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Research in Motion (Rim)/Blackberry

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Research In Motion (RIM)/BlackBerry

The case describes competition in the market for smart phones in North America, and the position of one player, Research In Motion (RIM), a Canadian multinational telecommunications company based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Best known for its line of BlackBerry devices, the company designs, manufactures and markets wireless solutions for the mobile and telecommunications markets.

The case allows students to understand the strategic dynamics in platform-based industries in general, and to explore more specifically how a firm that led the industry in 2007 could fall to earth so dramatically four years later.

Research in Motion (RIM) began as an electronics and computer science consulting business started by Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin in 1984. In 1999, RIM introduced its BlackBerry for corporate e-mail solutions. This Blackberry featured a push system for email delivery where e-mail messages were sent from the user’s personal computer to the Blackberry without dialing in. From 2000 upwards, its revenue skyrocketed and it continued to expand.
Within 4 years of inception RIM became the first wireless data technology developer in North America. While RIM started out working with pagers its focus changed to two-way wireless communication around the same time that Jim Balsille joined the company in 1992.

In 2003 RIM launched the Blackberry, giving users the first way to take the Internet with them everywhere on their cell phone. They were pioneers leading the market. By 2008 RIM had 45% of the US smartphone market share and became the most popular smartphone in the USA. Blackberry targeted business professionals and government clients. RIM intended to provide the user with a useful interface that could synchronize computers to phones and simplify work regardless of where you were working. They also offered a

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