...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 (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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...Record: 1 | BlackBerry blues. By: McMAHON, TAMSIN. Maclean's. 6/4/2012, Vol. 125 Issue 21, p32-34. 3p. Abstract: The article discusses the decline of the Canadian technology company Research In Motion (RIM), the creator of the BlackBerry smartphone, as of June 2012. Topics include competition in the global smartphone market, RIM's corporate investments in research and development (R & D), and the failure of the telecommunications equipment manufacturer Nortel. (AN: 76358166) | | | Persistent link to this record (Permalink): | http://ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=76358166&site=ehost-live | | | Cut and Paste: | <a href="http://ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=76358166&site=ehost-live">BlackBerry blues.</a> | | | Database: | Business Source Complete | Section: Business TECHNOLOGY The once-mighty RIM is fighting for its life. What that means for a Canadian tech sector still suffering from the loss of Nortel To get a sense of how deeply intertwined the Canadian identity has become with the BlackBerry, this country's most famous modern-day invention, pick up a copy of the study guide issued by the federal government to help new immigrants prepare for their citizenship test. There, among the handful of inventors whose work is so critical to the country's history that their names...
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...RESEARCH IN MOTION LIMITED - BLACKBERRY Research in motion limited was founded in the year 1984 by Mr. Michael Lazaridis,the company's President and Co-Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Douglas Fregin(RIM-2009). The company then grew in to one of the leading designer and manufacturer of wireless solutions, the company product portfolios include the blackberry wireless solution and other software and hardware solutions. The major markets of the company include North America, Europe and Asia Pacific (RIM-2008). RIM generates most of its revenues through the blackberry wireless device with various features which provides a user friendly interface. Although the company has been growing since its inception. In early 1990s the company was focused on developing wireless data technology but by far the significant year for the company was 1999 when it introduces the blackberry solutions and in following years it has launched many advanced models of blackberry solutions in partnership with various service providers which includes Yahoo, AOL, MTN, Qtel etc. The company has recorded a revenue of US$14.935 million in the financial year 2010 which is an increase of 35% compared to FY 2009 with USA alone accounting for 57% of the revenue. The devices accounted for 81% of the revenue followed by service (14.4%),software (1.7%) and other (2.8%). Although the company is doing very well financially, it is not immune the pressure of external forces and following section highlights some of the external...
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...Course Project: Research In Motion Attempt at Making A Comeback TM583: Strategic Management of Technology Professor Syed Ali Nabeel June 17, 2012 Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary 2. Research In Motion’s Strategy 3.1. Current Strategy 3.2. Projected Strategy 3. Core Competencies 4. Industry Dynamics 5. Technology Sourcing 6. Product Development Strategy 7. Strategy to Protect Innovations 8. Bibliography Executive Summary This document has been prepared to provide RIM, the makers of Blackberry, with a new insight for a strategic plan that will aid the organization into becoming a fair market leader once more. RIM transformed into a dominating force in the cell phone industry between the early 1990s and late 2006 with innovative technology for their Blackberry Smartphones. As an avid Blackberry user, I’ve seen RIM prosper into a fine organization, but most recently the company has been in a downturn. Research and Development hasn’t been effective in creating products with greater return on investment (ROI). With all the new technological advances in the cell phone industry, competitors Apple and the Google Android market, has gained several new customers from RIM. This is mostly due to RIM’s lack of new product innovativeness, such as design and improved system functionality. RIM’s revenue has suffered greatly from what makers of the iPhone and Android product-line has placed on the market for consumers and businesses...
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...one of the fastest growing and competitive industries of today. The distinguished Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM), proud manufacturer of the Blackberry, once dominated the cellular market. With the introduction of both Apple and Samsung smartphones, which have continually increased each company’s growth in terms of revenue and market shares, Research in Motion will soon find themselves struggling to stay in the game. If RIM does not adhere to making some drastic changes, the company will continue on this downward spiral and be ultimately terminated. One major avenue to solving RIM problems is a strategic alliance with the electronic tycoon Samsung. Among the numerous potential hardware partners, Samsung appears to be the strongest fit. Their supply chain strength is unmatched – even surpassing the past magnate Nokia, to become the world’s largest cellular provider. Samsung’s smartphone is driven by the android operating system provided by Google, and its popularity has spread like wildfire over the last few years. Google android currently dominates the market share and is accounted for as so: Google Androids OS is assessed at 56% of the smartphone market share, subsequently Apple is the runner up with 23%, while RIM follows with a meager 7% of the share. Unlike Apple and Google, the RIM market share is rapidly decreasing. Samsung has shown previous interest in RIM’s Blackberry 10 OS, but a deal cannot be made until RIM launches this technology. Samsung proudly boasts...
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...Industry: Telecommunications Company: Research In Motion (RIM) Company Profile: Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. The BlackBerry product line includes the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet, the award-winning BlackBerry smartphone, software for businesses and accessories. BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. (Source: RIM Corporate Website) Recent Developments: * RIM’s stock price is at an all time low of $13 from a high of $70 at the same time last year when the worst of the financial crisis was over. At its high, the stock commanded a price touching $150 per share. * Since June 2008 to June 2011, RIM's shareholders lost almost $70 billion or 82 percent as the biggest decline among communications-equipment providers, from $83 billion at 3 years before to current $13.6 billion. * After Research in Motion introduced Thorsten Heins as the new CEO in January 2012, the company's stock price tumbled a whopping 8.47 percent. * The embattled BlackBerry maker's share of the United States smartphone market fell again in January, slipping to just 15.2% of the market, down from 17.2% at the end of October and about 16% in December. * Employee moral is at an all time low with several key executives leaving the company...
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...Sophia SINAN “ RIM and its troubles BlackBerry blues Research In Motion can ill afford embarrassing service interruptions CAN’T live with them; can’t live without them. Users of BlackBerry smartphones often curse the flashing red light telling them that another e-mail demands attention. Yet they curse its absence more. October 12th was the third day running of service failures, starting in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and then spreading to Asia and the Americas. Anger found work for idle thumbs: many tweeted their rage at Research In Motion (RIM), the Canadian company that makes BlackBerrys—presumably from other devices. For RIM, the outages could scarcely have been worse timed. The company has had a bad year. In the quarter ending in August its revenues were 10% lower than a year before, at $4.2 billion. Profits, at $329m, were down by more than half. According to Gartner, a research and consulting firm, in the second (calendar) quarter RIM’s share of the smartphone market dropped to 12%, from 19% a year earlier. BlackBerrys are still to many people’s taste. Corporate road-warriors swear by them as well as at them. Wielders of clumsy middle-aged thumbs like a QWERTY keyboard of buttons (though touch screens are also on offer). Information-technology departments, particularly in companies that put a special premium on security, love them too: life is fairly simple with a PC on every desk and a BlackBerry in every hand. And many youngsters, especially in Britain...
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...Executive Summary Research in Motion(RIM) was founded in 1984 and is a Canadian multinational telecommunications in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Rim manufactures and markets wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile and telecommunications market. RIM began with an innovative idea and had much success from but was unable to sustain it due to competitors such as Google and Apple entering the marketplace. Revenues in 2011 increased 33% from to 2010 to 20 billion. RIM currently has a market cap of 7.1 billion. RIM possesses several attractive reasons for a company to acquire them. RIM holds a valuable intellectual property portfolio, talented team of employees and owns a strong technology infrastructure. This would benefit an acquirer because it would reduce time to enter a market, enter a new market as well as stop a direct competitor. Specific reasons for a potential acquirer to purchase RIM include their book value exceeds their market value, they have no long term debt and continue to have a sizable customer base. There are two distinct sets of acquires that would be interested in purchasing RIM. First of which would be financial buyers such as private equity and venture capital firms. Financial buyers such as Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Bridgescale Partners, 3i Group Plc, Foundation capital and Bay Partners are firms who would potentially be interested because they currently specialize in technology and telecommunications and have resources...
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...network into a two-way paging and wireless e-mail network. Pivotal in this development was the release of the Inter@ctive pager 950, which started shipping in August 1998. About the size of a bar of soap, this device competed against the SkyTel two-way paging network developed by Motorola. RIM's early development was financed by Canadian institutional and venture capital investors in 1995 through a private placement in the privately-held company. Working Ventures Canadian Fund Inc. led the first venture round [3] with a C$5,000,000 investment with the proceeds being used to complete the development of RIM's two-way paging system hardware and software. A total of C$30,000,000 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.[4] Since then, RIM has released a variety of devices running on GSM, CDMA, and iDEN networks. The ubiquity of these BlackBerry devices in the corporate environment and the compulsive use of its ability to quickly send and receive e-mail has earned it the nickname "Crackberry" in a reference to crack cocaine as users feel they cannot live without it. In 2006 Research In Motion and Information Appliance Associates reached a licensing agreement whereby RIM would offer the complete version of PocketMac for BlackBerry to Macintosh users free of charge.[5] In October 2008, RIM was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was...
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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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...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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...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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...What were some of the challenges that RIM faced to protect its intellectual property, and how did RIM handle those challenges? RIM’s success in the industry of wireless technology, more specifically, the e-mail wireless communications, made the organization’s intellectual property a prime target for adversaries that were not involved in the technological innovation industry, but for patent holding firms that were sitting in the background waiting patiently for a big fish to fall prey of their treachery. The success of these patent holding firms in the patent infringement litigation arena opened the gates for RIM’s industry competitors to scavenge from the patent holding company prey. Some of the challenges RIM faced to protect their intellectual property ignited a myriad of legal battles that wounded the Blackberry giant fatally from which RIM never recovered totally to this date. Below are summaries of litigation battles that originated after RIM, amongst other companies, decided to ignore a licensee contract agreement proposed by a Virginia based holding company in the year 2000. The US intellectual property holding company that sent the memorandum notice to RIM as well as to other technology companies and initiated the downfall of RIM was New Technology Products (NTP). 1. New Technology Products (NTP) Vs. Research in Motion (RIM) In 2001, NTP, an intellectual property holding company of at least 50 US patents, which focused on inventions in the fields of wireless...
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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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