Rim Vs. Apple Case Study

INTRODUCTION

RIM (Research in Motion), the makers of Blackberry, are debatably the leader in smart phone technology today. The small Canadian entrepreneurship released their first Blackberry in 1998. With its QWERTY keyboard, and all-in-one features, demand for the product was explosive. Since then, RIM has grown into a globally successful company with 14 million people using Blackberry in over 135 countries. Consumers were first drawn to the Blackberry because of its all-in one feature. With substantial development in communication devices and consumer expectations, an all in one device is becoming increasingly harder to achieve. Blackberry is now faced with the ongoing challenge to meet consumer needs and compete with growing smart phone giants like Apple and Android.

RIM’S MAIN MARKETING PROBLEM

How can RIM re-establish itself as the leader in communication technology and capture and maintain the largest consumer target market in comparison to its competitors?

OPTION 1: MARKET PENETRATION-CO BRANDING AND BRAND EXTENSION

Because of RIM’s strong relationship with the business professional market, we propose to further penetrate this market by offering new features to certain Blackberry models. Video conferencing, being our first notion, would penetrate the business market, and attract new business professionals to the Blackberry brand. We have proposed video conferencing as a new feature on Blackberry models, because we feel that it is quickly growing in popularity, and may soon become a necessity on a business professional’s smart phone. We suggest that RIM co-brand with a video communication company, such as GoToMeeting or Skype to integrate video conferencing into certain Blackberry models. This strategy directly competes with Apple’s new IPhone 4, and its video chat feature, and would enhance Blackberry’s reputation as a business phone. In addition, RIM could penetrate the market by expanding Blackberry’s product line with products such as: watches, GPS devices, electronic office calendars, Smartboards (touchscreen boards that are linked to projectors), desktop and notebook PC’s, printers, office phones, and clocks. By offering these new products and services, we predict that RIM can increase revenue as well as attract more consumers.

OPTION 2: PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

By developing new products, RIM will not only target business professionals, but also the everyday consumers. We propose that RIM market the idea that “There is a Blackberry for everyone”. To do this they will need to extend their product line to appeal to new consumer demographics (tweens, Gen Y, Gen X, lower income demographics). In turn, by releasing new smart phone models, Blackberry will be able to offer new features