Many question whether Research in Motion (RIM) will ever make it back to the top of the heap. Can they stop the bleeding of revenue, customers, and talent? It is impossible to know. If they are able to stabilize the ship and come out with revolutionary products that people want to buy again, they might be able to. Remember, Apple was literally a few months from bankruptcy at one point when Jobs came back. Steve Jobs righted the ship by getting in bed with the perceived enemy (Microsoft). Remember the keynote when Jobs announce the MS support and brought Bill Gates up via a video feed? The crowd literally booed. The Apple comeback was amazing and one of the greatest ever. The point is, that it is possible. Perhaps RIM has the engineering talent to create a new market for themselves. Being an also ran isn’t the best growth strategy.
Let’s see what the new CEO is able to do. My hope is that they can come out with a game changer. However, my fear is that they will end up like Yahoo. Struggling, losing share, failing to innovate, killing promising products, and twisting in the wind. Only time will tell.
Is RIM worth investing in? Perhaps. There is a lot of patent value there and MSFT could be a suitor. This should get interesting over the next 24 months. Good luck RIM. Remember, Nokia used to be a paper producer! It is possible to evolve.
TORONTO (Reuters) – Research In Motion posted a net loss and its first slump in BlackBerry shipments for its holiday quarter since 2006, as its new CEO announced the initial steps in a strategic overhaul and would not rule out an eventual sale of the company.
