It’s a bad day for RIM. The news has hit the Interwebs that Blackberry smartphones are being replaced by iPhones by the ATF:
“We’re going to delete the BlackBerry from the mix,” Rick Holgate said, adding the ATF will start replacing its 3,800 BlackBerrys in March. Most of the BlackBerrys, including the ones used by ATF field agents, will be replaced with iPhones, Holgate told Politico. He expects the process to be complete in a year.
But a RIM mouthpiece spokesperson who has clearly been drinking the Kool Aid had this spin on the situation:
RIM spokesperson Rebecca Freiburger defended the BlackBerry, saying there are still plenty of government bodies using it.
“RIM continues to work closely with its more than one million government customers in North America who rely on the unmatched security of the BlackBerry platform,” said Freiburger, who also touted RIM’s reputation for security.
“BlackBerry smartphones running on the powerful new BlackBerry 7 operating systems (OS) have been awarded FIPS 140-2 certification by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC). The BlackBerry PlayBook remains the only tablet certified for use by U.S. government agencies,” Freiburger said.
She of course is failing to acknowledge the fact that the above argument is irrelevant to those who are dumping them. Also consider that the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Haliburton among others are dumping the Blackberry and there’s only one conclusion. RIM is dying. If that’s isn’t enough for you consider this:
Meanwhile Tuesday, UBS analyst Phillip Huang panned RIM’s presence at the Mobile World Congress, calling it “underwhelming.”
“As we expected, and not a surprise, RIM’s presence at MWC was underwhelming with no new product announcements, no further clarity on the timing of BB10 devices,” Huang wrote in his research report.
“The show reinforced the uphill battle RIM faces in reversing its position in a market that continues to evolve at a torrid pace and with formidable competitors that include Google, Apple and Microsoft,” Huang added. He also pointed to growing momentum from Microsoft in the smartphone market.
“It was interesting to learn from Microsoft that the number of apps now supported in its marketplace has increased to 65k from 10k a year-ago, compared to about 60k apps for RIM (versus about 30k a year-ago),” said Huang.
It sucks to be RIM. It truly does.
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This entry was posted on February 29, 2012 at 8:57 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags BlackBerry, RIM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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RIM Losing Government Customers…. The Death Spiral Continues
It’s a bad day for RIM. The news has hit the Interwebs that Blackberry smartphones are being replaced by iPhones by the ATF:
“We’re going to delete the BlackBerry from the mix,” Rick Holgate said, adding the ATF will start replacing its 3,800 BlackBerrys in March. Most of the BlackBerrys, including the ones used by ATF field agents, will be replaced with iPhones, Holgate told Politico. He expects the process to be complete in a year.
But a RIM
mouthpiecespokesperson who has clearly been drinking the Kool Aid had this spin on the situation:RIM spokesperson Rebecca Freiburger defended the BlackBerry, saying there are still plenty of government bodies using it.
“RIM continues to work closely with its more than one million government customers in North America who rely on the unmatched security of the BlackBerry platform,” said Freiburger, who also touted RIM’s reputation for security.
“BlackBerry smartphones running on the powerful new BlackBerry 7 operating systems (OS) have been awarded FIPS 140-2 certification by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC). The BlackBerry PlayBook remains the only tablet certified for use by U.S. government agencies,” Freiburger said.
She of course is failing to acknowledge the fact that the above argument is irrelevant to those who are dumping them. Also consider that the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Haliburton among others are dumping the Blackberry and there’s only one conclusion. RIM is dying. If that’s isn’t enough for you consider this:
Meanwhile Tuesday, UBS analyst Phillip Huang panned RIM’s presence at the Mobile World Congress, calling it “underwhelming.”
“As we expected, and not a surprise, RIM’s presence at MWC was underwhelming with no new product announcements, no further clarity on the timing of BB10 devices,” Huang wrote in his research report.
“The show reinforced the uphill battle RIM faces in reversing its position in a market that continues to evolve at a torrid pace and with formidable competitors that include Google, Apple and Microsoft,” Huang added. He also pointed to growing momentum from Microsoft in the smartphone market.
“It was interesting to learn from Microsoft that the number of apps now supported in its marketplace has increased to 65k from 10k a year-ago, compared to about 60k apps for RIM (versus about 30k a year-ago),” said Huang.
It sucks to be RIM. It truly does.
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This entry was posted on February 29, 2012 at 8:57 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags BlackBerry, RIM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.