculation instead of news. For example:
“RIM Surrenders Consumer Market to iPhone?” <- misleading, but not a lie
“RIM Surrenders Consumer Market to iPhone” <- misleading, approaching a lie
“Unlike businesses, which are fine with drab, unchanging hardware and services…”
Good luck with that approach! The days when ITs could force junk on their business users are long gone.
“Unlike businesses, which are fine with drab, unchanging hardware and services…”
Good luck with that approach! The days when ITs could force junk on their business users are long gone.
I just started following CoM and I must say clickbait like this is a turnoff.
I realized after about one week of reading this site that the entire site is linkbait. That’s the point of the site. Once you accept that idea, and stop thinking of CoM as some sort of “news” site, the happier you’ll be.
The Jobsian Internet will kill the real Internet.
A huge App store it shall become.
Apple makes very nice devices, but they lock you into iTunes. And their phones and pads force you to purchase apps to access routine features of the internet that are usually free on desktops connected to the net. Their marketing is so slick, they can convince their loyal customers that not supporting Flash and offering apps for sale as a substitute is better for them.
If RIM was able to find a way to make Flash run decently on their Playbook then we know Jobs and Apple could have done the same for the iPads… it’s just that they didn’t want to.