Wow, RIM stocks are down 14 per cent today based on lowered forcasted earnings.
It's really too bad because they are trying to stay competitive, but it really looks like they've lost the brand war.
I honestly couldn't tell you what RIM stands for anymore. What do you think of when you think RIM? Does an image of a Playbook come to mind? Or does one of their older blackberry models pop in to your head? (When I think of RIM the first image that pops in to my head is still the old blueberry I had - perhaps because it was a truly unique time when blackberry moved from just email to email + phone).
Take a look at the difference in how apple markets the ipad and how RIM markets the playbook...
(click on the image to see it larger)
It's just night and day. Obviously RIM made the decision that if Apple was going to go 'white' then it would go 'black'. Big mistake.
And RIM is still using lines like "Work smarter. Play harder." Ummm... the whole 'work hard, play hard" mantra worked in the 90s, not in 2011.
Whereas Apple has images of people smiling, different color covers to the iPad, and personalized engraving as their selling features. Basically, Apple continues to market around the individual. Aside from being easy on the eyes (a huge plus), Apple's marketing messages and images say 'We built this for YOU'.
Rim's market messages and images say 'Do you love technology, look what we made."
It's not that RIM is utterly horrible, it's just that compared to Apple their messaging and look and feel simply come across as antiquated. Very 1990's - speeds and feeds and features. Compare this to Apple that comes across as 2015'ish - the technology is secondary to serving the needs and personalized experience of the user.
What's funny is that I'm not really a fan of Apple. I laughed endlessly at the recent South Park episode where they made fun of Apple the whole time. In the recent itunes update (of which there seems to be an update every other day recently) it ruined all my installed apps on my ipod and I had to go and download them all over again. And like I've said before, 99 per cent of the Apple apps are utter garbage. So unlike a lot of people, you'll never catch me waiting in a line to buy an Apple product.
Yet having said all that, it's clear that Apple has gained mindshare in the market and that RIM simply doesn't know how to compete. I'd love to buy some RIM stock at these obscenely low prices, but I simply can't, because until they get their marketing act together, I don't see how they will ever regain their former glory.
It's really too bad because they are trying to stay competitive, but it really looks like they've lost the brand war.
I honestly couldn't tell you what RIM stands for anymore. What do you think of when you think RIM? Does an image of a Playbook come to mind? Or does one of their older blackberry models pop in to your head? (When I think of RIM the first image that pops in to my head is still the old blueberry I had - perhaps because it was a truly unique time when blackberry moved from just email to email + phone).
Take a look at the difference in how apple markets the ipad and how RIM markets the playbook...
It's just night and day. Obviously RIM made the decision that if Apple was going to go 'white' then it would go 'black'. Big mistake.
And RIM is still using lines like "Work smarter. Play harder." Ummm... the whole 'work hard, play hard" mantra worked in the 90s, not in 2011.
Whereas Apple has images of people smiling, different color covers to the iPad, and personalized engraving as their selling features. Basically, Apple continues to market around the individual. Aside from being easy on the eyes (a huge plus), Apple's marketing messages and images say 'We built this for YOU'.
Rim's market messages and images say 'Do you love technology, look what we made."
It's not that RIM is utterly horrible, it's just that compared to Apple their messaging and look and feel simply come across as antiquated. Very 1990's - speeds and feeds and features. Compare this to Apple that comes across as 2015'ish - the technology is secondary to serving the needs and personalized experience of the user.
What's funny is that I'm not really a fan of Apple. I laughed endlessly at the recent South Park episode where they made fun of Apple the whole time. In the recent itunes update (of which there seems to be an update every other day recently) it ruined all my installed apps on my ipod and I had to go and download them all over again. And like I've said before, 99 per cent of the Apple apps are utter garbage. So unlike a lot of people, you'll never catch me waiting in a line to buy an Apple product.
Yet having said all that, it's clear that Apple has gained mindshare in the market and that RIM simply doesn't know how to compete. I'd love to buy some RIM stock at these obscenely low prices, but I simply can't, because until they get their marketing act together, I don't see how they will ever regain their former glory.
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