Exam > TELE 5240: Assignment 04 Blackberry Case Study

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Assignment 04 Blackberry Case Study 1. Describe the industry that the original Blackberry competed in.

Solution:       

The original Blackberry i.e RIM competed in an industry was flooded with personal technology products.

Consolidation of devices was also about to happen.

The process of accessing your mail from devices was cumbersome.

Blackberry on the other hand was always connected to a wireless network and used a software to provide email access.

The rest of the market focused on the consumer segment, but RIM was focused on the corporate market.

RIM provided blackberries on free trial basis and also established a number of marketing partnerships.

RIM concentrated on competing in software and hardware branches of wireless industry.

2. Why was the original Blackberry product so successful? What was the basis for Blackberry’s competitive advantage?

Solution: 

The fact that Blackberry focused on the corporate market was the basis for blackberry’s competitive advantage.  The original blackberry product was successful for the following reasons: 1) The products were versatile, secure and user friendly.

2) They provided security and IPM, therefore they attracted dedicated customers like the critical government organizations and corporate executives.

3) They were selling services like secure email and blackberry messengers which was a huge part of their earning.

4) It provided 504 security policies which could be maintained by system administrators.

5) They provided secure and efficient email-services.

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3. When competitors introduced new products, how did Blackberry react? Why did Blackberry react this way?

Solution:        

When Blackberries competitors Apple and Android launched new products, Blackberry tried to get back at them by criticizing the products.

Out of fear of losing users, blackberry reacted in a very unhealthy and informal manner.

They tried to match the competition by releasing new products.

They wanted to maintain their current position in business phones, and hence tried to modify and update their existing products.

Blackberry made costly mistakes while trying to adjust with the competition.

When Apple and Android arrived the whole industry was on the precipice of moving touch-screen displays.

Blackberry was concerned with protecting what it already had instead of exploring new lands and ended up reacting this way.

Blackberry was not willing to change and was also scared to take over the new thing and hence met its fate.

4. Why is RIM struggling in today’s Smartphone/connected device marketplace? Please provide at least (5) examples of this failure and explain your reasons.

Solution: 

RIM is struggling in today’s Smartphone/connected device marketplace for the following reasons: 1) Complacency and failure to notice the change: Blackberry devices were top in their class for many years. However, eventually, the market was captured by the touch screen devices introduced by Apple and Android. Although the company tried to turn the corner by releasing new products but it was too late.

2) Failure to satisfy the two sets of customers (corporate and consumers): Blackberry only focused on the corporate market. The blackberry products designs were also not interesting. The sleek elegant Apple and Android devices caught an eye of the consumers.

3) Split Company: Although the two CEO’s of the company were collaborative and collegial, the two sides of the company didn’t get along.

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4) Understanding the marketplace: Even though Rim had a great corporate image and track record, the buyers are selfish and are always attracted towards the market trends. Therefore, if a company stops analyzing the marketplace, they can easily lose the trust of the customers.

5) Innovation: It is a necessity to continually try improve the products that meet the ever-changing needs of the constantly evolving marketplace.

5. Has the launch of the Blackberry Priv been successful? Is there anything unique or different about this smartphone?

Solution:  No, the launch of Blackberry Priv has not been successful.  The unique features about this smartphone are: 1) A virtual keyboard is offered, we simply don’t get phones with physical keyboards anymore.

2) Blackberry brand is most commonly associated with security and privacy. Blackberry priv’s DTEK privacy controls provides a dashboard to monitor and control application access to your device. It assigns a rating for all the features it monitors and tries to improve ratings.

3) Blackberry hub, which is based on Android’s material design so there’s consistency with other apps on Android