Research in Motion

By CIO New Zealand staff | Monday, January 11 2010

It is facing increased competition from rival devices such as the iPhone and new smartphones armed with Google’s Android software.

Global HQ: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Website: www.rim.com
Global leader: Jim Balsillie, co-CEO, and Mike Lazaridis,
president and co-CEO
Local leader: Adele Beachley, regional director, Asia-Pacific
Core activity: Design, manufacture of wireless solutions
Revenue: US$11.1 billion (FY08-09 ended February 28)
Key customers: Telecom, Vodafone
Employees: 12,000

More than 50 million BlackBerry smartphones have been shipped since the launch of the brand a decade ago. RIM unveiled its response to Apple’s iPhone, the touch-screen BlackBerry Storm handset, with much fanfare this
year; but suffered a rare dip in form when it reported fiscal first-quarter results in May. The quarter saw 3.8 million new BlackBerry subscriber accounts being opened, compared with 3.9 million in its fourth quarter of 2008.

This marks only the second time the company has reported a drop in quarter-to-quarter new subscribers. It is facing increased competition from rival devices such as the iPhone and new smartphones armed with Google’s
Android software.

On top of that, Storm users had to cope with major bugs and usability problems. The launch of App World signals RIM’s intention to cultivate an ecosystem of applications that can rival Apple’s App Store. RIM will attempt
to correct its Storm problems with a sequel device. Jack Loo