...Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) is a company known primarily for its BlackBerry devices and e-mail services. Throughout the early years of its career, RIM has faced many patent infringement suits regarding their wireless devices but one of them that lasted from 2001-2006 stands out among the herd. This specific case was the one between NTP (New Technologies Products) owner Mr. Campana and RIM’s owner Mr. Lazaridis over wireless e-mail patents. This ongoing battle between companies could have ended as soon as it began, but RIM’s actions dug them into a financial hole and put their customers in a state of panic. Research in Motion was founded in 1984 in Waterloo, Ontario by Mike Lazaridis who always had a passion for inventing (International Directory of Company Histories). Lazaridis from the early age of 8 gravitated toward technology constructing a pendulum clock out of Legos and in high school, built a working computer (Mckenna, Waldie, & Avery). Even in college he was focused and seemed mature for his years. He eventually dropped out of college, however, and started RIM with the backing of friends and family. Their first contract came from General Motors of Canada and for years after that moved from contract to contract. In the early 90’s, RIM became interested in digital wireless devices when Rogers Cantel Mobile Communications Inc, a paging and cellular telephone operator, contracted with them (International Directory of Company Histories). From this point on, RIM...
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...Research In Motion Limited (RIM) is a Canadian telecommunication and wireless device company best known for developing the Blackberry Smartphone. RIM has his headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and is a sponsor of RIM Park in the northeast of the city. Founded by Mike Lazaridis, who currently serves as its co-CEO along with Jim Balsillie were keenly interested in this project. History Preceding the time of manufacture of the Smartphone, RIM worked with RAM Mobile Data and Ericsson to turn the development of Ericsson’s Mobitex wireless data network into a two-way paging and wireless e-mail network. The most important in this development was the release of the Interactive pager 950, which started shipping in August 2000. The size of this is about like the bar soap. This device competed against the SkyTel two-way paging network developed by Motorola. Canadian institutional and venture capital investors in 1995 sponsored RIM’s initial development through a private placement in the privately-held company. Working Ventures Canadian Fund Inc. led the first venture round with a $5,000,000 (CAD) investment with the proceeds being used to complete the development of RIM's two-way paging system hardware and software. A total of $30,000,000 (CAD) in pre-IPO financing was raised by the company prior to its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in January, 1998 under the symbol RIM. RIM has released a variety of devices running on GSM, CDMA, and Motorola iDEN...
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...Research in Motion Research in Motion Limited (RIM) as it is also known as a maker of Blackberry was founded in 1984 by Douglas Fregin and Mike Lazaridis. Both were engineering students when they first started out. RIM started out as a wireless and telecommunications equipment company which was based in Waterloo, Canada. One of Rim’s main target customers were business and government organizations (Wikipedia, 2014). In my opinion, I would say that RIM was the first to come out with an innovation and technology for smartphones. It had a vision for the future, and it was after they came out with their first Blackberry smartphone in 2000 that companies such as Apple and Samsung followed suit. When the Blackberry first came out in 2000, RIM faced its first and biggest challenge on its intellectual property in which it was sued by NTP. NTP is a Virginia based patent holding company that was founded in 1992. NTP is a non-practicing entity which enforces its patent portfolio against larger organizations (Wikipedia, 2014). NTP requested RIM to license its patents and Charles Meyer, RIM’s in-house attorney concluded that there was no violation (Teska, 2006). The lawsuit was ongoing for six years until in 2006 the US Justice Department decided to intervene and warned that the network would be shut down as the government was relying on blackberry (Hill, 2013). RIM then finally decided to pay NTP $612.5 million the amount that would cover past and future use of the patents. Interestingly...
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...RIM SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTHS To date R&D and engineering has been the core of RIM’s success R&D was continually delivering award winning products R&D operations are spread out as far as number and location of employees RIM’s cryptographic and software source code has built a strong reputation Strong corporate culture has made people happy and resulted in low turnover Recruiting the best and brightest talent from the University of Waterloo WEAKNESSES R&D spending has dropped significantly as a percentage of sales The core work is still occurring solely at the Waterloo headquarters Historical growth strategy: sourcing local talent and making selective acquisitions Talent and space are getting scarce in the Waterloo region RIM’s career site doesn’t allow for applicants to be processed for different jobs An internal resistance to any R&D locations outside the Waterloo area Only room from vertical integration because of privacy concerns with coding OPPORTUNITIES Industry is experiencing explosive growth A good indicator of revenue growth is R&D spending as a percentage of sales Recruiting to students from other Universities across Canada Grow the R&D team through existing locations Bring in resources through acquisitions of troubled companies There would be more R&D sources There may be an expansion in a strategic market Expand operations globally...
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...10/1/2012 Submitted to : Prof. Daniel Atiff RIM has been facing massive problems ranging from top executives leaving the company to patent suits. Instead of washing its dirty lien in public has taken a stand to remain silent and progress among all chaos. To revive the company’s reputation, Thorsten Heins took over as CEO in Jan. 2012. After he declared the Earnings report & announced the release of OS BB10 on 25 September’2012, the company’s shares have started to increase in value again. Expected Actual Difference Revenue $2.47 Billion $2.9 Billion $43 Million(+) Adjusted EPS 0.27 0.47 0.20 Sales 7.8 Million 7.4 Million 0.4 Million It is apparent that RIM if at all it starts progressing again after BB10 release will need a long time to reposition itself back to glory days. But blackberry have had so much to deliver to its customers from “PUSH-Technology” to end-to-end security to now placement and integration of fuel cells in its devices which enables the blackberry to recharge itself. These amazing features are unique. Even more unique is the fact that not a single blackberry phone has been hacked till date which makes Blackberry the safest smart-phones among its competitors. Aware consumers have high expectations from BB10 which even provides multi-language support in a single text message. Recommendations: Rim must work on 3 areas to help position itself back to zenith days: Internal Management, Timeline adherence, new innovations and patents...
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...Eric H. Hill Research In Motion (RIM), (NETW583) November 17, 2014 RIM faced considerable challenges in protecting its intellectual property with enormous outlays of cash to protect its property. These court battles were long, drawn, over many years and in several countries. This extended RIM in too many directions, in too many places. These legal forays into protecting and acquiring patents shifted RIMs focus from an offensive posture of developing new technology for the marketplace through its R & D to a defensive posture of acquiring ill- suited technology to secure its future. When companies lose focus on innovation and risk taking they have lost their edge. Others are looking to overtake them. In fact, Apple did just that to RIM as the iPhone toppled the once mighty BlackBerry. While many tech companies consider purchasing patents a necessary evil it should exceed the R&D budget. Unfortunately, competitors will often let the behemoths fight among themselves for patented technology while they innovate something completely new. This can give smaller competitors an edge. RIM’s corporate philosophy was to partner or collaborate rather than to innovate. This is a flawed philosophy which ultimately leads to a company’s demise. This was certainly the case with RIM as it became too diverse with too many partners and no real focus on a core item. The BlackBerry tried to compete with antiquated technology or simply missed technological advances because of a tone...
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...Case Study 2 – Research in Motion (RIM) Strategic Management of Technology – TM583ON Marian Phillips Research in Motion (RIM) is a Canadian wireless device company which is the designer and manufacturer of the Blackberry Smartphone. Research in Motion was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Waterloo, Canada. The company also creates solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market including the software that allows the Blackberry Smartphone to provide mobile access to email applications, media and the internet. As a company reliant on its intellectual property, RIM has to be careful. All actions carried out on RIM’s internal network are logged, which means that employee that want to have private conversations should bring in their personal devices. Any conversation on company network whether verbal or written, is transparent and in visibility. Also, to protect its advantage as much as possible, RIM followed a very careful and consistent policy of securing as much patent protection for its products as possible while continuing to push ahead with product development and continuously extending its technology capabilities. RIM has been involved in a series of suits relating to alleged patent infringement. * 2001 – RIM sued competitor Glenayre Electronics for infringing on RIM’s “Single Mailbox integration” patent. The suit was eventually settled. * 2002 – Filed suit against start-up competitor Good Technology and also file additional complaints throughout...
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...Research in Motion (RIM) Abstract Canadian company Research in Motion Limited (RIM) has been on the decline struggling to hold onto market share. Global competition includes Apple's iPhone and smart phones running Google's Android operating system, which contributed to a decline in RIM’s profit and share value hitting a nine year low. Executive shake ups and a strategic plan is to streamline operations includes cutting at least 2,000 jobs worldwide in 2012. Opportunities live for RIM to prevent further stock sell off and devaluation by identifying alternatives and overcoming barriers within the organization. Under the direction of CEO, Thorsten Heins, RIM will redirect focus to the company's core customers and their changing needs. RIIM Overview Research in Motion Limited (RIM) a telecommunications company headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada is best known as the maker of the Blackberry. RIM designs, manufactures and markets wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile and telecommunications market. In recent months, it has been making headlines for its declining market share and stock devaluation. Driven by a new CEO, RIM has recently announced layoffs, and strategic plans with more changes for the struggling company planned in efforts to spark a turn-around. Research in Motion Limited (RIM) Research In Motion Limited (RIM) is a Canadian multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. RIM’s portfolio...
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...Research in motion was founded in 1984 by University of Waterloo engineering student Mike Lazaridis and University of Windsor engineering student Douglas Fregin. Research in Motion (RIM) is one of the leading designer and manufacturer of wireless mobile technology. RIM is a pioneer in the handheld E-mail technology and RIM has been very successful with the sales of blackberry wireless platform, the blackberry wireless handheld and software development . Blackberry is widely adopted by corporations for their employees. RIM has also been very successful with Blackberry because of the security of the platform and its encryption. RIM has done a good job so far to protect its intellectual property from its competitor but in the recent years, RIM has faced some challenges. In fact, RIM had been pressured by some countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and India to let government of those countries to monitor the Blackberry E-mail platform for potential cyber crimes. (This is a big challenge for RIM because it will be a threat to their intellectual property. This fight is ongoing because RIM absolutely protects their intellectual property and their security advantage over its competitors. RIM has seen some of the competitors take a huge portion of its customers. Companies like Apple with iPhone and Google with Android platform have seriously challenged RIM. The iPhone from Apple is the main rival of Blackberry and according to Geller (2009), “in two years Apple has practically matched...
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...RESEARCH IN MOTION Research In Motion (RIM) had a modest beginning with an ambitious vision. Today, more than 20 years later, that ambition and vision has translated into success. RIM is one of the world’s Leading designers, manufacturers and marketers of solutions for the mobile communications market through development and integration of hardware, software and services. Research in Motion Ltd. is known primarily as the maker and provider of BlackBerry wireless devices and e-mail services. These always-on devices have proven popular with corporations who use them for field service representatives and other mobile employees. RIM’s portfolio of award-winning products now includes the BlackBerry wireless platform, the BlackBerry Wireless Handheld product line, software development tools, radio modems and software and hardware licensing agreements. BlackBerry's service delivers e-mail messages from corporate servers to handheld BlackBerry devices. Some models also have voice capabilities and can function as cell phones. Other advanced features include the ability to visit specific web sites and conduct Internet searches. Key Dates: 1984: Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) is founded by Mike Lazardis. 1988: RIM begins working on wireless data-only applications . 1996: RIM develops a PCMIA plug-in card for computer-enabled wireless e-mail. 1997: RIM goes public and is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. 1999: RIM introduces the BlackBerry personal digital...
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...George Leong B.Comm.: Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) appears to be rising from the ashes, as investors dive back into the stock of the once-fabled maker of the “BlackBerry.” For Research In Motion (RIM), it has been quite the journey after the investment community, including myself, thought the end was near for this former Wall Street star. Since the emergence of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), the BlackBerry and RIM’s “Playbook” tablet have proved to be horrible failures, based on my stock analysis. But something strange is happening in the equities market, as RIM has surged 168% since trading at $6.43 on September 21, 2012; Apple, on the other hand, has declined 29% in the same period, according to my technical analysis. My stock analysis shows an opening gap on the RIM stock chart on January 22 on a bullish moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) as indicated by the circles; while this is bullish, be wary of the stock’s overbought condition. Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com The smartphone and tablet markets continue to be extremely competitive, and I expect this competition will heat up further, based on my stock analysis. My stock analysis suggests that Apple dominates the tablet market, but there is strong competition from Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) “Nexus” tablet and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s “Galaxy” series. (Read “Why Apple Needs to Refocus Its Energy.”) Some believers are also surfacing as RIM gets ready to launch new its new line of devices...
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...In this case we will be talking about the company RIM (Research in Motion) and some of the Challenges they faced to protect their Intellectual Property. Research in Motion is best known as the developer of the Blackberry smartphone. Research in Motion was involved on several Patent Litigation with the different competitors. On 1999 Glenayre Technologies (formerly known as Glenayre Electonics) filed a patent infringement suit against RIM claiming that the Inter@ctive pager line used Glenayre’s power-generation from dual battery process. This litigation caused a delay on RIM’s contract renewal with the BellSouth company and also their quarterly earnings report came with lower than expected results. In order to get new customers RIM signed an agreement with Dell Computer and Dell started selling Blackberry to large corporate accounts. On 2001 RIM replied back to Glenayre filing a suit against them for infringing on RIM’s “Single Mailbox Integration” patent. Research in Motion won this patent and allowed them to collect royalties from other mobile device makers that were planning on utilizing this technology. On 2002 Research in Motion filed the first of four suits against Good Technology for misappropriation of trade secrets, this dispute continued until 2004 where they settled an agreement. Good Technology agreed to pay a sum of money and quarterly licensing fees. Another legal dispute was the patent for the keyboard design against Handspring for its Treo device but...
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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...
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...Case Study - Research in Motion (RIM) Summary "Research in Motion (RIM) is the company behind BlackBerry, the best-selling smart-phone brand in the United States. Today, the company is credited with launching the handheld smart phone craze and the obsession with 24/7/365 access to e-mail and the Intranet" (Kotler & Keller, 2012). In 1997 RIM went public and two years later they introduced the BlackBerry. After September 11, 2001 BlackBerry became known and popular due to the government using the product. Analysis RIM focused on a strategy of building the BlackBerry brand as the most reliable, secure, and efficient data device solution on the market. RIM continued to create and provide new generations of Blackberry's that featured: longer-lasting batteries, improved wireless Internet access, an organizer, calendar, and pager. "It took five years, but in 2003 RIM sold its one millionth BlackBerry. Only one year later it sold its two millionth device, and the BlackBerry's growth exploded. In 2005, PCWorld named the BlackBerry 850 the 14th greatest gadget of the past 50 years, and between 2006 and 2008, Fortune dubbed RIM the fastest-growing company in the world." (Kotler & Keller, 2012). By RIM creating BlackBerry, they changed the way communicate, worked, and lived. What the company did well and made them unique was the end to end solution; it developed and produced the hardware as well as the software and services that made BlackBerry work. "RIM successfully targeted its...
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...Case Analysis Research in Motion: Managing Explosive Growth Introduction Since its humble beginnings in 1984, Research in Motion has come a long way. By 2008, with a market capitalization of close to 70 billion, it was poised to become one of the largest companies in Canada and the stage was set for it to become a near monopoly in world mobile communications market. RIM’s product – Blackberry had taken the world by storm (pun intended, since Blackberry Storm is one of RIM’s most profitable product), and the word “crackberry” had become synonymous with the workaholic professional. Yet, as the mobile telephony market for professionals started showing promise, RIM found itself besieged numerous competitors all over the world. RIM had a distinct first mover advantage in the market and was well known for its ultra-secure enterprise software. However, this advantage was rapidly eroding in the face of high R&D investments from RIM’s largest competitors such as Nokia, Apple, and Microsoft. This was problematic as it foreshadowed the question of whether or not RIM was well positioned to continue to meet expectations, deliver award-winning products and services and maintain its lead in the smartphone market. Oftentimes, Wall Street expectations for technology driven companies were also linked to the technology spend and RIM was clearly not ahead of the game in terms of this metric. Just to maintain status quo, it was clear to RIM’s CTO, Mr. David Yach, that he would need to...
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