Sad state of RIM

The other day an anonymous source claiming to be a high level executive wrote an open letter to RIM's top management detailing what he/she feels are the major problems with the company.

Predictably, RIM responded with a classic bit of PR that showcases pretty much exactly why RIM is a dying company.

It seems that modern PR is all about plugging holes versus making positive headway. Read the statement and tell me it's anything other than a "let's not make this controversy worse so we'll respond with completely generic PR blather that will certainly not impress anybody but won't offend anybody either".

Suffice to say, job well done!

RIM's response shows that a) they are somehow unable to respond to a detailed letter because the author is anonymous (hunh?) and b) don't have a single thing of substance to say in regards to any of the accusations (shocker).

Or put another way, RIM's stock has gone from $140 a share to under $30 in three years due to a very specific reason. RIM's products have no consumer traction and RIM is utterly unprepared to deal with the reality of Google, Microsoft and Apple in a consumer smartphone world.

Sure the blackberry dominates the business market (for now) but the consumer market? Who on earth would pick a blackberry over Android or Apple?

RIM's response is classic of a dying company. Employees afraid to speak, teams led by morons by virtue of company loyalty, clutching to existing product lines for a long as possible, utterly resistant to change.

I suspect RIM will cease to exist as a separate entity within 5 years...as the stock price plunges (and there is no product on the horizon that would change that fact)...the company will be bought out by somebody who wants to milk the blackberry business line to squeeze whatever value is left out of the system.

RIM is done.