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BlackBerry goes all-business.
BlackBerry makers Research in Motion (RIM) is to move away from the consumer market to focus on business customers.
The company has announced the change in strategy after similarly dramatic changes to its management structure, which included Jim Balsillie - one of the firm’s longest-running executives - leaving the company.
RIM’s latest financial results revealed that sales of BlackBerry smartphones fell 21% between December 2011 and the beginning of this month, contributing to the company losing $125million (£78million) in the three months up to Saturday 3 March, 2012.
In the last few years, BlackBerry has struggled to make significant inroads into the smartphone market, with the majority of market share being split between Apple’s iPhones and Google Android handsets.
It’s also lagged in the tablet market, with its much-anticipated PlayBook failing to compete with Apple’s iPad 2 (and subsequently, the new iPad/iPad 3). To shift units, RIM has had to drop the price, so is no longer making profit on the hardware sold.
Thorsten Heins, the CEO of RIM, explained the company’s reasons for shifting its focus back to business: “We can't do everything ourselves but we can do what we're good at.”
“We believe that BlackBerry cannot succeed if we tried to be everybody's darling and all things to all people, therefore we plan to build on our strength,” he added.
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